Actors, Politicians, and Celebrities

This is only per wikipedia so it might be wrong, but apparently Desmond Llewellyn, who played Q in so many Bond films, was in the RWF, captured 1940, and spent the rest of the war in Oflag VII-C and in Colditz. So he must have been energetic at escapes?

 

The available PoW records on line show that a 2nd Lt. D.W. Llewellyn was taken PoW on the 1st July 1941. It makes no mention of his regiment.

 

Surname spelling correction in Officer Casualty List here:





Surname/Family name spelling confirmed here:

LLEWELYN, DESMOND WILKINSON (1914 - 1999), actor | Dictionary of Welsh Biography

Kind regards, always,

Jim.

 

I was looking at this document in the POW section of FMP rather than the casualty lists. It was only a cursory seach whilst drinking my morning coffee.

 

That's interesting Simon, not seen that one before. Does it have an "official list" type name please?

Well found sir!

Kind regards, always,

Jim.

 

Alan Samuel Lyle-Smythe MBE MC, otherwise Alan Caillou, in one of his Man from U.N.C.L.E. roles, a series in which he was also a scriptwriter for:


His MBE was pre-War, from his time with the Palestine Police. His MC was gazetted in 1944, when an Acting Captain in the Intelligence Corps:
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/36403/supplement/1042/data.pdf

Further info on his thespian and other experiences is at:
Alan Caillou - Wikipedia
Alan Caillou | Actor, Writer

I shall now look out for "The World is Six Feet Square".

 

Sorry to nitpick, but . . . There's been a ton of controversary concerning Durning's service, mostly due to his tall tales. He claimed he forged his mother's signature so he could join the Army right after Pearl Harbor, but as you point out, he was actually drafted a month shy of his 21st birthday on Jan 28. 1943.

He did not land on D-Day, though he often said he landed with Rangers on June 6. After induction, he served with the 386th AAA Battalion and deployed with them to the UK. He was levied out of the 386th AAA Battalion in May 1944 and assigned to the 359th Replacement Company in anticipation of D-Day casualties. As such, he was part of a group of anti-aircraft replacements that landed on Omaha Beach on 15 June - 9 days after D-Day. The group only got about 1000 yards inland when a German S-mine was detonated. Durning was 'slightly wounded' per the War Dept (received several small fragments to legs, one hand and one small one to the head), and was evac'd back to the UK. He was released from the hospital on 12 Dec 44. He later claimed he was a survivor of the Malmedy massacre, but he had not made it out of the UK at the time that massacre happened. He was in the replacement system until the 159th Infantry Regiment arrived in France in March 1945. The 159th was assigned to the 106th Infantry Division to replace one of the regiments lost in the Battle of the Bulge. After reconstituting, the division was relegated to POW handling. I go into that detail to point out that at no point did Durning serve in a position to earn the Silver Star Medal.

When he died, Arlington Cemetery had a headstone made showing Durning had the Silver Star Medal, Bronze Star Medal and 3 purple hearts. And then the controversy began. An investigation was launched and it was determined he was not awarded the Bronze Star Medal or two of the Purple Hearts, so Arlington ordered a new headstone cut reflecting the corrected data. However, the Silver Star Medal turned out to be a problem as well. His discharge does list a Silver Star, but does not specify Silver Star MEDAL, and it failed to cite the General Order authorizing that award. His name is not on any roster of Silver Star Medal recipients, and his citation/general orders have never surfaced. When the Arlington authorities were notified of this, they flatly stated that they had just changed his headstone once and weren't going to be bothered again. (Details courtesy of Brian Siddall's research and efforts to correct the headstone.)

So he did serve, and he was wounded. So he certainly qualifies for this thread. It's just that the rest of the details 'are a bit squishy'. Interestingly, at a number of ceremonies in his honor, most of the 'squishy details' have been repeated by a number of officials whose staffs failed to check anything but Durning's press releases.

 

According to AR 600-45 (Change 12) dated 10 Sept 47 provisions were made to award the Bronze Star Service Medal to recipients of the CIB (Combat Infantry Badge) and the CFMB (Combat Field Medical Badge). The timeframe of this AR (Army Regulation) was set at on or after 7 Dec 41 and on or before 3 Sept 45.

This does cause problems for researchers “not in the know” about this particular modification of AR 600-45 because by this action the recipients were not “awarded” the BSM but were qualified to receive it if and only if they were awarded the CIB or CFMB. Also to further mess things up was that the War Dept and later the DoD (Dept of Defence) was that no “blanket notification” went out to the veterans of this change to the AR. They found out about it usually when they or family members were applying for military records due to loss by fire, theft, misplacing etc.

So Mr. Durning was deemed eligible for the Bronze Star Medal by virtue of his earning of the Combat Infantryman’s Badge.

 

If he had earned a CIB that would be the case. But his discharge shows he was not awarded one. At the time of his discharge from the military, he had been transferred from his original air defense MOS and reassigned to "745 Rifleman" MOS. However, by the time he was discharged from the hospital and joined an infantry regiment, that unit was relegated to POW handling due to the huge influx of surrendering Germans. He never saw combat as an infantryman.

 

Well I’m sure that your information is accurate about Mr. Durning’s service records, but it does get a bit into the gray area from what I’ve read here. He was reassigned from an AA unit to an battlefield casualty replacement unit. After recovering from his wounds he was assigned to a unit of the 159th Infantry. Even though their duties were relegated to tending to POWs, the unit was in Germany until VE Day which was still very much a combat zone. This is quite possible how Mr. Durning was awarded or claimed to have been awarded the CIB. The criteria for awarding of many badges and medals at that time was much less stringent than today from what I’ve read. If his discharge papers does not show that he was awarded the CIB then my argument is moot.

Something to consider. When I was in the Army a long long time ago, I earned the EIB (Expert Infantryman’s Badge) in 1978. When I was discharged in 1980, my DD 214 did not reflect the award. Did I really earn it or not? I know that I did, my 1st Sergeant pinned it on me in a company formation. But according to the Department of the Army it wasn’t awarded. At the time I could care less. I was doing the “genuine (gen-U-wine) duffle bag drag” down the street towards the front gate at Ft. Bragg, NC and was going home and not looking back. Now I wish that I would’ve contested the matter right then and there, but such is life. I still have that EIB in my shadow box of Army memorabilia on the wall. So reading about Mr. Durning’s story piqued my interest because of my own sort of similar situation

Please do not be confused, I’m not trying to come here off as an advocate of Mr. Durning’s exploits during the war. His war experience claims are indeed questionable. It it appears that the people running Arlington Cemetery are done with their part of the investigation, and quite possibly the Department of Defense as well. He was a capable and believable character actor though. Maybe that’s why his stories were taken as gospel. And back in the old days people could get away with “stolen valor” much easier than they can these days.

 

Arlington's due diligence consists of contacting St Louis NARA and informing them of the death of the veteran. A clerk there reviews the veteran's file and ticks off the appropriate boxes on a checklist, and the checklist is sent back for the headstone to be cut accordingly. While the process appears to be good, in action there are many errors. In Durning's case the checklist 'verified' no fewer than 3 medals listed that were not in fact in his records. And of course they 'verified' one award which lacked documentation. So the process was followed, but executed poorly.

Gray area is very much a subjective matter. Here's how the Army cleared up the question: "The 1943 War Department Circular required infantrymen to demonstrate 'satisfactory performance of duty in action against the enemy.' The operative words "in action" connoted actual combat. A War Department determination in October 1944 specified that "action against the enemy" for purposes of award of the CIB was to be interpreted as "ground combat against enemy ground forces." Operating a PW enclosure would not, I believe, fall within 'in action.'

You're right that errors do get made on discharge papers. My DD214 omitted my CIB, but of course I had the orders and got it corrected. But as it applies to Durning's case, what he believed is irrelevant. They're supposed to go off what was in his records, and he was, after all, dead when the check was made, so he was in no position to convince them otherwise - unless someone else 'influenced' the process.

You're also right about his acting skills. He parlayed his fake stories into a seat on the dias to be honored on many occasions, and by people whose staffs should have smelled the fertilizer.

 

F/Lt. Harold Siddons DFC RAF

Harold Siddons - Wikipedia

Harold Siddons - IMDb

https://ww2talk.com/index.php?threa...ed-wounded-missing.82955/page-56#post-1042730

 

Alan Samuel Lyle-Smythe MBE MC. Of desert trials, Italian escapes, and the Military Cross (all courtesy of The National Archives)

Kind regards, always,

Jim.

 

Learned this recently -

Louis Hayward (born in South Africa, grew up in UK and France), who I knew from the first film adaptation Leslie Charteris' The Saint in New York. Enlisted with the USMC during the war and... was in charge of the photographic unit that filmed on Tarawa during the battle!

 

He was good in every part I ever saw him him. I especially liked Weekend in Havana

The Long Blue Line: Cesar Romero—a Hollywood star, but just another guy in the Coast Guard > United States Coast Guard > My Coast Guard News

 

Excellent Dave. Much appreciated.

Kind regards, always,

Jim.

 

Hi Jim.

If you enjoy Cesar Romero movies you might check out the original Ocean's 11. Classic Rat Pack. Romero isn't in the top billing but he seldom was. Had a pretty large role. Young Shirley Maclean has a small and funny part too.
Great entertainment.

 

Over the years seen many, many, many times Dave, and for me not bettered by all the re-makes on a theme that have come since.

Kind regards, always,

Jim.

 

Hugh Vincent MOXEY - Lt, 35th LAA Regt. Captured Java 8 Mar 42.


Hugh Moxey | Actor
Hugh Moxey - Wikipedia

Tim

 

Now this is, and will always be, my favourite Cesar Romero performance. Brilliant!