Eddie Albert

[Chantry]

Don't know why, but I never would have guessed

 

"On September 9, 1942, Albert enlisted in the United States Coast Guard and was discharged in 1943 to accept an appointment as a lieutenant in the U.S. Naval Reserve. He was awarded the Bronze Star with Combat "V" for his actions during the invasion of Tarawa in November 1943, when, as the coxswain of a US Navy landing craft, he rescued 47 Marines who were stranded offshore (and supervised the rescue of 30 others), while under heavy enemy machine-gun fire."

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Albert#Military

[Pat Riot]

I always thought he was “just another actor” until I found out about his service and heroism about 20 years ago. Very impressive and interesting gent, that’s for sure. 

[Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619]

His service record was pretty well-known. At least as time went by.

 

In the years and decades immediately after the war, there was not a lot of discussion of the service records of actors who, along with millions of others, had served. Everybody just wanted to get on with life, and why extol a record of a sort shared by a great many others?

 

This changed, of course, eventually, and as Pat points out, 20 or 30 years ago Arnold's fine record was publicized.