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Last words in what film: He should have got the Navy Cross, not me!


Bob Hudson
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What movie had as its last words:

 

He should have got the Navy Cross, not me!”

 

Followed by hearty laughter.

 

It's likely the only time the Navy Cross was used as a comedic device in a movie.

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BILL THE PATCH

Catch-22?

 

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Oops, there army

 

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

 

 

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It's a seriously lighthearted war movie with ties to Alvin and the Chipmunks. But I don't think Alvin had anything to do with the Navy Cross

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So the movie is DESTINATION GOBI, a favorites of mine since I first saw it in the 1960's. It was released in 1953 and stars Richard Widmark as a Navy CPO who is assigned to one of the SACO weather stations established in Asia in WWII. For more on SACO, see http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/222583-sino-american-cooperative-organization-saco-document/

 

A tribe of nomadic Mongols help this SACO unit escape from a the Japanese. The plot involves, among other things, an airlift of US Army cavalry saddles for the Mongol's horses. At the end of the movie Widmark's character and a couple of his unit members fly back to Mongolia to present the Mongols with US saddle blankets.

 

The Navy Chief wore his Navy cross and showed it to the Mongol chief. After the three petty officers get back aboard the plane Widmark discovers his Navy Cross is missing (earlier in the film the Mongols had stealthly stolen much of the SACO unit's gear and some personal items).

 

Thus a Navy Cross becomes a punchline.

 

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BILL THE PATCH

I remember that one now, I think I saw a long long time ago. I was also thinking of the movie where (not sure what branch) they ride camels in it. An experiment to use as mounts.? Can't recall the name

 

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phantomfixer

was a good movie...always scratched my head when watching this movie.... a USN group in the desert with Japanese....not your typical WWII story line...

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I remember that one now, I think I saw a long long time ago. I was also thinking of the movie where (not sure what branch) they ride camels in it. An experiment to use as mounts.? Can't recall the name

 

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I had a DVD long time ago, the U.S. Cavalry out west, forgot the name, don't have it no more.

 

EDIT.

 

It was Hawmps LOL. a 1976 comedy with Slim Pickens and James Hampton, Denver Pyle.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawmps!

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I thought I'd seen all the old war movies, but I must have missed this one.

 

I bought it from iTunes years ago, one of just a few digital films I've actually bought, but this was cheap and and always a hoot to watch every couple years. I grew up on Navy bases in the 50's so it was fun to see a different kind of Navy war movie.

 

If it came out in 1953 and I've always thought I first saw it on NBC's Saturday Night The Movies around 1960, when I was 10.

 

Thanks to the internet, tonight I verified that Destination Gobi aired December 16, 1961 on Saturday Night The Movies (then the best nationwide movie program in the US).

 

I had just turned 11 then and was in Jr. High. So I've been watching this movie for 48 years or so and I just now noticed the Navy Cross scene?

 

It doesn't get old.

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Salvage Sailor

Great movie. It runs on TMC now and then during their Richard Widmark festival. (saw it again last year) They're a SACO weather unit and to reward the Mongols they order an airdrop of Saddles through the Navy supply chain.

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