RATED PG-18 LIBERALS: John Wayne on liberals, 1975 AND MAKES YOU WONDER, JUST ONE PERSONS VIEW OR IS IT?

America's entry into World War II resulted in a deluge of support for the war effort from all sectors of society, and Hollywood was no exception. Wayne was exempted from service due to his age (34 at the time of Pearl Harbor) and family status, classified as 3-A (family deferment). He repeatedly wrote to John Ford, asking to be placed in Ford's military unit, but consistently postponed it until "after he finished one more film", Wayne did not attempt to prevent his reclassification as 1-A (draft eligible), but Republic Studios was emphatically resistant to losing him; Herbert J. Yates, President of Republic, threatened Wayne with a lawsuit if he walked away from his contract and Republic Pictures intervened in the Selective Service process, requesting Wayne's further deferment. Wayne toured U.S. bases and hospitals in the South Pacific for three months in 1943 and 1944. By many accounts, Wayne's failure to serve in the military was the most painful experience of his life.His widow later suggested that his patriotism in later decades sprang from guilt, writing: "He would become a 'superpatriot' for the rest of his life trying to atone for staying home."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... http://www.straightdope.com/c...
"People who knew Wayne say he felt bad about not having served. (During the war he'd gotten into a few fights with servicemen who wondered why he wasn't in uniform.) Some think his guilty conscience was one reason he became such a superpatriot later. The fact remains that the man who came to symbolize American patriotism and pride had a chance to do more than just act the part, and he let it pass."
http://www.truthdig.com/repor... Editor’s Note: Ron Kovic recently relayed the story of his one near encounter with John Wayne, when Kovic was serving his first tour of duty, to Truthdig:

“John Wayne visited my battalion area during my first tour of duty. I did not go down to meet with him or hear him that day, but later that evening those that went down [to see him] said that there had been sniper fire, and that everyone—including John Wayne—had ducked for cover, had scattered. I was not there to witness it; I was in my tent. I realized at that moment that he was a human being, not a cinematic god, just like me. He was as vulnerable as I was. I didn’t feel let down, because one of the reasons why I had joined the Marine Corps, and one reason why many of my generation went to war, was because of the romanticized version of war.

I remember feeling empathy as I sat in my tent long ago. I remember feeling for John Wayne and realizing he was just a human being, and he was dealing with the same reality as the rest of us—life and death—and he was just trying to get home.”