re: World War 2 soldiers who went on to be famous

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On June 2, 1943, Ensign Kinnick was on a routine training flight from the aircraft carrier USS Lexington, which was off the coast of Venezuela in the Gulf of Paria. Kinnick had been flying for over an hour when his Grumman F4F Wildcat developed an oil leak so serious that he could neither reach land nor the Lexington, whose flight deck was in any case crowded with planes preparing for launch. Kinnick followed standard military procedure and executed an emergency landing in the water, but died in the process. Rescue boats arrived on the scene a mere eight minutes later, but they found only an oil slick. His body was never recovered.

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During the filming of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, notoriously irascible director John Ford suddenly called out to John Wayne in front of the cast and crew, "Hey Duke, how much money did you make while Jimmy was risking his life overseas?"

Stewart, unfamiliar w/Ford's bizarre sense of humor, cringed in horror. Wayne simply grimaced and shrugged it off.

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