We don't have to resolve the discrepancies, but we should at least note them. 
Furthermore one should keep in mind that all survivors to the massacre, i.e. The inability of anyone, to include his family, to produce these General Orders, or even cite the GO#, must arouse curiosity, to put it mildly. In the past I've seen folks read an entry that said 'Bronze SS'and interpret it as the man earned both a Bronze Star Medal and a Silver Star Medal, when in fact it just denoted a single bronze Service Star for a campaign ribbon.98.255.89.22 (talk) 00:56, 12 July 2013 (UTC)Reply[reply]. [Durning] was among the first soldiers to land on the Normandy beaches during the D-Day invasion of June 6, 1944, wrote The Washington Post. Stetsonharry (talk) 21:09, 2 February 2009 (UTC)Reply[reply], I think everybody's raised good points. 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. The next year Mr. Durning starred with Julie Harris in a Broadway revival of The Gin Game, D. L. Coburns Pulitzer-winning play about two nursing home residents whose game of cards becomes a clash of wills. To this day it is uncertain if the Germans would have shot the Americans had they not tried to runmany German soldiers present later claimed they were merely killing escaping prisoners. WebWhen beloved actor Charles Durning died on Christmas Eve, journalists unanimously praised the actor's storied war record. He was 89. Did you know that Charles Durning was Awarded the Silver Star? Lejoly, who was a German sympathizer, nevertheless could not believe his eyes as he watched one SS man allow a U.S. medic to bandage a wounded soldier, after which the German shot both men dead. I have known of Charles Durning as an accomplished actor for many years. durning charles I saw a boy. There were other instances of SS men under his control killing GI prisoners during his dash through Belgium, and Peiper did nothing to stop these. Asteriks (talk) 18:46, 10 August 2008 (UTC)Reply[reply]. Mr. Durnings first marriage, to Carole Doughty, ended in divorce; he was separated from his second wife, Mary Ann Amelio. 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. He spoke at memorial ceremonies in Washington. I do belive that the edit should stand, however. Many of the astonished and terrified Americansa large number of them cooks and clerkspicked up rifles and fought back, while some threw away their arms and immediately ran away. Also, in block 55, "ASR Score (2 Sep 45) 61"? Alfred "Ed Moch" Cota. - After being wounded in Normandy, Mr. Durning was declared fit for duty on 6 Dec and transferred to the 10th Replacement Depot (in England) on 12 Dec 44. He went on to appear in a pair of short-lived 1973 Broadway productions David Rabes Boom Boom Room and Hugh Leonards Au Pair Man, in which he co-starred with Julie Harris and, three years later, in Jules Feiffers comedy Knock Knock.. 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. Shearonink (talk) 19:53, 9 June 2019 (UTC)Reply[reply], Not so far as I can tell, information does not appear in cited souces. His daughter Michele Durning confirmed the death. - 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. The area was so thinly held by GIs billeted (if they were lucky) in Belgian inns and private homes that it was called the Ghost Front. The GIs knew that their German enemies were out there in the snow and fog, but believed that they would never attempt a serious attack in such conditions. 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). He must have escaped one of the other shootings of prisoners and joined the 398th afterward- unless he was in one of the other units represented. Another reason for the focus on Malmedy is that, as word spread like wildfire through the U.S. frontline ranks in the immediate aftermath of the killings, U.S. soldiers vowed to take no prisoners. Many of the Americans fighting in the Battle of the Bulge were green replacements who had never seen combat before, let alone this kind of vicious and bloody fighting. Durning appeared in more than 100 movies, in role But then another German unit came by and those Americans who could speak German heard a lieutenant in this unit give the order: Machte alle Kaput! Kill the Americans. The offhand behavior of the roughly 115 U.S. prisoners may have been because the men came from Battery B of the 285th Field Observation Battery. 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. Charles Durning tucked away his D-Day memories 50 years ago. In the Parade interview, he recalled the hand-to-hand combat. Just because someone else makes a statement about the subject of this article, doesn't mean that it deserves mention here. Nightmares are indeed an indicator of PTSD, but not everyone who has experienced stress or has nightmares is suffering from a "disorder". One of them crumpled to the ground. Durning does not claim to have been a Malmedy survivor. It's right at the beginning of the movie. One one side they are based on the testimonies made by the American survivors, which must been seen as relations made by guys who had escaped to an almost promissed death, who were under shock, often wounded and who had some difficulties to make a coherent relation of the facts. Sternebeck and his tanks proceeded down the road, pushing burning and wrecked U.S. jeeps and trucks out of the way and firing their machine guns at U.S. soldiers who cowered in ditchessomething Sternebeck later told historian Michael Reynolds that he did to get the Americans to surrender, which most of them did, since they were armed only with rifles and pistols, weapons that could not possibly fight off tanks. 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.. Given the manual, handwritten nature of documentation at the time, and the huge growth of forces, it's not at all surprising to me that administrative paperwork was less than accurate. "Oldbubblehead (talk) 04:25, 17 July 2013 (UTC)Reply[reply]. Not because I wuld think that Mr. Durning did not do his duty during the war. The question of why a trained rifleman (if that is what he was on D-Day) would suddenly end up in a field artillery observation battalion (if that is what happened) on 17 December is still pertinent. After all, few PFCs who earn the Silver Star remain as PFCs for long. Then the SS men began to walk among the injured and the dead, pistols out. The delay upset Peiper. In any case, recovered soldiers were returned to units of their original branch. Oldbubblehead (talk) 06:18, 18 June 2013 (UTC)Reply[reply]. One of them may be the finest actor I have ever seen. By late fall, the sixty-five Allied divisions operating in northeastern Europe were facing vital supplies shortages, especially of fuel, and their offensive had sputtered to a halt. It contains a roster, list of decorations awarded, and some information on landing craft assignments. And the Rangers were not a dumping ground for disciplinary problems. He may have landed beside the 2nd or 5th Ranger BN and Hollywood made him a Ranger. Sergeant Beutner then stopped a halftrack that held a 75-mm cannon and attempted to depress its barrel low enough to aim at the prisoners in the field. Jochen Peiper never reached the Meuse, his much-sought-after goal. Every so often he landed a bit part in a play. Its hard to say for certain, but as many as 50 Americans were able to escape, including Charles Durning, Malmedy-Massacre-survivor He spent months in hospitals and was treated for psychological trauma. Not even a Bronze Star, much less a Silver Star. Also, the alleged false statement was the Durning was the 2nd most decorated soldier of WWII, which Monkeyzpop disputes. [AlanM1(talk)] 00:56, 29 July 2013 (UTC)Reply[reply], More Durning documents have turned up. Unless someone has a contradictory source, or different experience with the Frances/Francis spelling/gender distinction, I believe the section should assume she is a sister. 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. Has he really said this. Can we really exclude that the speach could have writen by a lazzy (or gullible) employee who could simply have made a copy/paste of what he had found on a website without making any check? In fact, this is what happened. were returned to those kinds of units, infantrymen were returned to infantry units. The trials were deliberately held on the site of the Dachau concentration camp, to garner maximum symbolism from the event. The Germans swept them with rifle and machine gun fire, but made little attempt to chase after them. However, early that evening, three escapees did encounter a patrol led by Colonel Pergrin, who had heard the shooting and was coming to investigate. [AlanM1(talk)] 12:37, 17 July 2013 (UTC)Reply[reply]. The worksheet shows (additionally) Foreign Service Pay of $128.43 for the period 1 Dec 45 to 24 or 26 Jan 46 $7072/month depending on how it was pro-rated. Both his war record and his acting career were mentioned. When the gun crew was unable to do this, Beutner gave up in disgust and waved the halftrack on, much to the relief of the now edgy and nervous Americans in the field. WRT the EIB/CIB, block 31 says "M1 Rifle Ex 165 5 Mar 45". Eleven Americans fled to the caf nearby, but the Germans set it on fire and then gunned down the men as they ran out. Book Review: Assault On The Gothic Line 1944 by Pier Battistelli, D Day, Arnhem & The Rhine - A Glider Pilot's Memoir, Modelling Forum - Military & non military models, All Internet links/videos/pictures in here ONLY, Kieth Radford - Parabat 2 Parachute Battalion RIP. But some of these same GIs later recalled that the story of the Malmedy Massacre so angered them that they decided they would now stand and fight with everything they had. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}} (last update: 18 January 2022). He couldnt have been more than 14 or 15. Co. X176ADec. 18, 1944 - Dec. 31, 1945. A report from the 12th Replacement Depot has him in England on December 20th, 1944. I can't understand why you're so emphatic here, but so unwilling to prove your case in public. 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. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. Web300 East 5th Street, Perris, CA 92570. corsica ryan homes elevations; joan hopper william hopper's daughter. I meant to say that stupid people are generally conservative. Not all of the presumed guilty could be punishedboth Major Poetschke and Sergeant Beutner died in action during the war. 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. I have put some editing only text above the section warning editors not to edit that area. That evening, Pergrin sent back word to 1st Army Headquarters that there had been a massacre of some type at Malmedy. - Are we supposed to believe - as some accounts hold - that after being levied out of the 386th AAA (AW) Bn, after being sent to Normandy as a replacement, after being wounded and after spending five months in a hospital recovering, that Mr. Durning returned back to the very same 386th AAA (AW) Bn he joined in '43? 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). Charles Durning, who died on Dec. 24 at age 89 in New York City, played a whole lot of roles in his half-century-long career - all told, 207 of them, according the There are many secrets in us, in the depths of our souls, that we dont want anyone to know about, he told Parade. I added this piece of information: War Hero on Walk of Fame by Solvej Schou (Associated Press). With the 398th Infantry Regiment he moved into Germany where he was again seriously wounded in March 1945 and evacuated to the United States. Time is always important in military operations, but in the Ardennes in December 1944, it was the most crucial factor that Peiper, and by extension the entire Wehrmacht, faced. That way, instead of spending a lot of time trying to remember what it is I wrote down, I spend the time looking for the paper I wrote it down on. #HATM. Preceding unsigned comment added by Deemery (talk contribs) 16:08, 26 December 2012 (UTC)Reply[reply], In 1943 you joined the army, enlisting as an Army Ranger. Durning stated he took part in the D-Day landings, and the article notes he was with 1st Infantry. This was an outfit whose job was to spot enemy artillery emplacements and transmit their location to other U.S. units. Peiper, who was murdered in France in 1976 by a shadow group of anti-Nazi terrorists who called themselves the Avengers, always claimed that he did not give express orders to kill the prisoners at Malmedy, and he probably did not. Frankly speaking I have doubts about this. With regards to the re-assignment of soldiers - while it is common knowledge that the replacement system funneled troops from unit to unit after being wounded, they were still moved to units with respect to their training. Standing in the barren field outside of the town of Malmedy on that cold early afternoon in the winter of 1944, they smoked and joked with each other. About Us In some instances, U.S. outfits were completely surrounded by the attacking Germans while, a few miles (kilometers) away, the GIs wiped out entire German companies. He was nominated for the Acade [AlanM1(talk)] 23:36, 28 December 2012 (UTC) (Edited 23:39, 28 December 2012 (UTC))Reply[reply], Oldbubblehead (talk) 23:42, 16 April 2013 (UTC)Reply[reply], I have received a copy of Durning's military records from the National Archives. IMDb is not considered to be a reliable source since it is mainly user-edited - just like Wikipedia. The book contains a bibliography but no footnotes or citations within the text to explain sources. He advised them to go to St. Vith by another route, but Mills and Lary refused, perhaps because ahead of them were several members of Battery B who had been laying down road markers, and they did not wish to abandon them, or perhaps simply because the route they were to take was stated in their orders. See: [1](No mention made of service with an antiaircraft unit), In populating the Infobox, I made the assumption that Frances is Charles' sister because of the spelling of the name (instead of Francis), based on my experience (admittedly OR) and "Frances is a human name, the feminine version of Francis." I wonder whether it might be able to get some rock solid sources on this. 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. Mr. Durning, my gratitude and utmost respect go out to you. WebCharles Durning, who plays WWII Vet Ernie Yost, was an actual WWII veteran, specifically an Army private first class who was part of the Normandy invasion, survived the Malmedy massacre, and fought in the Battle of the Bulge. So. JavaScript is disabled. It was the start of a long association with Papp, who cast him, often as a clown, in 35 plays, many by Shakespeare. And they did. Amazingly enough, some sixty Americans were still alive in the field after the machine-gunning. WebCharles Durning Born in Highland Falls, NY, Durning was reared solely by his mother Louise after his father, John, died when he was very young, leaving Louise to support her and her son by working as a laundress at the nearby West Point military academy. Warren Kozak writes in the Wall Street Journal, "The Real Rules of War," Dec. 23, that his father, who survived the Battle of the Bulge, told him that In 2008 the Screen Actors Guild gave Mr. Durning its Life Achievement Award, as if to dispel any lingering doubts he had about being recognized by his peers. Even at the headquarters of the Supreme Allied Command, it was at first thought that this German attack was a feint, a prelude to another main attack someone else along the Allied lines. . 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. Blacks later book, The Battalion: The Dramatic Story of the 2nd Ranger Battalion goes into more detail about the 2nd Ranger Battalion. Some survivors later testified that the Germans were laughing as they did this. Following your training period in 1943, you were sent to England in February of the following year. Go for it - its obviously a field of study that you enjoy and you have the chance to make your name. 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. Scavenger Killers, a crime thriller in which he stars with Eric Roberts and Robert Loggia, is scheduled to open next year. As one historian has written, tales of the shootings enraged the Americans and inspired them to fight with conviction and with little compassion, especially towards the SS. Although official U.S. military histories deny this, there is strong evidence that U.S. commanders gave orders for the killing of prisoners. The battle lasted forty days in December and January of 194445, in atrocious winter weather that was the worst seen in the Ardennes region of Belgium in twenty years, and could easily have resulted in a devastating loss for Allied forces, one that might have stalemated a war that they seemed well on their way to winning. I was crossing a field somewhere in Belgium, he said. I lack confidence as an actor, he told The Toronto Star in 1988. 7. I am proposing the following as a new section on the Charles Durning page: "Controversy Surrounding Military Service - He noted that 1) It appears Durning did not leave the replacement system till March 44 (well after Malmedy); 2) Durning was nominally assigned to the 159th Inf Regt, then transferred to the 398th Inf Regt when the former was shipped stateside in the Fall of 45; 3)Although he was nominally assigned to those infantry regiments, he actually was on temporary duty with the 20th Special Services Bn (an entertainment unit); and 5) Mr. Karras says he knows for a fact that Arlington has cut a new headstone for Durning which omits the Bronze Star medal and two of his supposed Purple Hearts. The "confusion" regarding Mr. Durning's service is far more extensive than has been touched on here. He boxed professionally for a time, delivered telegrams and taught ballroom dancing, meeting his first wife, Carole, at an Arthur Murray studio. As the SS massacred the survivors, they realized they had no choice to but to try to escape, and they rose and ran as fast as they could to the back of the field, heading for a nearby woods. And there's the weakness in Wiki; the burden of proof should be on those making assertions of fact; instead, Wiki gives credence to unsubstantiated, possibly self-serving claims made by individuals, that are only bolstered by second and third hand retellings of that same man's stories. This message was posted before February 2018. Again, kudos to Oldbubblehead. He does not appear in the list of survivors who were brought back to the massacre site. Division. On the other hand I am far from being convinced that the fact this would have been said by the French consul (if it was the case) make it the revealed truth. There was a caf there, as well as three small farms. He was a great character actor, a tremendous military hero, and a really good guy (plus a Democrat) whom Mr. Steve Karras, among other researchers, has accessed primary sources such as Durnings discharge papers, his medical records, unit personnel rosters and morning reports, Army General Orders, and other records, as well as secondary sources such as unit official histories, to assemble an accurate record of Durnings military experiences. Set the record straight and, once you have, we can revise it here. There are no original sources, official documents or corroborating accounts by those he served with that validate his stories. I don't seem to recall it being used when he first came to prominance. --Lebob-BE (talk) 20:11, 25 February 2009 (UTC)Reply[reply],
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21 Jan 2021
charles durning malmedy
charles durning malmedy
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