Well, actually not true. You called John Wayne a draft dodger. That is simply wrong. He was never drafted, hence he can't be a draft dodger. Nor did he take positive actions to avoid being drafted in the future. A person would have to do one of these to be a dodger of the draft.

He was 34 at the time the draft started and age waivers were common. The max age when the draft started was 35.

During the war, his studio requested and was granted an exemption to the draft for John Wayne. This was due to his "national service". Whether that is justified or not can be debated. But John Wayne did not, and could not, request such a waiver himself. It had to come from his employer. One could make the argument that John Wayne did not fight the waiver, but that hardly qualified as dodging the draft. :nope:

Now if you wish to criticize John Wayne for not voluntarily enlisting in the military, then you have a valid criticism. You may even be justified in calling John Wayne a coward for not voluntarily enlisting. Perhaps your would be right.

But he did not dodge any draft as the government never drafted him, or indicated that they would be drafting other 34 year old men with families at that time.

I liked John Wayne as an actor, but had little respect for him as a man. But despite my feelings, labeling him as a draft dodger is not fair.

He choose not to volunteer and he did not actively try to avoid the exemptions. His "crime" would be that he passively avoided the draft by not doing anything. We can all make our moral evaluation on that. But not the case of dodging the draft.

Very well said, Platapus. I've never been that big a fan of his movies, and could not care less one way or the other about his personal actions. As to your last line on moral evaluations, I would like to add that even if one were to condemn him for not serving, that would still only be one's opinion, and should not be stated as fact. A very great number of men who did serve honor and revere him despite his lack of military service, and their opinions are just as valid as anyone's.

I'm not a big fan of the "Duke" either but fair is fair. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt because I know for a fact my Dad was told he couldn't join because his civilian job was more important to the Nation than him enlisting.

Like someone up there said, in "the Duke's" circumstance his value as an actor to the country may have been greater than had he enlisted - in the eyes of the government. I don't know. I know nothing of his situation but I do know they wouldn't let some people enlist.

Happy Hunting!

Art

If we are to judge one man on this subject, then we would have to judge half of Hollywood at the time of the war. I need not mention the numerous actors who we all know served, however, there are just as many who didn't and the country never balked at them. John Wayne did do some service by playing the parts that he did. There are not many actors who helped the morale of this nation like the Duke could, he had that particular magic, that is undeniable. So as time goes on and History and memory's fade, we must not forget that John Wayne along with many other actors did his part best on the screen.
PS: I don't think he's the best actor in the world either, but he did pull off some good WW2 movies, "They were expendable"...et al.
We really do not know what the "Duke's" motives were for not joining. John Ford had no problem with Wayne.
D40:salute:

I can't verify the accuracy of the info at these pages but it's an interesting look into the various movie stars who served in one capacity or another;

http://www.valdezlink.com/pages/actorheros-more.htm

http://www.suite101.com/content/holl...war-two-a82469

http://www.wearysloth.com/Gallery/Ac...18060-9331.gif

Smile when you say that pilgrim.

I don't think he ever said that.

"When you call me that, you smile" comes from "The Virginian", which John Wayne was not in.

The word "Pilgrim" was used by Wayne in "The man who shot Liberty Vallance" and "McLintock!".

I have not been able to find any reference to Wayne saying "smile when you say that" or variances in any of his movies. Can someone cite one?



I know, nitpick trivia. :shifty:

Ya know Sandman could be paraphrasing - may be something John Wayne might have said?? - We're being too hard on John Wayne, IMO, especially with this topic subject.

What did the poor old 'Duke' ever do to deserve this but try and make movies the best he could?

Happy Hunting!

Art

Your right, John Wayne never said that exact phrase.

He did ues the word "pilgrim" 23 times as you said in the movie "The Man Who Shot Liberty Vallence".

But I just like the picture of him from "In Harms Way". :salute:

Speaking of Pilgrim....lol watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSnYsZ--KaI

And I wonder why I don't have too many friends LoL

Trivia addiction - it should be in the DSM-V :yep::doh::doh:

:D

I don't always succeed but, I do make an effort not to judge anyone, especially when I know nothing about them or their situation. I did read somewhere, or saw on TV in a biography, that there was a specific reason why he didn't serve in the military during the war. He then made it a point to serve in the way that he thought he could do best and that was to honor those who served through movies like Sands of Iwo Jima, In Harm's Way, etc.
When I first saw this post, I wanted to add my opinion but, despite seeing all those early B/W sub movies, it's been so many decades since I've watched them that I just couldn't remember much about them. It's even been a long time since I saw U-571 but, at least I still remember what a big disappointment that movie was.:D
BTW, I do remember my favorite John Wayne movies. They are "The Shootist" and "John Wayne and the Cowboys".