So why didn’t he serve?
No one was more a hero in World War II than John Wayne.
Of course, we know better now.
For everyone else, fire away.
So his case for deferment was strictly on a temporary basis.
He would frequently berate Wayneto get into it,saying that he was growing rich as other men died.
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The latter apparently provided a powerful disincentive.
So upping to A-movie pay was among the spoils he received in their absence.
I didnt want to fight a fake war in a studio, declared the well-known Hollywood liberal.
And his performances inMr.
Jimmy Stewart also sucked it up even if he had to live it up first.
Soonflying combat missions, he eventually made colonel and became a brigadier general after the war in the Reserves.
Others serving actors were Paul Newman, Kirk Douglas, and Clark Gable.
However, this was not just bravado.
He fell madly in love and the possibility of losing her while away in service.
Again, this meant the wars winning would have to be left to others.
This is all author Eliot needs to know.
A May 1942 letter by Wayne to Ford begins Gagliassos argument.
Have you any suggestions on how I should get in?
Can you get me assigned to your outfit, and if you could, would you want me?
How about the Marines?
You have Army and Navy men under you.
Have you any Marines or how about a Seabee or what would you suggest or would you?
No Im not drunk.
The National Archives contain a letter of app from Wayne to the OSS.
Fords grandson provides a secondary source for the documentation.
But the deployment never occurred because the paperwork was sent to the home of his estranged wife.
If he died in the war, she alone would be left to provide for their four children.
I felt it would be a waste of time to spend two years picking up cigarette butts.
Heres another possible answer to his inaction.
In 1948, John Wayne became president of The Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals.
This included actors Ward Bond and Adolphe Menjou, MGM producer James McGuinness, and director Sam Wood.
Their goal washunting down subversive elementswithin the American film industry.
Hating communism, Wayne found a cushy place for his overcompensation to reside.
Wayne played a big damn American hero in that movie… who worked as an investigator for HUAC.
His final wife Pilar Wayne did offer some empathy for his increasingly erratic political stances.
He became a super-patriot for the rest of his life, trying to atone for staying home during WWII.
Garry Wills is not so sympathetic in his bookJohn Waynes America,which served as the basis forTruthDigsscathing indictment.
He was, in reality, a draft dodger.
Americas archetypal soldier was in fact a chicken hawk.
He was a cheerleader and champion of militaristic patriotism and combat he had never experienced.
Wayne had other priorities during WWIIachieving superstardom (and saving his neck) was more important than defeating fascism.
We clearly see denial definitely beats the real thing.
But would a real American hero not show up at the OSS and get some clarity?
Maybe not if fear, opportunity, and Marlene Dietrich were all pulling in the other direction.
