It's the least we can do, considering all they gave to us. It's up to the rest of us to keep their memory going. In honor of Veterans Day this weekend, we share. For his military service, he was awarded. Time is taking them from us, and by the time the 80th anniversary of D-Day rolls around there will probably be almost no one alive who was on the beach that day. On D-Day, Charles Durning was one of the thousands of Americans who stormed the beaches of Normandy. On 6 June 1944, Durning was with Allied troops for the invasion of German-occupied France in the Normandy landings. Army just in time to fight in World War II. Only a fool wouldn't have been terrified that morning. After the offensive, Durning received his second Purple Heart. Listening to him talk about how scared he was helps crystalize the real meaning of courage - it's being scared and fighting through it to do what needs to be done. He was wounded for six months after getting hit by a German mine. He was a part of the Normandy invasion in 1944. CHARLES Durning, a two-time Oscar nominee dubbed the king of the character actors for his skill in playing everything from a Nazi colonel to the pope, has died Monday at his home in New York City. He is survived by his three children from his first marriage. In 2007 he spoke at the National Memorial Day Concert, recounting his experiences, and his testimony is inspiring and heartbreaking. Military career When Durning was twenty, he was drafted to the military to serve his country during WWII. He was legally separated from his second wife, Mary Ann (Amelio) Durning, in 2010. 21 years old, years before he would become famous as a great character actor, Durning saw his first ever combat on June 6, 1944. Movies like Overlord and Saving Private Ryan help us picture it, but no film matches the sheer power of hearing a veteran of the invasion describe what they saw.Ĭharles Durning was one of those men that day. I can't even imagine what it must have been like in one of those Higgins boats, approaching the shore, hoping against hope you weren't going to be killed the second you stepped foot on the sand. After a recovery period of six months, he was put back on the front lines to combat the German. Even though he survived the initial assault reasonably unscathed, he was injured by a German mine a few days later which earned him a Purple Heart. It was a moment of extraordinary bravery and sacrifice, with 4,414 confirmed dead and thousands more injured - many maimed for life. Charles was one of the many brave men who landed in Normandy on the 6th of June, 1944-D-Day, at age 21. ![]() His mother, Louise, laundered the clothes of the cadets there. Charles Durning, the real-life war hero and dependable character actor who appeared in The Sting, Tootsie and most recently as Denis Leary ‘s father on the firefighter drama Rescue Me, died. 70 years ago Allied forces landed on the beaches of Normandy, beginning the slow, painful defeat of Nazi Germany. Born in Highland Falls, New York state, he grew up near the military academy at West Point.
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