We like our heroes to be guys like John Wayne

We like our heroes to be guys like Wayne - Times Union

 

I always thought that Wayne, like many other actors of the time, tried to enlist in various branches, but was turned down when someone realized that his skills would be better utilized at home making movies and stuff....since most of the other big-name actors had already enlisted. He stepped in to fill that void. He tried several times to get out of contracts and enlist, but being a relative newcomer to the top-billed Hollywood spotlight, he let his agent talk him into staying at home. Still, his movies and efforts did help the war effort, and he has always been a staunch and unwavering supporter of the military and veterans of all eras.

No hard evidence of this, just some bits and pieces I've picked up here and there in various books and websites. My Dad was a die-hard Wayne fan, and could probably have told you Mr. Wayne's innermost thoughts and feelings at any particular day/time.

 

I can debunk that Authors time-worn MYTH about Duke choosing not to serve. In fact, he tried to enlist and I have seen a copy of the actual Enlistment papers. He was denied for several reasons including but not limited to:
1) Age.
2) Already a Father of three.
3) Perferated Eardrum.
4) The Military itself wanted him to continue to make movies to keep up peoples morale.

Those are the reasons I can think of off the cuff-as to why Duke did not serve. Sounds to me like another ba$$hole who just wants to put its 2 cents worht of lies out about Duke.

For the truth to the matter, all one has to do is to visit these sites: JWMB & John Wayne John Waynes Son: Ethan, is the ultimate one in charge of that site.

 

I quite frankly don't blame Mr. Wayne from joining. He did the war effort a much better service by making movies. Here is the Wikipedia version.

 

I don't know why he is baffled...Apart from the legit reasons given above, The Duke would have been detrimental to any group...becoming a diversion for others who should be performaing their duty, plus him being killed and god forbid photographed would have been disasterous to the morale of Americans, and a public relations coup for the Germans or Japanese....As for why so many Marines held him in such high regard....i would say because he has represented them on screen, displayed the sort of toughness and attitude the marines are known for and want to be known for...put simply he played them and they liked his characterisation...they therefore think that he has a handle on what they are and what they go through...And is letting the public know about it....that was long winded wasn't it?

 

Not all of 'em did, if the story of him being booed by wounded WW2 servicemen at a (if I recall right) Hawaiian hospital he visited is correct.

~A

 

Well i'd have to say..."good point!" Would be interesting to find out why...

 

Lets face it...who would your rather follow into combat?

or

 

That's a little unfair, 'cause I wouldn't follow Woody Allen anywhere.

 

I know that Mr. Wayne is beloved in the Marine Corps. Anyone here remember the P38 can opener, nicknamed the "John Wayne". Many Marines know this story but for others who don't I will share.
Mr.Wayne was instrumental after WWII with saving the Marine Corps from being abolished by President Truman's SecDef, Louis A. Johnson. If Mr. Johnson had had his way the Navy and Marine Corps would have been abolished.

SecDef Johnson made the following statement to a Navy Admiral,
"Admiral, the Navy is on its way out. There’s no reason for having a Navy and a Marine Corps. General Bradley tells me amphibious operations are a thing of the past. We’ll never have any more amphibious operations. That does away with the Marine Corps. And the Air Force can do anything the Navy can do, so that does away with the Navy."

The Marine Corps wanted the movie "Sands of Iwo Jima" made to remind the public of their WWII service, and to rally public support. Wayne initially turned the role down. The Commandant of the Marine Corps contacted him and impressed upon him how important to the continued survival of the Corps this movie was. Wayne made the movie, it was a huge hit, it greatly enhanced Wayne's career, and the public turned against Truman/Johnson's agenda. It's a good thing too, Johnson had so stripped the Navy that when North Korea invaded the South in 1950, Truman ordered a naval blockade and the Navy had to tell him it couldn't be done because they lacked the ships to do so. The Marine Corps had to take all available troops from the the entire 1st Marine Division to form a Brigade to send to Korea (a Regiment with attachments) even so there were only enough Marines to give the battalions two infantry companies instead of the three they were supposed to have. The American Army had known nothing but defeat so far in Korea and they were now bottled up around the port of Pusan with their backs to the sea. It looked as if nothing could prevent the UN fForces from being pushed completely off the Korean Peninsula. Then the Marine Brigade arrived.
As a British military observer attached to the 24th Division observed in a wire dispatched on the morning of August 16, as Craig's brigade prepared for its new mission,

"The situation is critical, and Miryang may be lost. The enemy has driven a division-sized salient across the Naktong. More will cross the river tonight. If Miryang is lost...we will be faced with a withdrawal from Korea. I am heartened that the Marine brigade will move against the Naktong salient tomorrow. They are faced with impossible odds, and I have no valid reason to substantiate it, but I have the feeling they will halt the enemy.... "These Marines have the swagger, confidence, and hardness that must have been in Stonewall Jackson's Army of the Shenandoah. They remind me of the Coldstreams at Dunkirk. Upon this thin line of reasoning, I cling to the hope of victory."

I guess it's fortunate that Wayne saved the Corps so they could save Pusan.

"The safest place in Korea was right behind a platoon of Marines. Lord, how they could fight. The Reds told us they were afraid to tangle with the Marines and avoided them when they could be located."

Major General Frank E. Lowe, USA, Presidential observer on Korean War, in the Washington Daily News 26 Jan 1952.

 

I guess there will always be somone wanting to take potshots, verbal or otherwise, at our heroes. The truth is, whatever makes a person a star John Wayne had in spades, and it made him the perfect object of our affection. Sure we all want our heroes to be like Wayne, because he is the big strong guy who isn't afraid of anything and will always stand for what is right and between us and the bad guy. How can you not want a hero be like that?

As for Wayne getting booed, I've heard that numerous times, but all I've ever heard were allusions to the story, never really the whole story so it makes me wonder if it's not just urban legend.

As for Wayne's lack of actual service, as has been mentioned he was 34 and a father, so he would have been low on the list to be called up (my 27 year-old uncle who was married and a father of two wasn't called up until the war was almost over and was barely out of basic when it ended). So I don't think that's unusual. And like most members of the entertainment business, he probably would have been put to work entertaining, and not to belittle the efforts of other entertainers who served with our troops, like Frank Capra or Glenn Miller or most especially Bob Hope (although not as an official service member), John Wayne was surely more able to entertain and raise morale in Hollywood for both the servicemen and civilians.

I do disagree strongly with one thing Mr. Felsen says, that we want our heroes to be guys like John Wayne. Sure, we like our heroes to have the bulk, and swagger and strength of John Wayne, but I'd argue that we like our heroes any way we can find them and all shapes and sizes. Take that skinny, little kid from Texas named Audie Murphy. A hero like John Wayne is larger than life, but a guy like Audie Murphy seems more like one of us - and that makes what he did, becoming the most decorated U.S. combat soldier of WWII, even more amazing.

 

I find it ironic that a man who may have been exposed to nuclear fallout because of the location of a movie shoot that may have been down wind of nuclear activity, gets little respect from some corners for not being on the front lines to do his job. Let us all remember he was not the only one at this one shoot to die of cancer possibly from having been exposed. Certainly this was a man on the front lines of doing his job to entertain the rest of us and I am one who is thankful for his special contributions while doing that. Perhaps you could say he certainly got the formula right for depicting the "real" American hero image when he portrayed such a role.

 

I have a friend who was over in America for a holiday and her and her friend saw John Wayne walking through the lobby! They rushed over to intercept him...he stopped and talked to them for five minutes even though the entourage was outside waiting to take him to the set (I think to "The Cowboys" - my favourite Wayne movie by far) - They said he was a complete gentleman...

 

Hey. Woody is Jewish. They seem to do pretty good. 5 foot 2 will kill you just as dead as 6 foot 4. Although I think Woody is allergic to gun smoke. And that bursitis prevents grenade throws past 2 meters.

 

Ne'er a truer word spoken mate.