SwiftVets.com

[I B Squidly]

Forgot it was the birthday of Marion Robert Morris, I mean John Wayne.

While 33, married with two children and eligible for deferment Wayne made a deliberate decision to make hay in Hollywood while everyone else (many likewise eligible) went off to fight the war. Apparently John Ford would raze him unmercifully. During the filming of "They Were Expendable" a real hero, Robert Montgomery had to tell Ford to lighten up.

Went to the Notre Dame/Georgia Tech game at South Bend in '68. Wayne was there with Bob Hope. Hope was roundly booed for pro Viet Nam statements and Wayne declined to speak.
_________________
"KILL ALL THE LAWYERS!"

-Wlm Shakespeare

[LewWaters]

Unforgettable John Wayne

biography by Ronald Reagan
courtesy of Readers Digest - October 1979

We called him DUKE, and he was every bit the giant off screen he was on. Everything about him-his stature, his style, his convictions-conveyed enduring strength, and no one who observed his struggle in those final days could doubt that strength was real. Yet there was more. To my wife, Nancy, "Duke Wayne was the most gentle, tender person I ever knew."
<<snip>>

Stagecoach to Stardom
He was born Marion Michael Morrison in Winterset, Iowa. When Marion was six, the family moved to California. There he picked up the nickname Duke - after his Airedale. He rose at 4 a.m. to deliver newspapers, and after school and football practice he made deliveries for local stores. He was an A student, president of the Latin Society, head of his senior class and an all-state guard on a championship football team.

Duke had hoped to attend the U.S. Naval Academy and was named as an alternate selection to Annapolis, but the first choice took the appointment. Instead, he accepted a full scholarship to play football at the University of Southern California. There coach Howard Jones, who often found summer jobs in the movie industry for his players, got Duke work in the summer of 1926 as an assistant prop man on the set of a movie directed by John Ford.
<<snip>>


When war broke out, John Wayne tried to enlist but was rejected because of an old football injury to his shoulder, his age (34), and his status as a married father of four. He flew to Washington to plead that he be allowed to join the Navy but was turned down. So he poured himself into the war effort by making inspirational war films - among them The Fighting Seabees, Back to Bataan and They Were Expendable. To those back home and others around the world he became a symbol of the determined American fighting man.

Duke could not be kept from the front lines. In 1944 he spent three months touring forward positions in the Pacific theater. Appropriately, it was a wartime film, Sands of Iwo Jima which turned him into a superstar. Years after the war, when Emperor Hirohito of Japan visited the United States, he sought out John Wayne, paying tribute to the one who represented our nation's success in combat.
<<snip>>

In the 1940s, Duke was one of the few stars with the courage to expose the determined bid by a band of communists to take control of the film industry. Through a series of violent strikes and systematic blacklisting, these people were at times dangerously close to reaching their goal. With theatrical employee's union leader Brewer, playwright Morrie and others, he formed the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals to challenge this insidious campaign. Subsequent Congressional investigations in I947 clearly proved both the communist plot and the importance of what Duke and his friends did.
<<snip>>

Duke went to Vietnam in the early days of the war. He scorned VIP treatment, insisting that he visit the troops in the field. Once he even had his helicopter land in the midst of a battle. When he returned, he vowed to make a film about the heroism of Special Forces soldiers.

The public jammed theaters to see the resulting film, The Green Berets. The critics, however, delivered some of the harshest reviews ever given a motion picture. The New Yorker bitterly condemned the man who made the film. The New York Times called it "unspeakable ... rotten ... stupid." Yet John Wayne was undaunted. "That little clique back there in the East has taken great personal satisfaction reviewing my politics instead of my pictures," he often said. "But one day those doctrinaire liberals will wake up to find the pendulum has swung the other way.
<<snip>>

I saw his loyalty in action many times. I remember that when Duke and Jimmy Stewart were on their way to my second inauguration as governor of California they encountered a crowd of demonstrators under the banner of the Vietcong flag. Jimmy had just lost a son in Vietnam. Duke excused himself for a moment and walked into the crowd. In a moment there was no Vietcong flag.

http://www.jwplace.com/biography.html
_________________
Clark County Conservative

[shawa]

THANKS,LEW!! THAT'S A KEEPER!!
_________________
“I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.” (Thomas Paine, 1776)

[I B Squidly]

Lew,

Careful with that. Ronaldus Maximus is giving an eulogy while primping for a presidential run. It's like Anthony at Caesar's funeral.... not exactly accurate. Reagan fought WWII from Hollywood and wrapped himself in Wayne's carefully constructed mystique.

Had Wayne truly wanted to wear a uniform he could have joined Ford's film unit like Hoot Gibson.

Wayne's tour of 'Nam was unique in so far as it was his only public appearance without his toupee. It was a concious choice to gain sympathy for his age. Some basic truths are lost in the obliviously formulaic "The Green Berets" which likely did as much to turn off Americans as Walter Cronkite.
_________________
"KILL ALL THE LAWYERS!"

-Wlm Shakespeare

[LewWaters]

IB, we are going to have to agree to disagree here. It would seem there are several that have always wanted to bash Wayne's Americanism. Much like they have Lee Greenwood, but gave a total pass to Clinton, Gore and sKerry.

As far as "Green Berets," the movie goes, I too thought it was sort of hokey. I had heard before that Johnson had asked him to make the film to try to shore up some support for the Viet Nam war. Only hearsay, mind you.

I cannot fault Wayne for what he did during the war. While many did indeed serve, he served a very useful function, both during and after, in shoring up National Pride through movies and I would imagine personal appearances.

As for what you saw with him and Jimmy Stewart, there are any number of reasons he may have chose not to speak out then, I don't know and neither do the rest of us, we can only speculate.
_________________
Clark County Conservative

[I B Squidly]

Lew,

We're not disagreeing. Wayne is an icon well crafted with the best intentions. We disagree where you put sKerry, Clinton and Gore in the same paragraph.

It wasn't Stewart, it was Hope and the crowd made the decision for him.

Famously, Wayne took the Hasty Pudding Award at Harvard. He was self deprecating but didn't back down on the essentials.

"Don't apologize, it's a sign of weakness." said he in dozens of films. Pragmatism is one thing...shallow thought is another. I guess my disappointment is that Wayne could never ennunciate anything but simplistic generalities. "The Alamo", his personal expense couldn't rise above inanities.

Offered law school after USC he turned it down. "I didn't know any partners, knew no honcho-muckdy-mucks and would have been a clerk for 20 years." "Film gave me a chance better than that." I'm glad of his choice.
_________________
"KILL ALL THE LAWYERS!"

-Wlm Shakespeare

[LewWaters]

IB, my apologies if I misunderstood your intent.

There are several sites claiming that he too was a draft dodger when that isn't necessarily so. Unanswered questions, yes, but not what I would call a draft dodger.

As far as the un-magnificent threesome I mentioned, one defintely was a draft dodger and the other two seem to have somehow managed to spend the least amount of time "in country" and yet be labeled as heroes by the left.

I don't understand the thought process of the left when they denigrate military people, then declare one a hero when it suits their whims. Same with "celebrities." If they protest and make fools of themselves in the process, they are heroes. If they answer the call and serve or openly support the cause, they become "chickenhawks."

Although Wayne did not serve in the military during the war, I feel he was made into a National Icon and did more for the war effort here than if he had served.
_________________
Clark County Conservative

[shawa]

[I B Squidly]

Shawa, it was Saturday afternoon; hours later and I ain't there yet.

In 1935 my father was wearing a gold bar in the Coast Artillery. A Chem E in a 'vital industry', age, and a heart murmur kept him from combat. We all have our heros and I only met Reagan once. We were talking about John Wayne.
_________________
"KILL ALL THE LAWYERS!"

-Wlm Shakespeare

[GenrXr]

John Wayne has been the target of the left since the 60's. The feminist movement has always had their sights on destroying the image of Wayne. Wayne represented the modern day Knight and the chivalry of the great knights of lore. John Wayne had many demons and problems in private life as many people do, yet managed through sheer love of country and his fellow people to skillfully and with great care produce the lasting iconic image he portrayed in the movies. This image had tremendous impact upon young men and women alike during uncertain times.

Rent a few Wayne movies and observe how he defers the adoring love of the beautiful starlet to the younger buck while in process of teaching the young buck how to handle that love and respect and cherish it. For Wayne had no time to settle down, because he was off on another battle of chivalry. No gratuitous sex scenes or settling down for Wayne in his movies. He was too busy showing men how to be men and to respect and honor women.

This chivalric respect of women and the stoic honor he portrayed caused feminists to declare men do not exist like this and this is pure fantasy. Feminists really just hate men and anything good that come from them. Fact is truly great men do exist in the world and John Wayne portrayed them in the movies. This gave example to many young men and hope to women for chivalry in uncertain times.

Apologies for poor syntax. A public school education coupled with no Microsoft Word is a ****** combination.
_________________
"An activist is the person who cleans up the water, not the one claiming its dirty."
"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to stand by and do nothing." Edmund Burke (1729-1797), Founder of Conservative Philosophy

[shawa]

LOL!
You are just so cute, Squidly.
_________________
“I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.” (Thomas Paine, 1776)

[scotty61]

The fact that John Wayne has been dead for about 25 years and still is one of the most popular of movie stars, speaks volumes about how the majority of the public feel about him. I think he will still be a big star when the likes of Alec Baldwin and Whoopie Goldberg are footnotes in the history of Hollywood.
_________________
John Kerry. A Neville Chamberlain for our times.

[GM Strong]

[shawa]

Great post GM. Thanks!!
_________________
“I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.” (Thomas Paine, 1776)