John Wayne?

The old "Green Berets" LOVED this guy!
Just my 2 cents...

Worth more than just 2 cents!

[J.von Canon]

Let me first say that I have been a big John Wayne fan since I was a kid, a loong time ago, and I still am. That being said, while he was 34 in 1941, married, with kids, he could have signed up, like Stewart, Fonda, Gable, etc., but he chose not to. Nothing stood in his way to enlist, but he declined, much to his later regret, it would appear. His biography at Wikipedia provides a succinct explanation of this subject.
I also must respectfully disagree on "The Green Berets". I thought it was a very bad film, with a real howler of an ending, showing the sun setting in the South China Sea!

Bob Shoaf

You quote "Wikipedia" as your source - my "source" is that I WAS THERE...
You have no idea of what this man gave.Ironic he is singled out.Draft deferments WERE given for men with many children (and rightly so).
Even today in many SF team rooms and offices pictures of John Wayne are hung on walls.In 24 years in Special Forces I never saw another picture of ANY other personality(except Maggie).
Sullen booing (mostly) draftee,non-combatants as two thirds of them proved to be in W.W.II ,leaves me unimpressed.
You obviously are too young to appreciate the hate during the Vietnam conflict.I still detest those scumbag protesters who waved enemy flags.
But since his(Wayne's) morale-support is'nt good enough for your views-you might be interested to know Wayne also left the John Wayne Cancer Institute to posterity(best cancer faciility in the U.S.,in Santa Monica,Calif.)
That good 'nuf???

[Robert Shoaf]

Were you a close friend of Wayne's during WWII? If not, then how can you say you "were there"? I am not referring at all to what Wayne's stature is or was to the Green Berets, etc., only that he COULD have enlisted, but chose not to. Yes, he had a deferment, but that is not an obstacle for enlistment. I'm not criticizing him; he apparently had very conflicting emotions on the subject.
I am 58 years old , so I am very familiar with the Vietnam War. I did not serve, since I was in college from 1967 to 1971. By the time I graduated, troops were being withdrawn, not shipped over. I'm not sure why you have gotten your knickers in a bunch over this; I am a big Wayne fan, and always will be. But I still believe "Green Berets" was a lousy movie.

Bob Shoaf

[J.von Canon]

[quote=Robert Shoaf;2506846]Were you a close friend of Wayne's during WWII? If not, then how can you say you "were there"? I am not referring at all to what Wayne's stature is or was to the Green Berets, etc., only that he COULD have enlisted, but chose not to. Yes, he had a deferment, but that is not an obstacle for enlistment. I'm not criticizing him; he apparently had very conflicting emotions on the subject.
m 58 years old , so I am very familiar with the Vietnam War. I did not serve, since I was in college from 1967 to 1971. By the time I graduated, troops were being withdrawn, not shipped over. I'm not sure why you have gotten your knickers in a bunch over this; I am a big Wayne fan, and always will be. But I still believe "Green Berets" was a lousy movie.

Bob


No;I did not know Wayne-only what he did at a time that took guts to make a stand...
"I WAS THERE" referred to my time in SF so I knew what was happening...
As to Green Berets being a "lousy movie"- most ALL war movies were "lousy" until S.P.R. and Band of Brothers....
The left-wingers (read Communist sympathisers)loved to criticise that movie so I've heard it all before(sunset on wrong side of horizon,etc.)
Wayne did far more for standing up for soldiers than any one of tens of thousands of "Greatest Generation" hero draftees in W.W.II.
And don't try to tell me you are "a fan" while making snide (leftist) comments about him.
No sense discussing this with you.
You obviously have'nt got a clue.

[Robert Shoaf]

J von, or whatever your name is; you obviously either can't comprehend my comments, or your mindset is so skewed that you won't even entertain any form of criticism.
"Leftist " comments? You obviously have no idea of my political persuasion, or any clue as to my comments. Your responses are quite childish, and irrational. Your little world must be a sad, and angry place.

[SgtB]

Oh for chrissakes . . .

I remember back in bootcamp one night while a DI was tucking us in, he made us repeat "... and God Bless Chesty Puller and God Bless John Wayne and ..."

In one of the few movies where Duke played a Marine, "Without Reservations", if I remember correctly, he had what appeared to be an original apple green Heer DD M-35 in one scene as a war souvenir. That's pretty rare as most german helmets in the movies back in the 40's were M-16's, etc, with bogus decals.

[J.von Canon]

J von, or whatever your name is; you obviously either can't comprehend my comments, or your mindset is so skewed that you won't even entertain any form of criticism.
"Leftist " comments? You obviously have no idea of my political persuasion, or any clue as to my comments. Your responses are quite childish, and irrational. Your little world must be a sad, and angry place.

OK scooter (or whatever your name)..
You are'nt worth further response.
Easy to type insults when out of reach...

[billbert]

I dont know if any of you have noticed but John Waynes ship the Ergenstasse from the Sea Chase fame is resurrected to the silver screen for a few moments 40 years later as a tramp steamer transporting IRA terrorists in the Harrison Ford flick Patriot Games... Take a peak and get a snicker sometime at it..Billbert