I found this interesting. It is easy to forget that there was a time when even actors played hero for real. I posted links in case you wanted to see a picture.
Audie Murphy, little 5'5" tall 110 pound guy from Texas who played cowboy parts in movies? He is the most Decorated serviceman of WWII and earned:
The Medal of Honor
The Distinguished Service Cross
2 Silver Star Medals
Legion of Merit
2 Bronze Star Medals with "V"
2 Purple Hearts
The U.S. Army Outstanding Civilian Service Medal
The Good Conduct Medal
2 Distinguished Unit Emblems
The American Campaign Medal
The European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with One Silver Sta
r
Four Bronze Service Stars (representing nine campaigns) and one Bronze Arrowhead
(representing assault landing at Sicily and Southern France)
The World War II Victory Medal
The Army of Occupation Medal with Germany Clasp
The Armed Forces Reserve Medal
The Combat Infantry Badge
The Marksman Badge with Rifle Bar
The Expert Badge with Bayonet Bar
The French Fourragere in Colors of the Croix de Guerre
The French Legion of Honor,Grade of Chevalier
The French Croix de Guerre With Silver Star
The French Croix de Guerre with Palm
The Medal of Liberated France
The Belgian Croix de Guerre 1940 Palm
Murphy earned a battlefield commission to the rank of 2LT. He was appointed to West Point when the wounds he suffered disqualified him from military service. Upon medical discharge he found work in Hollywood.
James Doohan ( Scotty of Star Trek fame) was a bonafide war hero. An enlisted man who rose to captain in the Royal Canadian Artillery, he was with the Royal Canadian Artillery on Juno Beach on D-Day. He was shot seven times, with an eighth bullet lodging in his metal cigarette case. Three bullets shredded the middle finger of his right hand. Eventually, the finger was amputated, which is occasionally noticeable in Star Trek episodes and movies.
Charles Durning was a 21-year-old Army Ranger on Omaha Beach, June 6th, 1944. Wounded, he was the only soldier in his outfit to survive the initial assault. He was wounded in Belgium, stabbed by a German teenager wielding a bayonet. He was taken prisoner during the Battle of the Bulge in December of 1944, and survived the infamous machine-gun massacre of over 100 US POWs at Malmady. He returned to the site of the crime to help identify the bodies.
Finally, as the war wound down and he helped to liberate the Nazi death camps, Charles Durning took a bullet to the chest, effectively ending his tour of duty.
He was awarded three Purple Hearts and the Silver Star. And he spent the ensuing four years in and out of hospitals.
Alec Guinness served in the Royal Navy throughout World War II, serving first as a seaman in 1941 and being commissioned the following year. While in the military Guinness for awhile planned on becoming an Anglican priest. He commanded a landing craft taking part in the invasion of Sicily and Elba and later ferried supplies to the Yugoslav partisans.
Lee Marvin,a private first class in the Marines received a Purple Heart for wounds received during the battle for Saipan in June 1944? He was wounded in his buttocks by fire which severed his sciatic nerve. His real name was Marvin Lee. When asked about the change he said that the Marine Corps did that and he got so used to answering to it, he kept it that way in civilian life. Marvin is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
Eddie Albert was awarded the Bronze Star as a Naval Landing Officer. He heroically evacuated wounded Marines during the invasion of Tarawa, NOV 1943.
Charles Bronson was a tail gunner. He completed 25 missions and was awarded the Purple Heart.
James Arness (Gunsmoke) As a private in the famed Third Infantry Division he earned a Bronze Star and the Purple Heart. Because of his stature, he was chosen to be first off the landing craft (to test the depth of the water) when his division landed at Anzio, Italy. He was subsequently wounded by enemy machine gun fire and spent eighteen months recovering in overseas and stateside hospitals.
Rod Steiger joined the Navy at age 16 to get away from home and served as a Torpedoman aboard a destroyer escorting the U.S.S. Hornet as part of Task Force 18 on the Doolittle Raid. Surprise was crucial and it was feared that the Task Force had been spotted by a Japanese fishing boats. Steiger was credited in sinking one of these vessels with machine gun fire.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_Steiger
