Movie- Charge Of The Light Brigade

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Went to Albert Hing's to watch Charge of the Light Brigade..He's 88... B+W...Never was a fan of the old movies. ..But enjoyed this..Albert gave narrative throughout, so it made total sense...Otherwise, the movie prolly wouldn't have worked for me....He's a total Errol Flynn fan. And the Royals too. He's such an encyclopedia- he never ceases to amaze me with his recall...He worked for the railroad and has some nice memorabilia. ... Southern Pacific - Neil Young & Crazy Horse - YouTube

 

Check out Errol Flynn, even allowing for Hollywood "Hype" he lead an amazing life!

 

Only cos David Niven let him.

 

David Niven wrote something very funny concerning his military career.

He was telling of his early choices for posting to a regiment, once he had graduated from officer school.

He put down on his form, as a first choice, "The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders"....and for his next choice, "Any regiment other than the Highland Light Infantry". In his own words, "Somebody at the war office was funnier than I was, and so I found myself duly posted to The Highland Light Infantry".

Sorry, sorry, off topic....continue, please....

 

Haven't seen that movie for years.

 

Damn you made my look him up. You are correct but I had always thought he was a Royal Marine.

 

What a production it must have been...Those were glory days. Before it became lgbt or whatever. The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936 film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

He was in fact part of the Phantom recce in ww2 not part of his original regt. A dashing brave funny special forces guy of the time. He left the Highlanders behind him before ww2. His early service stories, are hilarious especially his days in Malta before the war.

Its a given or used to be in Brit forces, was when I was in RAF...after trade training..choose 3 bases you would like to be posted to....Choose one you don't want to go to at this time...I of course got the one I put down as not wanting to go to from trade...Enjoyed every minute..but yes admin bods have a funny sense of humour...

Anthony Quayle...now there was a special soldier...

 

One of the original Sevastapol Russian cannon is housed in my local very small museum or Alminory in Evesham...I take my hat off to any one charging those bloody things. But not Errol Flynn...Haven't forgiven him for Burma..

 

I'd like to put a bug in Albert's cap...What happened in Burma?

 

Me to! I know he made the movie Operation Burma which is pretty good, but I don't know of any other connection to Burma he had.

 

Is this the reason?

" the 36-man team quickly take out the station and its personnel. But when the airborne troops arrive at an old air-strip to be taken back to their base, they find the Japanese waiting for them at their rendezvous site. Captain Nelson makes the hard decision to call off the rescue planes, and hike out on foot."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objective,_Burma!

 

In fact, if we want to point to British ex vets who were publicized the most after WW2, David Niven would win it hands down for Britain.

For the Americans, unquestionably JIMMY STEWERT!!!

I remember reading a book that mentioned exactly what Jim was heard to utter when his aircraft was hit....

"SHITHOUSE MOUSE! We're go'in down!"....

not sure what happened to the rest of Jimmy's crew, but Jimmy himself, must have survived, certain of that!

 

Think Urgh's referring to the fact the film shows Errol Flynn winning the war in Burma single-handed, with the only British troops shown being the two Gurkhas who guide his men to the radar station.

 

Might well depend on when you set the times. Audy Murphy got a fair amount of press for a while anyway:
Audie Murphy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Then of course there were the politicians like Eisenhower and Kenedy.

 

Errol won in the war on his own....bad movie.

 

Audie Murphy is still my hero. I drove by his monument in Alsace by coincidence in 2007 and never stopped admiring the man since I learned about his feats. I was devastated when I found his bibiography thrown away in a dustbin some months ago .

 

No doubt about it Stewart and Niven deserve every bit of praise for their wartime service and I happen to think they were both outstanding actors and men. Stewart retired as a USAF Reserve Brigadier General.

That said, my favorite US Movie Star who actually served in WWII is Ermes Effron Borgnino AKA Ernest Borgnine.
USN 1935 - 1941. Reenlisted after Pearl harbor. Honorable Discharge 1945 as a GM1.
Honorary rating of chief petty officer in October 2004, from Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Terry D. Scott for his support of the Navy and naval families worldwide.

I hope you find this interesting Volga I sure did.
[h=2]Brigadier General James Stewart[/h][h=3][/h]
Brigadier General James Stewart joined the Army in 1941 as a private, and was commissioned in 1942. He completed basic and advanced flight training and then instructed in AT-9s at Mather Field, California. He was a pilot in Bombardier Training School at Kirtland for six months before being transferred to Hobbs for four-engine training. An instructor on B-17s, he went to Gowen Field, stayed there for nine months, and was then made squadron commander of the 703rd Squadron of the 445th Bomb Group at Sioux City.

I put the B-24 to a severe test one night in Iowa: I was making a landing in a thunderstorm and, between lots of lightning and some bad judgment on my part, I flew the poor bird into the ground at 120 miles an hour. The nose wheel gave way and was never found again, but, other than that, she just bounced and settled down with a groan. I remember the B-24 very well and, although it came out of the war with a rather questionable reputation for some reason I think most of those who flew the airplane have a very soft spot in their hearts for the machine. I learned four-engine operation in the B-17. But while I was instructing in that airplane the change was suddenly made to the B-24; the transition didn't seem at all difficult, which speaks well for the bird. In combat, the airplane was no match for the B-17 as a formation bomber above 25,000 feet, but, from 12,000 to, 18,000 feet the airplane did a fine job. ​

In the fall of 1943 the 445th moved to Tibenham, in East Anglia, as part of the 8th Air Force. In all, General Stewart is credited with twenty combat missions, all as command pilot. He led the 2nd Combat Wing - the 389th, 445th and 453rd groups - to Berlin on March 22, 1944. Early in 1944 he transferred to the 453rd Bomb Group, one of the 445th's two sisters, as group operations officer. He returned to the States as a full Colonel in 1945.


The Last Mission
After he was discharged from the Army Air Forces on September 29, 1945, Stewart was immediately appointed to colonel in the U.S. Army Air Forces Reserve. He was promoted to brigadier general in 1959 and retired from the U.S. Air Force Reserve in 1968. But, before retiring, the decorated officer had one last mission:

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. His wartime decorations included the Distinguished Flying Cross with Oak Leaf Cluster, four Air Medals, and the French Croix de Guerre with Palm.

 

..I should have figured it out... Brightest light in the tool shed or something something.