Bea Arthur Was A Truck-Driving Marine !

[teufelhunde.ret]

DECEMBER 9--While she strangely denied serving in the armed forces, military records show that the actress Bea Arthur spent 30 months in the Marine Corps, where she was one of the first members of the Women’s Reserve and spent time as a typist and a truck driver.

 

The "Maude" and "The Golden Girls" star, who died last year at age 86, enlisted in early-1943 when she was 21 (and known as Bernice Frankel). In a February 1943 letter included in her Marine personnel file, Arthur gave military officials a brief account of her prior employment as a food analyst at a Maryland packing plant, a hospital lab technician, and an office worker at a New York loan company.

 

Arthur was due to start a new job, but she “heard last week that enlistments for women in the Marines were open, so decided the only thing to do was to join.” While she hoped for an assignment in ground aviation, Arthur noted that she was “willing to get in now and do whatever is desired of me until such time as ground schools are organized.” She added, “As far as hobbies are concerned, I’ve dabbled in music and dramatics.”

 

As part of the enlistment process, Arthur underwent interviews that resulted in the production of “personality appraisal” sheets. One such analysis described her conversation as “Argumentative” and her attitude and manner as “Over aggressive.” In a handwritten note, the Marine interviewer remarked, “Officious--but probably a good worker--if she has her own way!”

 

Arthur, who was fingerprinted during enlistment, started basic training in March 1943 and was initially assigned as a typist at Marine headquarters in Washington, D.C.. Over the following two years, Arthur was stationed at Marine Corps and Navy air stations in Virginia and North Carolina. During her military career, Arthur’s rank went from private to corporal to sergeant to staff sergeant, the title she held upon her honorable discharge in September 1945, according to one document.

 

On a Marine qualification card that included a section titled “Talent for furnishing public entertainment,” Arthur is credited for “piano & organ 13 years” and “contralto-orchestra.” Her “active hobbies” included hunting with a .22 caliber rifle and “bow and arrow.”

 

A year after her enlistment, Arthur married a fellow Marine, Private Robert Aurthur, in a ceremony presided over by a city judge in Ithaca, New York. She then formally had her named changed in military records to Bernice Aurthur. It would change again, to Bea Arthur, as she started her post-military career as an actress.

 

rest of story: http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/cel...-driving-marine

[Manchu Warrior]

Pretty interesting article and I have to admit that I liked the show Maude. Well, I will have to be honest and say that it may have had something to do with the fact that Adrienne Babeau was on the show. And I must be getting old because I can even sit and watch Golden Girls.

[teufelhunde.ret]

I will have to be honest and say that it may have had something to do with the fact that Adrienne Babeau was on the show.

:drool2: :naughty:

[bobgee]

Great story! Always liked her!!!!!! Now I like her better!!!!! Perhaps her denial of USMC WWII service stemmed from that VD report in her record? Who knows........in spite of that she did well in the Corps!

Anyway.......RIP SSgt Bea Arthur :salute:

Semper Fi......Bobgee

[Jack's Son]

I never cared for her acting style, or the rolls she played.

Actors hate to be "type cast", but she may have been.

I like her a lot better now and can freely admit I misjudged her.

 

Rest well MARINE!

[Bob Hudson]

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