My generation grew up
watching, being entertained by and laughing with so many of these fine people.
Never really knowing what they contributed to the war effort.
Like millions of Americans during WWI & WWII, there was a job that needed
doing and they didn't question it,
just went and did it.
Those that came home returned to their now new normal life and carried on
and
very few ever saying what they did or saw.
They took it as their "responsibility" and their "duty" to the Country to
protect and preserve our freedoms.
American way of life not just for themselves, but for all future generations to
come.
As a member of that “Finest" generation, I'm forever humbly in their debt.
Here are only a few of these silent heroic Heroes that are slowly being forgotten
Do You Remember These Men?
Page #6
Harvey Korman, He served in the United States Navy during World War II.
Betty
Marion White Ludden In 1941 was a member of the American Women's Voluntary
Services
(where she drove a PX truck) during World War II.
Don Knotts (born Jesse Donald Knotts) in Morgantown, West
Virginia.
His first stint as an entertainer was as a ventriloquist. He briefly attended
college, but enlisted in the Army upon WWII.
The 19-year-old soldier was assigned to the Special Services Branch where he
entertained the troops.
Don Rickles Seaman 1st Class USN 1941-46 WW II.
Enlisted in the Navy after high school graduation. Served on the USS Cyrene, a
torpedo boat tender, in the Pacific.
Soupy
Sales,
enlisted in
the United
States Navy and
served
on the USS Randall (APA-224) in
the South
Pacific during
the latter part of World
War II.
Lee Van Cleef US Navy (Served 1942-1946)
He served in the U.S. Navy aboard minesweepers and sub chasers during World War
II.
Ted
Knight, enlist
in the United
States Army in World
War II.
He was a member of A Company, 296th Combat Engineer Battalion,
earning five battle
stars while
serving in the European
Theatre.
Jack
Warden, US Navy, 1938-1942, then US Army, 1942-1945.
He was stationed for three years in China with
the Yangtze
River Patrol.
In 1941, he joined the United
States Merchant Marine but
he quickly tired of the long convoy runs, and in 1942 he moved to the United
States Army,
where he served as a paratrooper in the 501st
Parachute Infantry Regiment, with the 101st
Airborne Division in World
War II.
In 1944, on the eve of the D-Day invasion
(in which many of his friends would die),
Warden, now a Staff Sergeant, shattered his leg when he landed in a tree during
a night-time practice jump in England.
He spent almost eight months in the hospital recuperating, during which time he
read a Clifford
Odets play and decided to
become an actor.
Don Adams (né Donald J. Yarmy) USMC 1941-45 WW II.
Enlisted in the Marine Corps and assigned to 3rd Marines. Participated in the
Battle of Guadalcanal and was wounded by small-arms fire.
Contracted malaria and blackwater fever and spent a year in a Navy hospital in
New Zealand.
After recovery served as a Marine drill instructor.
Tony Lee Dow served from 1965 to 1968 in the National Guard.
Charles Durning was in the first wave on D-Day with the 1st Div.
He was the only member of his unit to survive.
He took out several German machine guns and was wounded. Later, he was bayoneted
8 times in hand-to-hand combat.
At The Bulge he survived The Malmedy Massacre.
He refused to discuss his service for which he was awarded the
Silver Star and three Purple
Hearts.
Bob Bell (born Robert Lewis Bell "AKA Bozo the Clown") enlisted first
in the United
States Marine Corps
and later the United
States Navy during World
War II,
though he did not see any combat action due to the loss of vision in his right
eye.
Bell was able to pass the induction examination for the Marines by
memorizing eye charts.
He had a medical discharge from the Marines less than a year after joining in
1941.
Bell then went to the Navy where he served in the Pacific Theater until 1946.
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