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Tyrone Power was an actor that could have received a direct commission & a cushy job, but he wanted to be a pilot. Due to his age & lack of education, he did not qualify to enter flight training as a cadet. The only recourse open was to enter flight training as an officer. He was finishing the movie-Crash Dive & had to delay entering the Marine Corps as an enlisted man.
He finally won his wings after working hard to finish. Retired Marine Corps flight instructor Jerry Taylor said that he trained Power as a pilot & that he was an excellent student, never forgot a procedure I showed him or anything I told him.
Others said he was well respected since he acted like one of them instead of someone important.
Other Comments:
Early Life
Actor Tyrone Power was born on May 5, 1914, in Cincinnati, Ohio. Power was a descendant of a long line of theatrical actors: his great grandfather was a 19th century comedian; his father, Tyrone Power Sr., was a London stage actor; while his mother, Helen Emma Raeume (stage name Patia Power), often acted opposite her husband in Shakespearean productions.
Power spent his childhood frequently traveling from Hollywood to New York, due to his parents’ various film and stage engagements. Tyrone Power inherited their love of theatre and spent his early teens being coached by his mother.
Acting Debut
During the early 1930s, Power toured with a Shakespeare repertory company and secured several minor film roles, making his debut in Tom Brown of Culver (1932). He gained a foothold in the theatre when he debuted in the 1935 Broadway production of Romeo and Juliet. He received positive reviews, and shortly after, 20th Century Fox signed him to a seven-year contract. Power’s first effort with the studio was in the costume drama Lloyd’s of London (1936). His performance exceeded all expectations, and that same year he was featured in Ladies in Love and Girls’ Dormitory.
Career Highlights
Power maintained his popularity over the next few years with roles ranging in scope from a conniving playboy in Cafe Metropole (1937), to an indignant bandleader in Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938), to a notorious outlaw in Jesse James (1939). Power also received attention with commanding performances in The Mark of Zorro (1940) and The Black Swan (1942).
After an impressive start, Power’s career was put on hold when he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps, where he served from 1942-'46. Upon his discharge, he was welcomed back by Hollywood with a starring role in the film adaptation of the philosophical novel The Razor's Edge (1946), followed by the highly original melodrama Nightmare Alley (1947), and the costume epic Prince of Foxes (1949).
Later Roles
During the 1950s, Power continued to take on roles in period pieces such as The Black Rose (1950) and King of the Khyber Rifles (1953). In addition to his trademark adventure films, he was also distinguished by the onscreen chemistry he shared with some of Hollywood’s leading actresses. Among the most notable were his pairings with Susan Hayward in the adventure feature Untamed (1955) and with Marlene Dietrich in Agatha Christie’s Witness for the Prosecution (1957).
Throughout his career, Power moved between screen and stage projects. In the years before his death, he had steady successes on Broadway in Mr. Roberts (1950), The Devil's Disciple (1950), John Brown's Body (1952), The Dark is Light Enough (1955) and Back to Methuselah (1958).
Although Power considered himself first and foremost a stage actor, his films are the medium that propelled him to stardom. Nevertheless, throughout his life the matinee idol fought for recognition as a serious dramatic actor.
Western Pacific Campaign (1944-45)/Battle of Iwo Jima
From Month/Year
February / 1945
To Month/Year
March / 1945
Description The Battle of Iwo Jima (19 February – 26 March 1945), or Operation Detachment, was a major battle in which the United States Armed Forces fought for and captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Japanese Empire. The American invasion had the goal of capturing the entire island, including its three airfields (including South Field and Central Field), to provide a staging area for attacks on the Japanese main islands. This five-week battle comprised some of the fiercest and bloodiest fighting of the War in the Pacific of World War II.
After the heavy losses incurred in the battle, the strategic value of the island became controversial. It was useless to the U.S. Army as a staging base and useless to the U.S. Navy as a fleet base. However, Navy SEABEES rebuilt the landing strips, which were used as emergency landing strips for USAAF B-29s.
The Imperial Japanese Army positions on the island were heavily fortified, with a dense network of bunkers, hidden artillery positions, and 18 km (11 mi) of underground tunnels. The Americans on the ground were supported by extensive naval artillery and complete air supremacy over Iwo Jima from the beginning of the battle by U.S. Navy and Marine Corps aviators.
Iwo Jima was the only battle by the U.S. Marine Corps in which the Japanese combat deaths were thrice those of the Americans throughout the battle. Of the 22,000 Japanese soldiers on Iwo Jima at the beginning of the battle, only 216 were taken prisoner, some of whom were captured because they had been knocked unconscious or otherwise disabled. The majority of the remainder were killed in action, although it has been estimated that as many as 3,000 continued to resist within the various cave systems for many days afterwards, eventually succumbing to their injuries or surrendering weeks later.
Despite the bloody fighting and severe casualties on both sides, the Japanese defeat was assured from the start. Overwhelming American superiority in arms and numbers as well as complete control of air power — coupled with the impossibility of Japanese retreat or reinforcement — permitted no plausible circumstance in which the Americans could have lost the battle.
The battle was immortalized by Joe Rosenthal's photograph of the raising of the U.S. flag on top of the 166 m (545 ft) Mount Suribachi by five U.S. Marines and one U.S. Navy battlefield Hospital Corpsman. The photograph records the second flag-raising on the mountain, both of which took place on the fifth day of the 35-day battle. Rosenthal's photograph promptly became an indelible icon — of that battle, of that war in the Pacific, and of the Marine Corps itself — and has been widely reproduced.
