Would ya believe...Don Adams (Get Smart) fought in the Battle of Guadalcanal

[RFCalifornia]

100% True

And in the US Marines at that...

[underpants]

1. I didn't know that.

🇺🇸

[OhZone]

2. And he came this close -

to biting the dust

[LakeArenal]

3. Sometimes people are confused by the character actor vs the human.

Sometimes actors are confused that they aren’t the characters they play. ie..
John Wayne
ClintEastwwod
Sylvester Stallone
Steven Segal etc...

[Bucky]

7. Off that list, Eastwood at least actually served in uniform

In fact, he survived a horrific transportation accident stateside as a result of his service--plane crash off the California coast--that took some serious heroics to overcome. I probably disagree with 98% of his politics, but I wouldn't denigrate his service.

Definitely keep him off the same list as Segal

[LakeArenal]

11. I see what you mean. But ....

The service was before he began to believe he is Dirty Harry.

[brewens]

4. That's baddassed! I've read a lot about that, and my dad flew recon from there after the

island was secured. I think the mini-series Pacific does a pretty good job of portraying the battle.

A buddies dad fought with the army there after they relieved the Marines. It was really brutal for those guys too.

[Submariner]

5. Eddie Albert from Green Acres fits the would ya believe category

He put his neck on the line and saved boatloads of Marines at Tarawa.

https://ss.sites.mtu.edu/mhugl/2016/10/16/eddie-albert-in-the-battle-of-tarawa/

[ironflange]

6. You sure can't judge a book by its cover

[Bucky]

8. A whole generation of actors and comics lined up and served when their country called.

Watch any 1950s or 1960s sitcom and you're probably looking at at least a couple of WW2 vets

[rurallib]

9. Just what I was going to bring up.

Captain Kangaroo, Norman Mailer and Rod Serling were names I remember hearing were in WWII

[sarge43]

14. 16M served in the US military during WWII

350K women.

In 1945 US population was a little under 140M. So about 10% of the over all population served. Even higher percentage in the demographic of men between the ages of 18 to 40. I used 40 because Clark Gable was that age when he joined the AAF.

[mucifer]

10. Some of these Jewish comedians are sooo badass!!

I got some nachas!

[Auggie]

12. James Arness was first out of the landing craft at the Battle of Anzio

Arness – due to his height – was the first man to be ordered off his landing craft to determine the depth of the water (it came up to his waist). He was severely wounded in his right leg during the Battle of Anzio.

According to Wikipedia, His military decorations included the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, the American Campaign Medal, the European–African–Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with three bronze battle stars, the World War II Victory Medal, and the Combat Infantryman Badge.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Arness

[lpbk2713]

13. Lee Marvin was wounded in the Battle of Saipan

Pvt USMC

[red dog 1]

15. My father served in the U.S. Navy Seabees on Guadalcanal

He and his fellow Navy buddies ate hot chow, while the Marines had to eat C-rations.

My Dad, and other sailors, would lend the Marines their Navy white hats so they could get in line for hot chow.
(It was so hot, everybody just wore t-shirts (not uniforms) so the only way you could tell the Navy guys from the Marines was by their hats)