John Wayne was really Marion Morrison. He never served under the gun. I did. My father did. Is perception?

Question

all that matters? To his credit, he regrets not being able to serve.

Answer 1

I also served my country in Combat.  I don't, however, think it's necessary to do so to be a ptriot.  John Wayne was very patriotic, and he was a damned sight better an actor than I am!  LOL  He played the part in stories designed to show the heroics of the men who did serve.  I'm not sure how perception playes into that.  I do note, however, that by Vietnam, he seemed to be seriously out of step.  His movie "Green Berets," while typical of the other war movies he made, did not adequately cover the ambiguous side of the conflict, and thus was something of a laughing stock.  

Semper Fi!

Answer 2

Clark Gable also served in combat after his wife dies in a plane crash, supposedly Hitler put a bounty on his head

Answer 3

It was mostly the movies, that gave him the reputation.

I believe he was christened Marion Michael Morrisey.

John Wayne movies did help enlistment, I believe, even the "Fighting Seabees" with that awful song that still seems to stick in your head after you hear it.

Robert Montgomery, excuse me Lt. S.G. Robert Montgomery, had to be ordered by the Navy Department to return to the states to make "They Were Expendable". Jimmy Stewart, who accepted his Oscar for Philadelphia story in the uniform of the Army Air Forces, had to be ordered to make recruiting films, but he did anyway.

Duke was another of the Camp Roach company that included Ronald Reagan, who made a film about a fighter pilot who almost shot down another P-40 thinking it was a Zero, that describes the differences between the planes pretty thoroughly.

I think it all boils down to the old NRA slogan "We do our part".

Answer 4

From elsewhere: Audie Murphy..real hero. Lee Marvin--shot in the butt on Saipan. Bob Keeshen  enlisted 1946--never saw action. Another rumor, Mr. Rodgers was a sniper with x amount of "kills". Never served. As surely as the sacrifice of our Armed Services in combat, those who didn't see combat kept supplies coming, mail, fuel, all of the essentials, and are equally appreciated. The common good for the common cause is the essence of this country. There is none better. Warts and all.

Answer 5

Like most actors of the era, John Wayne DID attempt to volunteer but was turned down because of earlier injuries. Instead, he had done a lot of volunteer work with the USO and other wartime organizations.

The same argument is made about Ronald Reagan, and it is equally false. Reagan was unfit for combat, so he instead worked in the Signal Corps preparing films received from reporters in the field. As such, he would be the first to see unedited and raw footage of such n**i attrocities as the death camps, which he would have to work on to make them presentable as information and not just as horror.

I was too heavy to serve when I was younger, but I currently help the war effort through Soldiers Angels.

Answer 6

MARION COULD NOT SERVE IN THE COMBAT MILITARY BECAUSE THEY THOUGHT HE WAS A GIRL.

Answer 7

Audie Murphy ,Lee Marvin and Bob Keeshen All did serve under the gun and their tv and movie stuff pretty much stunk..Tho some of murphy and marvins war movies werent bad...the pariotic ideals of Jonh waynes movies is what matters,not if he had ever actually served.