Obi Wan Kenobi Took On the Third Reich and Other Lesser Known World War II Facts

Clark Gable Wanted to Fly More WWII Combat Missions, but MGM Wouldn’t Allow It

Clark Gable’s presence in the WWII bomb missions was for propaganda and PR purposes. However, the dangers he ran were all too real. In one mission, his B-17 lost an engine and had its stabilizer damaged after it was hit by antiaircraft fire and was attacked by enemy fighters. Over Germany, his B-17 had two crewmen wounded and another killed after the airplane was hit by flak. Shrapnel went through Gable’s boot, and almost took off his head. When MGM heard of its most valuable actor’s brushes with death, it worked its connections – despite his objections – to have him reassigned to noncombat duty.

For his service in Europe, Gable was awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross and an Air Medal. In late 1943, he was ordered back to the US to edit the film. He tried to get another combat assignment, but none came. By the summer of 1944, after the Normandy invasion came and went without a combat assignment, he finally gave up and requested to be relieved from active duty on grounds that he was 43-years-old by then, and overage for combat. He stayed in the Air Forces reserves until 1947, when he finally resigned his commission.

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Where Did We Find This Stuff? Some Sources and Further Reading

American Air Museum in Britain – Clark Gable

Arlington National Cemetery – Lee Marvin, Private First Class, United States Marine Corps, Movie Actor

Association for Iranian Studies – Gevork Vartanian and Tehran 43: What Do We Know About the Legendary Soviet Spy?

BBC, January 11^th, 2012 – Soviet Spying Legend Gevork Vartanian Dies at 87

Coe, Jonathan – Jimmy Stewart: A Wonderful Life (1994)

Daily Mail, June 30^th, 2017 – The Worst Traitor of All: How an East End Jailbird Lied and Cheated His Way Across France, Joined the Nazis and Condemned 150 Resistance Fighters to Death

Defense Media Network – Actor Clark Gable Served in Uniform, Flew Combat Missions in WWII

Encyclopedia Britannica – Alec Guinness

Harris, Tomas – Garbo: The Spy Who Saved D-Day (2004)

History Collection – Charles Lightoller, Second Officer of RMS Titanic Was Also a Hero on the Beaches of Dunkirk

History of Yesterday – What Happened to the Nazi National Treasure?

Independent, The, January 14^th, 2012 – Gevork Vartanian: Spy Who Helped Foil Churchill Death Plot

Los Angeles Times, October 8^th, 1987 – Lee Marvin is Buried With Military Honors

Macintyre, Ben – Agent Zigzag: The True Wartime Story of Eddie Chapman, Lover, Betrayer, Hero, Spy (2007)

Macintyre, Ben – Double Cross: The True Story of the D-Day Spies (2012)

Military dot Com – Famous Veteran: Jimmy Stewart

Military dot Com – The Story Behind the Real Events That Inspired ‘Kelly’s Heroes’

Murphy, Brendan M. – Turncoat: The Strange Case of British Sergeant Harold Cole, the Worst Traitor of the War (1987)

National Archives, Prologue Magazine, Spring 1999, Vol. 31, no. 1 – Nazi Gold: The Merkers Mine Treasure

Saturday Evening Post, June 23^rd, 2020 – The True Story of Kelly’s Heroes

Sayer, Ian – Nazi Gold: The Sensational Story of the World’s Greatest Robbery, and the Greatest Criminal Coverup (1984)

War History Online – A Soviet Spy Who Saved the ‘Big Three’ at the Tehran Conference Was 19 Years Old at the Time

World War II Database – Alec Guinness