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Summary
Stars in Blue is filled with fascinating
details about the real lives of more than fifty movie stars who served in the
U.S. Navy and Cost Guard from World War I to Vietnam.
The lives of movie stars are often more closely
followed than those of political leaders, sports figures, or sometimes one's own
relatives, but even the most avid film buffs might
be surprised to learn that their favorite actors served in one of the country's
sea services and distinguished themselves above and beyond the call of duty. In
this book, filled with fascinating and revealing profiles of more than fifty celebrities,
many readers will discover the patriotic contributions and sacrifices actors have
made in the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard from World War I to Vietnam.
Henry Fonda, Humphrey Bogart, Robert Montgomery, and Ernest Borgnine are
among many stars who have portrayed naval personnel on film-but do their fans
know that Fonda won a Bronze Star for his actions during Pacific naval encounters,
that Bogart dropped a fleeing prisoner with his .45, that Montgomery was awarded
a Bronze Star for his courageous performance of duty during the Normandy invasion,
or that Borgnine hunted U-boats off America's East Coast? A virtual who's who,
this entertaining and historically accurate work brings to life these and dozens
of other stars' naval and coast guard service backgrounds and film careers. It
is drawn from interviews with the actors, diaries, letters, and official military
and film industry archives.
Here you'll find out how John Howard won a Navy Cross, how
Navy Hellcat ace Wayne Morris downed seven Japanese planes, how UDT frogman Aldo
Ray reconned the Okinawa landing beaches, how Eddie Albert saved more that n dozen
wounded marines on the bloody reefs of Tarawa, and how Hedy Lamarrpatented World
War II communications antijamming technology still in use today. Rarely have movie
stars' real lives been portrayed in such detail, including interesting anecdotes
from their Hollywood careers and never-before-published photographs from their
military careers, including Paul Newman as a Navy radioman/gunner who flew in
torpedo bombers during World War II.
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