The characters played by Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. are frequently described as “dashing” or “swashbuckling.” What most people don’t realize is that he was equally so in real life.
In the late 1930s, Fairbanks had been active in the William Allen White Committee lobbying for U.S. entry into the war, so it was no surprise that he was ready and willing to serve. As he was already a movie star, Fairbanks could have spent the war years in film. Instead, he chose to be commissioned as a reserve officer in the U.S. Navy six months before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
A committed Anglophile, Fairbanks was assigned to an officer exchange program under British Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten’s Commando staff in the United Kingdom. Fairbanks became deeply skilled in the art of military deception while participating in British training and cross-channel operations with the Royal Navy. He studied at the HMS Tormentor Advanced Training and Amphibious Operations Base and at the Commando Training School in Scotland.
READ MORE: http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywood/2012/11/15/Actors-who-Served-Douglas-Fairbanks-Junior
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