And the Rangers were not a dumping ground for disciplinary problems. WebWho Survived the Malmedy Massacre? Peiper left an SS major named Werner Poetschke in charge of the prisoners, but the men guarding them seem to have changed as unit after unit of Germans passed by on the road. He could play gruff and combative or gentle and funny. Traffic copper to Sir Arthur "Bomber" Harris, 1943: "Don't drive so fast sir, you might kill somebody". The book contains a bibliography but no footnotes or citations within the text to explain sources. Earlier in the discussion somebody (rightfully) pointed out General Reynold's sentence "Few of these accounts are based on fact, and most are embellished and inaccurate". The American D-Day beach landings were under the command of US 1st Army, and the 1st Infantry was part of the First Army until - afaik - until the end of the war in Europe. Charles Edward Durning (February 28, 1923 - December 24, 2012) was an American actor, with appearances in over 200 movies, television shows and plays. Born: 28-Feb-1923 Birthplace: Highland Falls, NY Died: 24-Dec-2012 Location of death: New York City Cause of death: unspecified. As the GIs lay moaning on the ground, SS men walked among them, kicking men in the testicles or in the head. I've posted on this in the Military History WikiProject in the hope that maybe some better sourcing can be found. He cried as he related these stories. In 2000, in a retitled revival called Gore Vidals The Best Man, he played an ailing former president who tries to mediate a power struggle between two candidates. Same for passage saying he was hospitalized for physical and "mental" wounds. It is hard to see where Mr. Durning would have earned a Silver Star with this unit. After the war, still mentally troubled, Mr. Durning dropped into a void for almost a decade before deciding to study acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, he told Parade magazine in 1993. Digging in for the winter, the Americans and British sought to consolidate their gains and build up fuel supplies for a massive push into Germany in the early spring. Most of them attempted to make their way back to Malmedy, some wandering for days before they returned. Of his 5,000-man force, only 800 survived to return to Germany. We don't have to resolve the discrepancies, but we should at least note them. Well I should maybe have taken part earlier to this discussion. A veteran character actor who was a widely recognizable face in film and on television for over five decades, Charles Durning earned his place as a dependable presence often playing pugnacious tough guys and authority figures. Theres terror and repulsion in us, the terrible spot that we dont talk about. Spearheading the German attack was a remarkable twenty-nine-year-old SS colonel named Jochen Peiper. Hmmare we facing "recovered memories" here? I must acknowledge that several websites clearly state that durning was at the Baugnez crossroad when the massacre occured. Unfortunatley, the secondary sources have most of his info wrong. Fighting in the Battle of the Bulge, he and the rest of his company were captured and forced to march through a pine forest at Malmedy, the scene of an infamous massacre in which the Germans opened fire on almost 90 prisoners. North American military history task force, United States military history task force, http://www.historynet.com/magazines/world_war_2/3030591.html, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, http://westlaonline.com/wcnp_article.php?articleid=5, http://www.ww2f.com/wwii-today/25135-they-also-served-celebrities-uniform-ww2.html, http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2008/04/france_honors_charles_dur.php, http://www.monstersandcritics.com/people/news/article_1401379.php/France_says_Viva_Charles_Durning_actor_and_war_hero, http://www.legiondhonneur.fr/shared/fr/ordresdecorations/fhist.html, http://stephane.delogu.free.fr/hs12-07.pdf, http://m.web2carz.com/article/article.php?articleId=2097, http://news.yahoo.com/durning-king-character-actors-dies-nyc-075353360.html, http://www.homeofheroes.com/members/04_SS/2_WWII/indexes/army/Army-D.html, http://www.arrse.co.uk/military-history-militaria/87046-actor-charles-durning-talks-about-d-day.html, http://nmisscommentor.com/random-firings/charles-durning-obit-in-the-new-york-times/comment-page-1/#comment-126171, http://www.web2carz.com/people/who-you-know/2097/charles-durnings-war-heroism-exaggeration-fabrication, https://web.archive.org/web/20071201183644/http://tv.zap2it.com/tveditorial/tve_main/1%2C1002%2C271%7C91918%7C1%7C10%2C00.html, http://tv.zap2it.com/tveditorial/tve_main/1%2C1002%2C271%7C91918%7C1%7C10%2C00.html, https://web.archive.org/web/20060625095909/http://www.army.mil/soldiers/apr1999/news/index.html, http://www.army.mil/Soldiers/apr1999/news/index.html, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Charles_Durning&oldid=1147937624, Start-Class biography (actors and filmmakers) articles, Mid-importance biography (actors and filmmakers) articles, Actors and filmmakers work group articles, Start-Class biography (military) articles, Low-importance biography (military) articles, Unknown-importance New York (state) articles, C-Class North American military history articles, North American military history task force articles, C-Class United States military history articles, United States military history task force articles, Military biography articles needing attention to referencing and citation, North American military history articles needing attention to referencing and citation, United States military history articles needing attention to referencing and citation, World War II articles needing attention to referencing and citation, Military history articles needing attention to referencing and citation, Military history articles needing attention only to referencing and citation, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This article has not yet received a rating on the project's, This article has been checked against the following, A news item involving Charles Durning was featured on Wikipedia's, Reading the remarks by the French Consul General (no doubt prepared by a careless researcher using limited references to accomplish the job in a rapid period) only mentions. I would however draw you attention to the fact that this sentence merely concerns the way the event has been related in many books, i.e. As this killing was going on, the German column continued to pass through Five Points, and soldiers on halftracks chatted and pointed. He may have landed beside the 2nd or 5th Ranger BN and Hollywood made him a Ranger. However, surviving Americans distinctly remember the German order to kill coming before any of the POWs tried to escape. He was nominated for the Acade But then I found a book in Google Books on actors serving in the military (Duty, Honor, Applause) that talks about Durning's service in the Rangers, says some of his fellow rangers were killed at Malmedy but says nothing about his escaping.[2]. The area around Five Points was so hotly contested that it was not until nearly a month after the massacre, on January 14, that the U.S. army was able to recover the bodies of the 84 men who had been killed in that field. the men in the pasture, and the other men who escaped the massacre because for one or other reason they were not at the crossroads when and where they were supposed to be when the massacre occured (I think for instance to a man the artillery observer battalion who had been left in Malmedy because he suddenly fell ill: he escaped the massacre but is not a survivor). Mr. Durning was also remembered for his combat service, which he avoided discussing publicly until later in life. JavaScript is disabled. However, I just recently found out about his heroism during WWII which included being in the first wave on Omaha Beach at Normandy, being one of the few survivors of the Malmedy Massacre and being awarded the Silver Star and three Purple Hearts. Captured during the Battle of the Bulge, Durning, was one of the few survivors of the Malmedy massacre when German troops opened fire on dozens of American prisoners. By the time the Battle of the Bulge wound down in late January 1945, fresh Allied replacements, the tenacious stand of the battered GIs, and clearing weather (which allowed Allied airborne operations) combined to halt the German advance. I furthermore noticed that these websites often copy that material from one to the other (which means nobody actually checks the accuracy of that information). Both his war record and his acting career were mentioned. I lack confidence as an actor, he told The Toronto Star in 1988. And yet I am still very far from being convinced. See: Racing to the front of the German column, he upbraided Sternebeck for engaging Battery Bbecause the noise might alert more powerful U.S. combat units nearbyand told him to keep moving. So. Then a German machine gun at the back of another halftrack opened up and U.S. prisoners fell screaming to the ground. I repeat one last time, if you "know" - as you insist you do - why don't you contact the French Embassy and get them to retract the statement? All of the death sentences were commuted to imprisonment and, in 1956, Jochen Peiper became the last member of the group to walk out of jail. His father, James, an Irish immigrant, had been sickened by mustard gas and lost a leg in World War I and died when Charles was 16. Charles Durning (AP)Charles Durning, a World War II hero who became the king of the character actors, died Monday at his Manhattan home. Please take a moment to review my edit. He described finding Marines who had been literally skinned alive by the Japanese in later island fighting, and admitted killing Japanese POWs in retaliation. Why Didn't 60 Minutes Push Back on MTG's "Pedophile" Smear? Always sticks in my mind when two marines in the programme see he is wearing C M O come to attention and salute. He worked as a farmhand and did other menial jobs before moving to Buffalo, where again he took odd jobs. He does not appear in the list of survivors. I meant to say that stupid people are generally conservative. Unfortunately, Durning is very frail and his conversation is a bit wandering and imprecise. Brands on Ben Barnes's "Revelation" about the Iran Hostage Crisis, The "Madman Theory" Was Quintessential Nixon. - According to another source, Durning and 12 others were levied out of C/386 AAA/AW on 23 May 44, just two weeks before D-Day and assigned to the 17th Replacement Depot; he arrived in Normandy still assigned to a detachment of that Depot (as Old bubblehead noted). As Kampfgruppe Peiper passed by these Americans, an SS soldier suddenly stood up in the back of his halftrack, aimed his pistol, and fired it twice into a group of U.S. prisoners. He was the assistant commandant, a Lt, whose Michael Dorosh 14:48, 21 August 2006 (UTC)Reply[reply], An editor made this edit that accuses Durning of exaggerating his military record. I would hope that the editors of this page would at least mention that there is controversy surrounding the many versions of his wartime service and that official records are at odds with many points. I was watching Everwood this evening, and I saw Mr. Durning on it. Then the SS men began to walk among the injured and the dead, pistols out. There is a significant question as to who he served with upon returning to the Continent. What I know now, was and is still a missed opportunity for us to discuss this event, because like Mr. Durning, my Grandfather, Brigadier General, Norman Cota was an assistant Commander of the 29th. They are not survivors although they escaped the massacre. He looks VERY different than he did since O Brother, Where Art Thou?has he had some sort of stroke or heart attack or some kind of palsy that's affected his speech? a book writen by an historian, for instance) is never goven by these websites. If such a trivial thing deserves mention (which IMO it doesn't), then you would need to provide a reference that someone else is the 2nd most decorated soldier of WWII. For whatever reason, Battery B proceeded along its designated route until it came to a crossroads about 2.5 miles (4 km) east of Malmedy, which the Belgians called Baugnetz but the Americans referred to as Five Points, because five roads intersected here. David T Tokyo (talk) 16:30, 26 February 2009 (UTC)Reply[reply], 12th Repl. - John Stuart Mill. Steve Karras - who wrote the web2carz article - joined the discussion and provided additional data from his research. I made the following changes: When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs. He got laughs, he later recalled, and was hooked on show business. From Trump to Putin: How People Came to Look to Timothy Snyder for Predictions, The Curious History of Ulysses Grant's Great Grandfather, H.W. 6991 Guard Company. were returned to those kinds of units, infantrymen were returned to infantry units. Depot/ Repl. He would have been extremely lucky indeed to have survived the Baugnez crossroads massacre. Back in 1988 when I visited Pearl Harbor, my guide was a former sailor or Marine (I can't recall which) who had survived the 1941 attack and later fought in the Pacific. Is it him, or someone who really looks like him? The only real source are his Military records and the man himself. Unfortunately, the vast majority of Mr. Durning's 'war record' merely consists of his own assertions (which varied greatly over the years) or retellings of his assertions, as understood or embellished by others. With the 398th Infantry Regiment he moved into Germany where he was again seriously wounded in March 1945 and evacuated to the United States. Sadly, Durning made a number of statements during his lifetime and was present when statements were made about his military service which cannot be reconciled with the undisputed facts in his military records. As December 1944 began, the Ardennes fell prey to the worst winter weather it had experienced in a generation, with temperatures hovering below 0F/-17C for days at a time. 98.255.89.22 (talk) 09:00, 6 July 2013 (UTC)Reply[reply], Oldbubblehead.
The piece on Durning does not refer to any military units, does not claim that he landed in Normandy on D-Day and credits him only with a Silver Star and three Purple Hearts. And in 2007 the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, the school that he said had long ago rejected him, created a scholarship in honor of him and two other alumni, Anne Bancroft and Gena Rowlands. Seeing Americans fleeing, a machine gun on the back of a halftrack opened up, cutting down those who stood in the field and those trying to escape. He describes in detail being captured by Germans and escaping, but NOT as part of the Malmedy events--not even at the same period of time. Durning was temporarily assigned to the Special Services (entertaining troops) before shipping home with the 398th Regiment in January, 1946. Two million men fought for three months in Normandy in 1944. .
Mr. Durning received Emmy nominations for supporting performances in the mini-series Captains and the Kings (1976), the prison drama Attica (1980) and a CBS production of Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman (1985), in which he played Charley, the sympathetic neighbor of Willy Loman (Dustin Hoffman). 
It may not display this or other websites correctly. I have just modified one external link on Charles Durning. - Mr. During supposedly told a close friend that the reason he was transferred to the Rangers was because he hit an officer, and was therefore given the choice of either Leavenworth or the Rangers. After an hour or so, it must have seemed to them that the worst danger was over, perhaps the Germans were even going to leave them there as they continued on. Total mustering out pay was $300 $100 was paid at the time. I saw a boy. Within a matter of a few minutes, the field was covered with quickly coagulating pools of blood and writhing bodies. This area covered the rugged and desolate Ardennes Forest and was mountainous and remote. One of them may be the finest actor I have ever seen. It was the start of a long association with Papp, who cast him, often as a clown, in 35 plays, many by Shakespeare. If his ordinary-guy looks deprived him of leading-man roles, they did not leave him typecast. This is four days after the start of the Battle of the Bulge and three days after the Malmedy Massacre.Oldbubblehead (talk) 06:39, 7 May 2014 (UTC)Reply[reply]. Battery B reached the Belgian town of Malmedy around noon. He was in the first wave of troops to land on Omaha Beach on D-Day and his units lone survivor of a machine-gun ambush. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. So, too, were many U.S. soldiers who had done battle in the Pacific, where the Japanese treated U.S. POWs with casual brutality. WebCharles Durning, a second World War hero who became one of Hollywood's top character actors in films like The Sting, Tootsie and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, has died, a New York City. Of all the thousands of units in the ETO? You are using an out of date browser. But, there is no way Durning is the second most decorated hero of WWII, see Audie Murphy and Matt Urban. He was also nominated for his starring performance as a mailman romancing a lonely widow (Maureen Stapleton) in the 1975 CBS television movie Queen of the Stardust Ballroom.. I'm afraid that's where your argument runs out of steam. So when was he a member of Third Army, during or after the war?EnigmaMcmxc (talk) 13:23, 26 December 2012 (UTC)Reply[reply], It seems to me we should be able to track down (and then link to) Durning's Silver Star citation, which would provide date, circumstances and probably unit of assignment at the time. Then came World War II, and he enlisted in the Army.
For his injuries, Durning received his 2nd Purple Heart. Charles Edward Durning (February 28, 1923 December 24, 2012) was an American actor who appeared in over 200 movies, television shows and plays. Shearonink (talk) 19:53, 9 June 2019 (UTC)Reply[reply], Not so far as I can tell, information does not appear in cited souces. NEW YORK (Reuters) - Charles Durning, a World War Two hero who became one of Hollywoods top character actors in films like The Sting, Tootsie and The Best His combat experiences were harrowing. The day was clear and cold, with temperatures well below freezing, and a light dusting of snow on the ground. The Battle of the Bulge was the largest battle ever fought in the history of the U.S. infantry and one of the bloodiest battles of World War II, which was the most costly war in human history. Page contents not supported in other languages. The Americans in the rear of the group began to run away, even as an officer yelled Stand fast! thinking that the Germans would shoot them if they saw them escaping. I could find no trace of this on the website of the French consulate. Mr. Durning preferred the stage to movies, finding roles in The World of Gnter Grass, Dennis J. Reardons Happiness Cage and Ernest Thompsons On Golden Pond, among other plays. Anyone have any further information??? This may have been true, but Peiper also had a reputation for brutality to prisoners that his men certainly knew about. In 2002 he appeared with Mr. Pacino in an Off Broadway production of Bertolt Brechts Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui. At Lincoln Center in 2005 he was the senile father of a college professor (Dianne Wiest) in Wendy Wassersteins Third.. They were fighting at Bitche, France, 200+ kilometers from Malmedy at the time of the Massacre. Worse, the 398th's own regimental history of its participation in WWII has a list of all its medal awardees; Mr. Durning is not listed as earning any medal of any kind with that unit. If they moved, the SS men would casually lean over and shoot them in the head. A few additional points. Robert E. Humphrey, House Hearings on Campus Speech Show Different Perceptions of the Problem, Mark Russell, DC's Piano-Playing Political Satirist, Dies at 90, Trans Texans, Fearing Violence Inspired by Legislation and Rhetoric, Look to Armed Self-Defense, Vatican Repudiates "Doctrine of Discovery" that Justified Colonialism by Catholic Nations. discussion above, today's AP story on Mr. Durning's death says he was "captured in the Battle of the Bulge and survived a massacre of prisoners." Mr. Durning was among the few to escape. He does not appear in the list of survivors who were brought back to the massacre site. I suspect that Hollywood, took some liberties with the real truth of his combat service. Charles Durning is indeed a great actor and served his country honorably during WWII, including his landing at Normandy on D-Day. Holder of the Knights Cross with Oak Leaves, Germanys highest military decoration; an ardent Nazi; and a hardened veteran of fighting in France, Italy, and on the Eastern Front; Peiper was admired by his soldiers, but known as a brutal fighter. There is a lot of it going around in the USA?? Don't know whether you have seen this discussion of Mr. Durning's service: Because of a heroic and determined resistance by elements of the U.S. 99th Infantry Division, his task force, which consisted of 117 tanks, 149 halftracks, and 24 artillery pieces, was already 12 hours behind schedule. Also, in block 55, "ASR Score (2 Sep 45) 61"? However, what the Germans did next reinforces the belief that they intended to kill the Americans from the beginning. Mr. Durning played the prosecutor, a character based on William Jennings Bryan, and Scott, in his last Broadway role, was the defense attorney, modeled on Clarence Darrow. "Oldbubblehead (talk) 04:25, 17 July 2013 (UTC)Reply[reply]. He spent months in hospitals and was treated for psychological trauma. It contains a roster, list of decorations awarded, and some information on landing craft assignments. This message was posted before February 2018. It had much to do with the nature of the wounds, and the length and location of hospitalization. He is not credited for being in Star Wars at IMDB. 4. Let me recommend this title (see reviews on Amazon.com), a narrative history that relies on interviews with more than 360 veterans of the 99th. I added this piece of information: War Hero on Walk of Fame by Solvej Schou (Associated Press). Bubblehead, do Mr. Durning's record throw any light on this point? Charles was the ninth of 10 children, and five of his sisters died of smallpox or scarlet fever in childhood, three of them within two weeks. After all, few PFCs who earn the Silver Star remain as PFCs for long. I tend to agree with David T Tokyo, but I'd feel better if the declaration appeared in a better source than the one we have, preferably an official one. During the Battle of the Bulge, Germans captured Durning. There is no reference to the Reynolds quote, so it is not really relevant to the article. Wedinm (talk) 21:22, 29 March 2011 (UTC)Reply[reply], Regarding the lengthy Malmedy survivor? As pointed out, there is no official record of Mr Durning listed on any roll of a Ranger unit and in my knowledge elements of the Provisional Ranger Force were landed besides the 29th Infantry Division rather than the First Infantry Division. --Lebob-BE (talk) 20:11, 25 February 2009 (UTC)Reply[reply],
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charles durning malmedy