Took some digging, but here is his PT Boat Service.
1941-1943, Motor Torpedo Boat Squadrons (MTBRON)
1942-1942, USS No Name (PT-114)
1942-1942, USS No Name (PT-68)
1943-1943, USS No Name (PT-107)
1943-1944, USS Barton (DD-722)
1944-1945, USS Columbia (CL-56)

Very cool. Where did you find that?

I also should have started by referencing this book, Five Came Back ((2014), which discusses the wartime service of John Ford, John Huston, George Stevens, Frank Capra, and William Wyler. There are several sections devoted to They Were Expendable and all discuss Montgomery as a bona fide PT boat captain.

Togetherweserved.com
Lot of info.
Never used the site, but want to verify his assignment whether I was right or wrong. I did not have the correct info. I think we now have it verified and I like that. Too much info not available or not true.

Agree, lots of conflicting information, and I'm glad Montgomery did what I always had heard he did. Thanks for the link.

bufrilla said:

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Bert Dewayne Morris, USNavy, F6F Hellcat fighter pilot, WWII Ace (7 kills in Pacific), 4 DFC's,2 Air Medals. Flew with VF15 aboard USS Essex. Died of heart attack age 45.

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You beat me to him! My uncle served indirectly with him (my uncle served in CIC as a radar op. on Essex.)

He flew 57 missions with VF-15, and FWIW, Olynyk shows 3 DFCs

His kills came on 6/11/44 (Mavis), 6/23/44 (Zeke), 9/9/44 (Topsy), 9/13/44 (Zeke), 10/10/44 (Tony), 10/24/44 (Battle of Leyte Gulf, 2 Zekes).

He stayed in the reserves to keep his pilot rating, and died while visiting his former CAG (and "uncle-in-law" David McCampbell), who was CO of USS Bon Homme Richard (CVA-31) in 1959 at the time.

IIRC, he was a section leader in VF-15, so he was a pretty competent aviator.

As to his acting career, I'll be lazy and share his wikipedia page.

John Wayne?

No?

Well he played a hero a bunch of times

Two German actors that starred in the same movie 'Decision Before Dawn' (1951) Oskar Werner & Hans Christian Blech. Werner was a member of the Wehrmacht and said he mainly peeled potatoes before deserting. Blech fought Russians on the Eastern Front. Blech was also in the 1965 movie, Battle of the Bulge. He served as Col. Hessler's aide (the Panzer commander).

And your point??

Oh I forgot one of my favorites, Wayne Morris, who played the cowardly Lt. Roget in Kubrick's Paths of Glory. He became interested in flying during the filming of Flight Angel and implored his uncle by marriage Cdr. Dave McCampbell (yes, that McCampbell) to pull some strings so he could fly in the navy reserve, since he was too big to fly fighters. He flew off the USS Essex during the war as one of "McCampbell's Heroes" flying the Hellcat. He was credited with seven kills in 57 sorties, including the sinking of three Japanese vessels. He earned four DFCs and two Air Medals for his service, far form the coward he played in Kubrick's film. He died of a heart attack at age 45 while on reserve duty on the USS Bon Homme Richard and is buried in Arlington Cemetery.

The insanely talented actor (and I mean literally insane), Klaus Kinski, served in the Wehrmacht in WWII:


You many recall him in Doctor Zhivago, as the crazed man chained to the train headed to the gulag:


or as Dracula:


...and the father of the hot, hot, Nastassja Kinski (rule 1):

Not an actor, buy C&W Legend Ray Price served in the USMC in the pacific. Willie Nelson, George Jones, and Johnny Cash all served as well. How times have changed.

Dean Paul Martin, son of Dean Martin. Didn't serve during wartime but died flying a California Air National Guard F-4.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0552162/

Quote:

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The son of Rat Pack member Dean Martin, Dean Paul Martin initially showed interest in a singing career, and was also a talented tennis player, which served him well in his role opposite Ali McGraw in 1979's The Players. An avid pilot and a captain in the California Air National Guard, Martin was killed when his F-4 Phantom jet fighter crashed into the San Bernadino Mountains in a snowstorm during a routine flight on March 21, 1987.

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FWIW, the crash was not due to pilot error. An AF Air Traffic Controller screwed up and gave Martin the wrong vectors.

Speaking of famous actor/veterans. Don Rickles passed earlier today. He served in the Navy at the end of WWII