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View Full Version : Charles Durning has passed


Jim
12-25-2012, 10:03 AM
We have lost an unsung American hero.

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2012/12/25/durning-king-character-actors-dies-in-ny/
phonejack
12-25-2012, 10:08 AM
Amen to that!
waksupi
12-25-2012, 02:14 PM
Jack Klugman also passed away.
jmort
12-25-2012, 02:26 PM
At Normandy, he did what many did, and then some. Silver Star and a couple/three Purple Hearts. I like the part where he killed the German soldier trying to bayonet him with a rock. That is true hand to hand combat. RIP
Don Purcell
12-25-2012, 06:05 PM
Just proves, don't mess with an Irish guy!
Firebricker
12-25-2012, 08:37 PM
I knew of his service to our country but thought he served in the Pacific Theater. It's a shame that most of the new high paid actors will never have the life experience or moral character Mr. Durning had. FB
jmort
12-25-2012, 09:35 PM
This is from the article linked by the O/P
"Durning's rugged early life provided ample material on which to base his later portrayals. He was born into an Irish family of 10 children in 1923, in Highland Falls, N.Y., a town near West Point. His father was unable to work, having lost a leg and been gassed during World War I, so his mother supported the family by washing the uniforms of West Point cadets.
The younger Durning himself would barely survive World War II.
He was among the first wave of U.S. soldiers to land at Normandy during the D-Day invasion and the only member of his Army unit to survive. He killed several Germans and was wounded in the leg. Later he was bayoneted by a young German soldier whom he killed with a rock. He was captured in the Battle of the Bulge and survived a massacre of prisoners.
In later years, he refused to discuss the military service for which he was awarded the Silver Star and three Purple Hearts.
"Too many bad memories," he told an interviewer in 1997. "I don't want you to see me crying.""


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2012/12/25/durning-king-character-actors-dies-in-ny/#ixzz2G7M2i6rX
tanstafl10
12-25-2012, 10:27 PM
played Corporal Yost on episode of NCIS---BEST episode I ever saw (numerous times and each time brought tears to my eyes). even now!

i am 59 - never served in the military, but that episode Durning just exemplified hero & in such an understated way. reading his history today allows me to understand how he did it. What memories that must have brought back for him...

God Bless the Greatest Generation and all you vets out there! MERRY CHRISTMAS