re: #129 HappyWarrior

Yeah, to his credit he actually did serve in the U.S Army. Unlike John Wayne who didn’t and then put down people who didn’t want to fight in Vietnam. The guy I really admire from Hollywood during that time though- Jimmy Stewart. Clark Gable too. Both of those guys put themselves in harm’s way and this obviously isn’t a political attack on Wayne since Stewart and Gable were known to be conservative.

per wiki:

America’s entry into World War II resulted in a deluge of support for the war effort from all sectors of society, and Hollywood was no exception. Wayne was exempted from service due to his age (34 at the time of Pearl Harbor) and family status, classified as 3-A (family deferment). He repeatedly wrote John Ford saying he wanted to enlist, on one occasion enquiring whether he could get into Ford’s military unit, but consistently kept postponing it until after “he finished just one or two pictures”.[28] Wayne did not attempt to prevent his reclassification as 1-A (draft eligible), but Republic Studios was emphatically resistant to losing him; Herbert J. Yates, President of Republic, threatened Wayne with a lawsuit if he walked away from his contract[29] and Republic Pictures intervened in the Selective Service process, requesting Wayne’s further deferment.[30]

Wayne toured U.S. bases and hospitals in the South Pacific for three months in 1943 and 1944.[31] By many accounts, Wayne’s failure to serve in the military was the most painful experience of his life.[32] His widow later suggested that his patriotism in later decades sprang from guilt, writing: “He would become a ‘superpatriot’ for the rest of his life trying to atone for staying home.”[33]

like most things in life, it’s complicated….to be honest, that’s a strange position to be in, threatened by your employer with a lawsuit if you break your contract to serve your country. If you can believe wiki… naturally ymmv.