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I’m a big John Wayne fan.  Heck, he’s my avatar.  But movie fans (and sports fans) have to discipline themselves not to fall down the slippery slope of idol worship.  Toward that purpose, I’m going to explore a forbidden topic. 

Are you sitting down?

John Wayne dodged military service in World War II.

Wayne wasn’t a coward.  He just placed his career ambitions ahead of his duty to his country.  What a lot of people don’t realize is that Wayne was not a big star in December of 1941, when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.  During most of the 1930’s he appeared only in so called “Horse Operas”,  ultra low budget Westerns that played in rural movie theaters.

It wasn’t until 1939, at 32, that John Ford gave him his big break in “Stagecoach”.  After over a decade of toiling in obscurity, his path to stardom was finally open.  Leading roles in “A” films started to roll in,   but he only had the chance to make a couple of decent movies before the war broke out.

Just about every big star in Hollywood and sports was practically forced to enlist in the service out of fear of negative publicity.  Of course, many of them volunteered enthusiastically, some even for combat, including Wayne’s contemporary Jimmy Stewart.  But there were also many big stars who were reluctant to put their careers on hold, but had little choice but to enlist. 

However, this did not apply to lesser stars like Wayne.  The public hardly knew him, so there would be no negative publicity if he remained a civilian.  Wayne chose to stay home to nurture his fledgling “A” movie career, rather than serve in the war and risk derailing his ascent to fame.

It turned out to be a smart move.  With many stars unable to appear in films, more and more parts went to Wayne.  From 1941 until 1950 his star steadily rose.  He finally broke out to super stardom in 1950, when he appeared – no sh*t – as WWII war hero Sgt. John Stryker in “The Sands of Iwo Jima”.  Wayne was nominated for Best Actor in the film, the last Oscar attention he would receive until “True Grit” in 1968.

Now contrast Wayne’s record with that of Jimmy Stewart.   Stewart, who was already a trained pilot, attempted to enlist immediately after Pearl Harbor, but was rejected because he didn’t weigh enough.  He kept going back to the enlistment center until they accepted him.  Later, unhappy with his stateside morale boosting duties,  Stewart, who won the Oscar for Best Actor in 1941, demanded to be put into combat.  Eventually, the Army relented.  Before the war was over, Stewart had flown twenty B-24 bomber missions deep into German territory.  Most of the missions had survival rates of 50% or less.  

Stewart was deeply scarred by his combat experiences.  After the war, he refused to appear in any war films.  In contrast, Duke Wayne, the non combatant, made millions playing WW2 heroes.

And let’s not forget Wayne’s best friend, John Ford.  Ford was a military enthusiast and sailor who developed deep ties to the U.S. Navy during the 1930’s.  He enlisted in the Navy immediately after Pearl Harbor.  He was wounded at the Battle of Midway and was present in Normandy on D-Day.

There is plenty of evidence that Wayne sincerely regretted his decision and was haunted by it for the rest of his life.  One of his ex-wives claimed that’s what drove him to his “super patriotism” of the sixties and his vocal support for the Vietnam War.  It was as if he was overcompensating for an earlier failure.

I still love John Wayne.  He’s the greatest actor in my favorite movie genre, the Western.  Rather than despise him as a hypocrite, his mistake humanizes him to me.  At the same time, my father flew B-24’s in WW2.  As much as I like John Wayne in Westerns, I refuse to watch him play WW2 heroes.