Durning is the real thing.ĭennis McCarthy’s column appears Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday. “It was frightening.”Īnd in the 200 movies, TV shows and plays to his credit, he never performed in a war movie, said Durning, who was nominated for an Oscar for his roles in “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” and “To Be Or Not To Be.” “It wasn’t very interesting,” he said to men who understood. The guy next to me said, `Don’t worry, you’ll find a lot of them on the beach.’ He was right.”įor more than 50 years after coming home to start his successful movie and stage career, Durning never talked about his war experiences. “I yelled out that I didn’t have a rifle. He is survived by his three children from his first marriage. John Wayne was exempted from military service due to his age. “I lost my pack and rifle jumping into the deep water,” Durning said. He was legally separated from his second wife, Mary Ann (Amelio) Durning, in 2010. He knew if I panicked and didn’t jump, everybody behind me would have panicked, too,” he said. Army and actor Charles Durning, Chair, Department of Veterans Affairs 1995 Salute to Hospitalized Veterans. He talked about balking when it was his turn to jump out of the landing craft into 60 feet of water – how a sergeant behind him yelled, “You’re next, Durning,” aiming a rifle at him. The first question Durning got was about D-Day. “I’m proud to introduce Charles Durning, who became a member of Wings Over Wendy’s about 10 seconds ago,” said the group’s unofficial president, Art Sherman. They meet once a week for burgers and war stories at the fast-food restaurant in West Hills. One of 10 children, Charles Durning was born on Februat Highland Falls, New York, near the US military academy at West Point. Durning was wounded nine days after the landing and earned a Purple Heart. That bullet effectively ended Durnings service he spent the rest of the war in the hospital recovering from his wounds. Durning was the only soldier in his company to survive, according to KPBS broadcasting. Military left too many bad memories, Durning says In later years, he refused to discuss the military service for which he was awarded the Silver Star and three Purple Hearts. Leipold WASHINGTON - Triple Purple Heart holder, Silver Star recipient and award-winning character actor Charles Durning, who died at 89 on Christmas eve of natural. He was in one of the first waves to land on Omaha Beach during the D-Day invasion. No one wants to remember the ugly details of war.ĭurning was invited to the Woodland Hills hall by former military pilots who started a group called Wings Over Wendy’s. Charles Durning: American actor Durning served in the United States Army. Every man in this room had experienced or witnessed similar scenes that they also tried to forget. ![]() The 50 veterans and their wives in the audience looked away from his tearful eyes. “We could have been friends,” he said, in a voice barely above a whisper.
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