vygramul: Jimmy Stewart was pretty badass himself during WWII.

So was Bush 1 , he flew carrier torpedo bombers in WWII, I saw the interview about when he was shot down and you could tell that losing his crew weighed heavily on him. I am pretty sure this is why he stood the troops down in Desert 1 when they were using the road back to Baghdad as a shooting gallery.

Here are more Celebrity bad-asses from WW2, nope Saint Ronnie is not one of them, making VD films doesn't count.

• Don Adams - USMC, Contracted malaria on Guadalcanal
• Eddie Albert - US Navy. Drove Amtracks in several Pacific invasions. He served in the landings at Saipan in 1943, where he rescued wounded and stranded Marines from the beachhead. At Tarawa, he was wounded and lost most of his hearing and earned the Bronze Star.
• James Arness - US Army, Wounded at Anzio. Purple Heart and Bronze Star [Source: Internet Movie Database]
• Ernest Borgnine he served in the U.S. Navy for twelve years, joining before WWII.
• Mel Brooks (Melvin Kaminsky) joined army in WWII and became a combat engineer. Cleared German mines after the Battle of the Bulge. He organized shows for the US troops, and when the German army began transmitting propaganda over loudspeakers Brooks is said to have replied with a version of Al Jolson's 'Toot-toot-tootsie'.
• Art Carney - US Army. Carney went to Normandy in July of 1944 as a replacement to the 28th Division in position around St Lô. He was part of a 30 calibre machine gun squad. On 15 August 1944 he had just taken up his position and was hit in the right leg by mortar shrapnel. After receiving field treatment, he was sent back to Britain and then the US. He once said of his military career, "Never fired a shot and maybe never wanted to. I really cost the government money."
• Julia Child served with the OSS (Office of Strategic Services) in Ceylon and China during WWII. [Source: They Also Served by Scott Baron]
• Robert Clary - In a Nazi concentration camp [Source: Internet Movie Database]
• Jackie Coogan - US Army Air Corps. Enlisted in Army March 1941. After Pearl Harbor, requested transfer to Air Corps as a glider pilot because of his civilian flying experience. After graduating from Glider School, he was made a Flight Officer and volunteered for hazardous duty with the 1st Air Commando Group. In Dec. 1943, the unit was sent to India where, by using CG-4A gliders, it airlifted crack British troops under Gen. Orde Wingate during the night aerial invasion of Burma (Mar. 5, 1944), landing them in a small jungle clearing 100 miles behind Japanese lines.
• Charles Durning - US Army. Durning landed at Omaha Beach in the D-Day invasion. He survived the landing, but was wounded in an ambush during the Battle of the Bulge. He was captured, escaped, and narrowly missed assassination at the Malmedy Massacre. He won three Purple Hearts and the Silver Star. He still carries his memories and battle fatigue to this day. [source Osprey Military Journal]
• Douglas Fairbanks Jr. - US Navy. He joined the naval reserves before the war. During the war he served on the Battleship Massachuesetts and was a Commando raider sent on several land attack missions. He retired from the reserves, years later, as a full Captain. He wrote about his war years in the book "A Hell of a War" which also covers his duties in helping organize the forerunners of today's Navy Seals.
• Henry Fonda - US Navy. Bronze Star for Valor.
• Glenn Ford - US Navy. In addition to his WWII service, he served in the reserves during the Korean War and the Viet Nam War. He retired as a Captain in the US Naval Reserve.
• Clark Gable - Captain, US Army Air Corps. Although beyond draft age, Clark Gable enlisted as a private in the Air Corps on Aug. 12, 1942 at Los Angeles. He attended Officers' Candidate School at Miami Beach and graduated as a second lieutenant. He then attended aerial gunnery school and in Feb. 1943, on personal orders from Gen. Arnold, went to England to make a motion picture of aerial gunners in action. He was assigned to the 351st Bomb Group at Polebrook and although neither ordered nor expected to do so, flew operational missions over Europe in B-17s to obtain the combat film footage he believed was required for producing the movie entitled "Combat America." Gable returned to the U.S. in Oct. 1943 and was relieved from active duty as a major on Jun. 12, 1944 at his own request, since he was over age for combat
• Audrey Hepburn, as a child she was a courier for World War II resistance fighters in Holland
• Brian Keith - USMC, Aerial gunner [Source: Internet Movie Database]
• Lee Marvin - US Marines, wounded in the battle of Saipan
• Jan Merlin - Enlisted in US Navy April, 1942, served as a destroyer torpedoman until April 1946, honorably discharged. Played Roger Manning, Space Cadet!
• Audie Murphy - US Army, most decorated soldier of WWII
• David Niven Royal Army. His relates several charming tales of his war service (including the time he lets a German general slip away) in his autobiography The Moon's a Balloon
• Jack Palance US Army Air Corps. 455th bomb group. Required facial reconstruction from terrible injuries received in 1943 when his B17 crash landed in Britain.
• Tyrone Power - USMC Pilot in the South Pacific.
• Jason Robards Jr - US Navy. He was a radioman on duty at Pearl Harbor during the Japanese attack. He wrote about his experiences in A Hell of a War.
• Don Rickles - US Navy. Destroyer duty. He has said of one deployment, "It was so hot and humid, the crew rotted."
• Andy Rooney - (okay, not an actor, but he is a TV personality) Sergeant, US Army. Early in war served with artillery regiment assigned to England. Joined Stars And Stripes in London. In 1943, Rooney is among first correspondents allowed aboard B-17 bombers attacking Germany. He wrote of his war experiences in the book My War.
• Mickey Rooney - US Army. PFC. Served 21 months with a unit that entertained the troops
• Charles Schultz (cartoonist) - US Army. Staff sergeant and leader of machine gun squad.
• Rod Serling - US Army paratroopers [Source: Internet Movie Database]
• Rod Stieger - Torpedoman, US Navy. Falsified his age to enlist at
• Jimmy Stewart - US Army Air Corps. Flew over Europe, was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross twice was awarded the Croix de Guerre. He also received the Air Medal with three oak leaf clusters.
• Judge Wapner of The People's Court was saved from a sniper's bullet when it lodged in a can of tuna he was carrying while an Army officer in the Pacific