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Don’t ever trust a man who doesn’t like john wayne.... how the duke saved the corps

flaps

happy to be here
None
Contributor
HOW JOHN WAYNE SAVED THE MARINES


Ten days ago was John Wayne’s 104th birthday. He was born on May
26, 1907 in Winterset, Iowa, as Marion Morrison, weighing 13 pounds.
His birthplace is a museum. There is a guest book, opened to a page
with the entry, in the entrant’s handwriting, Name: Ronald Reagan.
Address: 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., Washington DC.

To celebrate the birthday of a truly great American, let me
tell you how John Wayne saved the Marine Corps. In the aftermath of
World War II, the psychological letdown after years of war and
bloodshed, the huge demobilization of servicemen, the desire to slash
military spending, and the antipathy towards the military by
left-wingers in the Democrat Party all combined in a call by a number
of Senators and Congressmen to abolish the Marine Corps.

In this, they were supported by the Doolittle Board,
created by Harry Truman, which called for the Marine Corps to be
“disbanded” as a separate military force, and “unified” with the Army
(yes, the board was headed by an Air Force general, Jimmy Doolittle).

A group of enterprising Marines – you can always depend on
Marines to be enterprising – with Hollywood connections, thought a
movie made around the most famous photograph of World War II, Joe
Rosenthal’s of the Marines raising the flag on Mount Suribachi on Iwo
Jima, could help sway public opinion against their disbandment.

They approached legendary director Allan Dwan, who agreed
to commission a script. The movie was to be called “The Sands of Iwo
Jima,” and everybody agreed there was only one man who could play the
lead role of Sergeant Stryker: John Wayne.

To their great surprise, Wayne turned it down. He didn’t
like the script, and he wasn’t enamored of the character of Stryker.
The Marines came to the rescue again. The Marine Corps Commandant,
General Clifton B. Cates, got on an airplane and flew from Washington
to California to personally request Wayne make the picture. When
General Cates explained the stakes involved – the very existence of the
Marine Corps – Wayne immediately changed his mind, promising the
general he would do everything in his power to have the movie be a
success.

The Sands of Iwo Jima was released in 1949 and quickly
became a runaway blockbuster, with millions of moviegoers packing every
theatre showing it. Wayne was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar,
establishing him as Hollywood’s Number One box-office star. The
Doolittle Board folded its tent, and no politician on Capitol Hill ever
again said a word about disbanding the Marines.

So let’s all say “Semper Fi” to the memory of John Wayne.

To further celebrate his birthday, here’s a treat and some
advice. The treat is this link: A biography of John Wayne written by
Ronald Reagan, in the October 1979 Reader’s Digest.

The advice is this: Don’t ever trust a man who doesn’t like
John Wayne. A man’s opinion of John Wayne is a good rule-of-thumb test
of his character and moral values. To admire John Wayne is to admire
the heroic and the morally noble. To sneer at John Wayne is to admire
the opposite. It’s revealing that you find very few liberals among the
former, and very few conservatives among the latter.

:cowboy_12
 

KBayDog

Well-Known Member
Also a big fan of Stagecoach, which would have won him his first Oscar (Best Picture) in 1939.

It wasn't meant to be, though, as some other movie trumped it that year...something about a chick who has an acid trip where she's dodging flying monkeys with a scarecrow, a bipedal cat, and some douchebag with a funnel on his head.*

celebrity-pictures-wizard-of-oz-acid-trip.jpg


*And some other flick about Atlanta getting burned down...
 

OscarMyers

Well-Known Member
None
In Harms Way. +1
Favorite scene, when he meets his son for the first time.

Ensign Jere Torrey: Leaving, sir?
Captain Rockwell Torrey (John Wayne): Yes. Before I pick you up and throw you to the fish.
 

Alpha_Echo_606

Does not play well with others!™
Contributor
He had so many good movies, but Green Berets and Fighting SeaBees are my two favorites.
 

HuggyU2

Well-Known Member
None
Flaps,
Something tells me you actually believe that story about Wayne saving the Marines. Really?
And taking a dig at Gen Doolittle is uncalled for too. He certainly cared a great deal about Naval Aviation.
 

HercDriver

Idiots w/boats = job security
pilot
Super Moderator
I'm a big fan of John Wayne, and will stop flipping the channels if one of his movies is on. But he was an actor, not a great hero, IMO.
Green Berets. I still watch it on Netflix.

He had so many good movies, but Green Berets and Fighting SeaBees are my two favorites.
The Green Berets is probably one of the worst Vietnam movies I've seen (love the sun setting in the East at the end).
the searchers was his best movie
+2
One of the great Westerns of all time.
I like "The Quiet Man", too, as it has plenty going for it. Including this stone cold fox:
maureen-ohara1.jpg
 

flaps

happy to be here
None
Contributor
re:
Flaps,
Something tells me you actually believe that story about Wayne saving the Marines. Really?
And taking a dig at Gen Doolittle is uncalled for too. He certainly cared a great deal about Naval Aviation.

In this, they were supported by the Doolittle Board,
created by Harry Truman, which called for the Marine Corps to be

“disbanded” as a separate military force, and “unified” with the Army
(yes, the board was headed by an Air Force general, Jimmy Doolittle).

not sure the general had anything against naval aviation.... shit... the navy should have designated him a naval aviator,.
it just appears he didn''t see a need for a marine corps.

i guess i need to attend a sensitivity/awareness program. sorry if i offended you, huggy. :)

 
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