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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| A look at the stars when they were GIs |
| 2005-06-10 |
| Times have changed. WASHINGTON -- Elvis Presley was considered an exemplary soldier and denied special treatment in the Army despite his enormous celebrity for fear that would detract from the "highly favorable public impression" he had made serving as a mere draftee armored scout car driver in Germany. World heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis won the Legion of Merit for "outstanding meritorious conduct" as an Army sergeant in World War II and was able to use his influence to gain admission to officer candidate school for fellow soldier and future baseball great Jackie Robinson and other African-Americans otherwise discriminated against in the military. Actor Steve McQueen, who played tough-guy, loner roles in "The Great Escape," "The Sand Pebbles" and other memorable war movies, was something of the same in real life--doing 30 days' confinement for going AWOL as a U.S. Marine. And Beat Generation author Jack Kerouac, remembered for his wild, unfettered stream-of-consciousness novels, lasted just eight days in the Navy before being placed under psychiatric observation and later discharged as unfit for military service. |
| Posted by:tu3031 |
| #13 Mike, plug away! When it goes on sale, Fred can put it up with his Amazon asociate linky... |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2005-06-10 21:36 |
| #12 I'm saving up. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2005-06-10 21:18 |
| #11 On 16 Jan 2001 Teddy Roosevelt received the Congressional Medal of Honor (somewhat late) for his bravey on San Juan Hill in 1898. |
| Posted by: Ebbavith Angang9747 2005-06-10 21:16 |
| #10 Ship- Hopefully the leadership will allow me one shameless plug: The Long Patrol: CSS H.L. Hunley 1863-2004 , tenatively scheduled for November 05 from Brundage Publishing. Waiting on the final edit proofs now before we get a solid publication date. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2005-06-10 21:02 |
| #9 Okay he asked, what book? And put me down for one. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2005-06-10 20:03 |
| #8 Jert- My apologies, I misremebered the data. Would point out tho that that still leaves the millions who served in the USN, USMC, USAF (after '64), and USCG - many of whom have gotten the 'destroyed records' letter. Also, while I was doing some research for my book, I ran across a great many veteran's affairs sites websites that stated flatly that the damage wasn't as bad as stated or was reconstructed. I know a WWII USAAF vet of who requested - and GOT - his records in 2004, and his discharge was in Summer '45. So I'm inclined to agree that something's fishy, just not sure what. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2005-06-10 19:11 |
| #7 Seems like remember Tyrone Powers to be even more than listed.... |
| Posted by: Shipman 2005-06-10 18:56 |
| #6 Mike, Their webpage still reports that the fire consumed 75-80% of their records. Something is fishy here. |
| Posted by: Jert Flinert7749 2005-06-10 14:42 |
| #5 Jimmy Stewart was in there with the best of the lot. An interesting view from a guy who served with Stewart... snipped from near the end: "After Stewart's death in 1997, Air Power History published a memoriam that included this little-known item: "In 1966, during his annual two weeks of active duty, Stewart requested a combat assignment and participated in a bombing strike over Vietnam. Stewart's stepson, 1st Lt. Ronald McLean, was killed at age 24 in the Vietnam War. In his World War II years, Stewart flew 20 combat missions, among them the tough ones: Brunswick, Bremen, Frankfurt, Schweinfurt and Berlin." This will be pretty easy to ace, after reading the article. |
| Posted by: .com 2005-06-10 13:49 |
| #4 He had "a good many bloody struggles with the mosquitos," said Abraham Lincoln of his military experience in the Black Hawk War. |
| Posted by: Red Dog 2005-06-10 12:14 |
| #3 Jert- Sadly, a generation or so of slacker personnel at NPRC used the 'fire' excuse when they just didn't feel like doing their jobs. Even the NPRC website now admits that only a very small percentage of the records held there - mostly pre-WWII Army and USAAF, if I remember correctly - were ever affected, and a surprising number of those were actually reconstructed. And BTW, supposedly Elvis always remembered his military time with considerable fondness. Say what you will about the King - he did his time in the suit and did it well. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2005-06-10 10:33 |
| #2 Strange. Very strange. Previous attempts to obtain family or personel records from the National Personnel Records Center, Military Personnel Records,9700 Page Blvd., St. Louis, Mo. 63132-5100, would have the stock reply of - "The facility had a major fire in 1973 which destroyed nearly 80% of pre-1960 records. It has Army and Air Force records only." Suddenly all this appears. |
| Posted by: Jert Flinert7749 2005-06-10 09:52 |
| #1 Great link! Lyndon Johnson, then a leading member of Congress, joined the Naval Reserve after Pearl Harbor as a commander, assigned to war production duties. Traveling to the Pacific, he flew as an observer on a bombing mission over New Guinea and was awarded the Silver Star for gallantry by Gen. Douglas MacArthur, the most decorated U.S. soldier in history. Kissin up by halftrack mak, believe L Bones Johson also won a Purple Heart for a bad knee boo boo during his 3 week congressional tour of duty. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2005-06-10 09:28 |