Can You Recognize And Name These Famous Mystery Veterans?

[carbinephalen]

Sunday's Mystery Veteran.....

 

This man hoped to become a US Marine Corps fighter pilot. Prior to the US entry into World War II, however, both the Army and Navy required two years of college for their pilots program. He enrolled into classes at Boston College. After Pearl Harbor was attacked, the college requirement was dropped, and he immediately applied for Marine flight training. His primary flight training was in Dallas, followed by fighter training in Pensacola, where he also earned his carrier landing qualifications. He was a Marine Corps flight instructor for two years, finally being ordered to the Pacific fleet in 1945. However, his orders were canceled after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki forcing Japan's surrender. After the war, he was on a variety of tv shows where he did everything from practical jokes to searching for stars. Can you name this man??

 

(His name has been given already in this thread in one of the other users posts by the way :thumbsup: )

[Jack's Son]

Sunday's Mystery Veteran.....

This man hoped to become a US Marine Corps fighter pilot. (His name has been given already in this thread in one of the other users posts by the way :thumbsup: )

Bob Keeshan.

[Darktrooper]

Bob Keeshan.

 

Ed McMahon

[carbinephalen]

Darktrooper is correct!

 

"Heeeeeres...Ed McMahon!"

 

 

[Jack's Son]

I was robbed!! :evilgrin:........looks like a Kangaroo to me!!

 

 

Sunday's Mystery Veteran.....

 

This man hoped to become a US Marine Corps fighter pilot. Prior to the US entry into World War II, however, both the Army and Navy required two years of college for their pilots program. He enrolled into classes at Boston College. After Pearl Harbor was attacked, the college requirement was dropped, and he immediately applied for Marine flight training. His primary flight training was in Dallas, followed by fighter training in Pensacola, where he also earned his carrier landing qualifications. He was a Marine Corps flight instructor for two years, finally being ordered to the Pacific fleet in 1945. However, his orders were canceled after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki forcing Japan's surrender. After the war, he was on a variety of tv shows where he did everything from practical jokes to searching for stars. Can you name this man??

 

(His name has been given already in this thread in one of the other users posts by the way :thumbsup: )

 

[carbinephalen]

I was robbed!! :evilgrin:........looks like a Kangaroo to me!!

 

Haha! No worries JS, there will be a who's that veteran presidential name match coming up later. The winner will get one FREE month of forum usage!! With such perks as unlimited posts AND unlimited uploads!

[carbinephalen]

Can somebody name this former late night television star?? he joined the U.S. Navy on June 8, 1943, received V-12 officer training at Columbia University. Commissioned as an ensign late in the war, He was assigned to the USS Pennsylvania in the Pacific. He was en route to the combat zone aboard a troopship when the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ended the war. Who could he be?

[LtRGFRANK]

Looks like Johnny Carson

[carbinephalen]

You are correct!

 

Does anybody else have any pictures and bios of mystery men that they'd like to share?!

[ssggates]

This soldier/celebrity was drafted into the army in 1950 and narrowly escaped death when a military plane he was traveling in crashed into the Pacific Ocean. He managed to use an inflatable raft to swim to shore, and testifying at a hearing about the incident prevented him from serving overseas in Korea.

 

[rrobertscv]

This soldier/celebrity was drafted into the army in 1950 and narrowly escaped death when a military plane he was traveling in crashed into the Pacific Ocean. He managed to use an inflatable raft to swim to shore, and testifying at a hearing about the incident prevented him from serving overseas in Korea.

 

 

The MAN "Clint Eastwood"!!

[ssggates]

The MAN "Clint Eastwood"!!

 

 

Right! He even had the same steely-eyed glare back then!

[carbinephalen]

 

 

I have strong feelings about gun control. If there's a gun around, I want to be controlling it.

-Clint Eastwood

 

Nice one SSGGates! Thanks for adding to the fun! :thumbsup:

[carbinephalen]

Thought I would drag this one back from the depths of the MISC forum! Does anybody have any mystery veteran stars that they'd like to show? See if we can guess them!

[rr01]

He interrupted his film career to volunteer for duty in World War II with the United States Marine Corps Reserve on December 13, 1942. He was assigned in March 1943 to active duty at the Marine Corps Base in San Diego. He was sent to Marine Corps Schools Detachment (Photographic Section) in Quantico, Virginia three months later, with orders as a motion-picture production technician. Promoted to sergeant, He then returned to the San Diego base in February 1944 and was next assigned to the radio section of the Public Relations Office, Headquarters Company, Base Headquarters Battalion. There he staged and broadcast the radio program Halls of Montezuma. he was honorably discharged from the Marines on December 7, 1944.

In 1958, he joined the U.S. Naval Reserve and was commissioned as a lieutenant commander and made a public affairs officer. During his annual training tours, he promoted the Navy through radio and television broadcasts, personal appearances, and documentary films. He was promoted to commander in 1963 and captain in 1968.

He went to Vietnam in 1967 for a month's tour of duty as a location scout for combat scenes in a training film entitled Global Marine. He traveled with a combat camera crew from the demilitarized zone south to the Mekong Delta. For his service in Vietnam, the Navy awarded him a Navy Commendation Medal. His World War II decorations are as follows: American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal, Rifle Marksman Badge, and the US Marine Corps Reserve Medal. He retired from the Naval Reserve in the 1970s at the rank of

[carbinephalen]

Whew ya got me!...hrmmm :think:

[rr01]

Here is one entertainer who probably spent more time at the front than the average GI and, like Bob Hope and the innumerable other entertainers who chose to take the time from their careers she will always be fondly remembered. This, like my previous posting above is from Wikipedia and another Internet photo source.

"I was the pilot of that "slick" which had received major damage to the tail-rotor drive shaft from a lucky enemy rifle shot. The maintenance team at the staging area inspected and determined that a one-time flight back to base camp would be okay but grounded the aircraft after that. Upon arriving back at Soc Trang, I informed Martha (she came right up to us and asked how things were going) that we had a gunship down in the combat area and additional efforts were being made to extract the crew. I don't recall if we had received word of the death of the pilot at that time. Martha stated that she and her troupe would remain until everyone returned from the mission. As there were no replacements, the servicemen could not return to the mission. While the servicemen waited, Raye played poker with them and helped to keep everyone's spirits up. I enjoyed playing cards with Martha but regretted it somewhat. It appears that she had plenty of practice playing poker with GIs during her USO service in multiple wars. But I still love her for who she was and what she did. When the mission was completed, which had resulted in the loss of a helicopter, gunship and a Viking pilot, there was also an officer, the Major who was in command of the Vikings who had been wounded when the ship went down. He was flying pilot position but was not in control of the ship when the command pilot, a Warrant Officer, was shot. When he and the two remaining crewmen were returned to Soc Trang, Raye volunteered to assist the doctor in treating the wounded flyer. When all had been completed, Raye waited until everybody was available and then put on her show. Everyone involved appreciated her as an outstanding trouper and a caring person. During the Vietnam War, she was made an honorary Green Beret because she visited United States Army Special Forces in Vietnam without fanfare, and she helped out when things got bad in Special Forces A-Camps. As a result, she came to be known affectionately by the Green Berets as "Colonel Maggie."

In appreciation of her work with the USO during World War II and subsequent wars, special consideration was given to bury her in Arlington National Cemetery upon her death. However, at her request, she was ultimately buried with full military honors in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. She was buried in the Post Cemetery at Ft. Bragg. She was an honorary Colonel in the Marines and an honorary Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army.

[rr01]

Whew ya got me!...hrmmm :think:

Original "3:10 to Yuma".

[Austin R]

In 1942, this man joined the Marine Corps. He served as an Intelligence Officer for a dive bomber squadron in the Pacific. He would later lie about his service to receive the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Purple Heart. Will a person who knows the answer make the accusation.

[Austin R]

This entertainer joined the Navy in 1956 and was discharged in 1961. He became a hospital corpsman stationed at Guantanamo Bay and the Philadelphia Naval Hospital. He also was on the navy track team, and basketball team. it's Surprising that he is not wearing a sweater in the photo.

[patches]

Joe McCarthy and Bill Cosby.

[bronxboymike]

I can't believe this has to come from a DIEHARD Yankees fan and proud son of The Bronx, but this Hero is glaring in his omission from the list thus far.

And I would be referring to USMC aviator Ted Williams, the greatest player to ever wear the uniform of the hated Red Sox and a WW2 and Korean war combat vet.

I don't think many players today would give up an already active sports career twice to serve their country.

And let us also remember more recently another man cut from the same cloth, Pat Tillman, may they both RIP.

 

Mike

[rr01]

Whew ya got me!...hrmmm :think:

Glenn Ford

Lest we forget.......

In 1942, he was drafted and assigned to a segregated Army cavalry unit in Fort Riley, Kansas. Having the requisite qualifications, he and several other black soldiers applied for admission to an Officer Candidate School (OCS) then located at Fort Riley. Although the Army's initial July 1941 guidelines for OCS had been drafted as race-neutral, practically speaking few black applicants were admitted into OCS until after subsequent directives by Army leadership. As a result, the applications of him and his colleagues were delayed for several months. After protests by heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis (then stationed at Fort Riley) and the help of Truman Gibson (then an assistant civilian aide to the Secretary of War), the men were accepted into OCS. This common military experience spawned a personal friendship between him and Louis.

[carbinephalen]

The one and only Jackie Robinson :thumbsup:

 

[carbinephalen]

Here's another tricky one for you guys (Here's a hint.....it goes along with the athlete theme :thumbsup: )

 

 

This Boxing legend enlisted in the Army in 1942, and entered a segregated unit. Rather than deploying the famous athlete, the Army used him to raise morale by having him put on performances and attend media events. He Boxed a total of 72 fights and only lost THREE of them in his career!

 

WOW!