Charles Durning passed away on Christmas Eve, age 89

Gertie Kindle 'a/k/a Margaret Lake' said:

Durning landed at Normandy on D-Day and fought in the Battle of the Bulge, receiving the Silver Star and three Purple Hearts.

Click to expand...

There is more to the story than that. He got off the boat on the beach with two other guys. The other two were shot.

One of his Purple Hearts was for this: He was walking across a field, and a German soldier came rushing toward him with a bayonet. The German looked 14 or 15 years old. "I didn't see a soldier," Durning said. "I saw a child." He couldn't shoot him. The German soldier attacked, and Durning tried to neutralize him. They wrestled; the German soldier stabbed Durning several times before Durning picked up a rock and shattered his skull, without wanting to. When he realized he'd killed him, Durning dropped to the ground and cried and cradled the dead boy in his arms. He spent 10 years after the war recovering from what we now call post traumatic stress. I just read that account this morning. I've admired as an actor him since I saw him in 'Kiss Me Deadly' but now my feeling about him as a person is profound.

Thanks for expanding the story, Steve. I've always enjoyed Durning as an actor. It's nice to know he was a good person as well.

Very interesting.
RIP

It's surprising that nobody outside his family and friends knew what he'd done in the military. It seems everyone and his uncle are spilling all about their personal lives, especially those in the public eye. He was a modest man about his heroics, unusual in this day and age.

Joyce

So sorry to read about this.  Great actor.

Dawn