Being made just over 30 years after World War II ended meant a number of actual veterans among its cast in addition to Fonda, Glenn Ford, Charlton Heston, Hal Holbrook, Cliff Robertson, and Robert Webber had all served. ![]() The cast was rounded out by both established international stars from Robert Mitchum to Toshiro Mifune and relative newcomers like Dabney Coleman, Erik Estrada, and a non-mustached Tom Selleck. Having served in the Navy in real life during World War II, Fonda had actually partly narrated Ford’s 1942 documentary and also appeared as an unnamed admiral inspired by Nimitz in the 1965 epic In Harm’s Way. ![]() A star-studded retelling of the battle and its lead-up was produced by The Mirisch Company in 1976, starring-among many others-Henry Fonda as Admiral Chester W. In addition to an 18-minute color documentary directed during the battle by John Ford, the Battle of Midway has been the subject of two major movies, mostly recently in 2019. Though the Americans also suffered the loss of a carrier, a destroyer, and approximately 150 aircraft, casualties were considerably higher on the Japanese side (including nearly double the amount of aircraft lost), marking an early turning point of the Pacific War in favor of the Allies and which historian John Keegan has called “the most stunning and decisive blow in the history of naval warfare.” Three days of battle followed, with American forces destroying all four Japanese fleet carriers that had engaged and-in both a tactical and symbolic victory-had also been part of the six-carrier force that attacked Pearl Harbor six months earlier. Navy that allowed it to prepare for a counterattack against the Imperial Japanese Navy. The Battle of Midway had commenced 80 years ago today on June 4, 1942, following intelligence gathered by the U.S. Two years earlier, the Americans had been engaged in yet another decisive battle that would turn the tide of the second World War. Many familiar with World War II history are familiar with the significance of Monday’s date as, on June 6, 1944, the Allies landed at Normandy in northern France as part of the “D-Day” invasion that laid the groundwork for the eventual Allied victory. Pearl Harbor to Midway Island, Spring 1942 Continue reading →Ĭharlton Heston as CAPT Matthew Garth in Midway (1976) VitalsĬharlton Heston as CAPT Matthew Garth, U.S. Ensigns Brown stationed aboard the aircraft carrier USS Leyte when it was ordered to Korea at the start of the war in the summer of 1950, ultimately flying 20 combat missions in an F4U-4 Corsair, a propeller-driven fighter whose fatalist nicknames of the “Ensign Eliminator” and “Widowmaker” never deterred the courageous aviator. Two years after he enlisted in the Navy, Brown received his pilot wings in October 1948 and was commissioned as an ensign (OF-1) six months later. Navy itself as this was exactly 151 years to the day after the Continental Navy was founded in 1775. Jesse LeRoy Brown was born on October 13, 1926, perhaps coincidentally sharing a “birthday” with the U.S. ![]() Naval Aviatorįrom Quonset Point, Rhode Island to the Korean coast, Spring to Fall 1950Ĭostume Designer: Deirdra Elizabeth Govanįebruary is Black History Month, a fitting occasion to highlight the life and career of trailblazers like Jesse Brown, the first African-American aviator to complete the U.S. Jonathan Majors as ENS Jesse Brown in Devotion (2022) Vitals
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