Re: Jimmy Stewart

On 2025-01-23 5:52 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

On Jan 23, 2025 at 2:39:06 PM PST, "Rhino" <no_offline_contact@example.com>
wrote:
 

On 2025-01-23 4:11 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

  On Jan 23, 2025 at 12:57:36 PM PST, "Rhino" <no_offline_contact@example.com>
  wrote:
 

  On 2025-01-23 3:11 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

    I just learned something I never knew:
        Jimmy Stewart (the actor) was a soldier in WWII and rose from the rank of
    private to colonel during the war and retired in 1968 as a 2-star general.
    He’s only one of a handful of soldiers who have accomplished that
dramatic a
    rise through the ranks of the Army. And he wasn’t just doing “celebrity
  duty”
    in the Army, either. During the war, he flew dozens of B-52 combat sorties
    over Nazi Germany.
       

  I knew most of that but not that he had started as a private; for some
  reason, I thought pilots started higher up the food chain. I don't think
  he finally retired for the Air Force Reserve in 1968 when he reached the
  mandatory retirement age of 60. He was even on a flight during the
  Vietnam War as an observer.
>
  You're slightly wrong about his final rank: he was a brigadier general.
  Or so says Wikipedia anyway. A brigadier general is a 1-star general,
  not a 2-star. But he did reach the highest rank of any actor in American
  military history.

    He was a brigadier when he retired but they promoted him to major general on
  his retirement date so the official record shows him at the higher rank
(which
  also means a higher military pension). This is not uncommon for officers who
  retire in good standing. My own father retired at one rank higher than he
was
  when he put in his papers.
 

Ah yes, I'd forgotten about that practice.
>

  Many other actors served in the world wars. Humphrey Bogart served in
  WWI in the Navy and a bit of shrapnel hit him in the face during an
  enemy bombardment causing his speech to change slightly to what we all
  know from his films. However, Wikipedia says this account is disputed
  and several other incidents are cited as possible sources of the scar on
  his lip.
>
  Eddie Albert (Oliver from Green Acres) served in the Navy in WWII and
  earned a Bronze Star for actions in the Pacific.
>
  Clark Gable served on bombers over Europe during WWII as a gunner.
  Hitler valued Gable above all other actors and offered a reward to
  anyone who could bring him Gable unscathed if he happened to crash or
  jump from a plane during a mission. Apparently, Hitler was fascinated by
  Gable's EARS and wanted to study them closely. As I understand it,
  Gable's ears raised some interesting questions about Hitler's racial
  theories but I don't know any further details.
>
  This is only a very few of the actors who served in war. There was a lot
  of social pressure on all men, including actors, to serve in WWII. A few
  actors escaped military service when their studios deemed them too
  valuable to risk and got exemptions for them but most served if they
  were physically able.

    And of course Elvis was drafted and served two years in Germany.
   

Ditto for Johnny Cash, who was in the Air Force, also in Germany.
Jimi Hendrix served in the 101st Airborne during his military service,
although he was discharged early(?) because he was a lousy shot and was
not thought to have the makings of a good soldier.

 Can you imagine any of our current crop of celebrities going willingly to war
to fight for the nation? There may be some but none leap readily to mind. The
only ones I can think of are now too old to serve.
 

Being against the war in Vietnam became very fashionable during that war and somehow morphed into being against ALL wars. Patriotism itself became "uncool" but the "progressives" hated being labelled unpatriotic so they redefined patriotism itself as being against War so that they could still claim to be patriots.
I expect there were some actors who served in the wars after Vietnam but I'll bet they mostly keep quiet about it for fear of being shunned/black-listed by the broader Hollywood community.
The pendulum started swinging back in a small way 10 or 15 years ago when it became "acceptable" for *characters* to have military service in the recent wars. For instance, Bosch's character had served in Vietnam in the Bosch books, although they updated it to the Iraq war for the TV series. Danny Reagan's character also served in Iraq; this was mentioned occasionally during Blue Bloods.
It's probably going to take a major war that America wins involving a draft before Hollywood again decides that it's cool to serve in the military.
--
Rhino