No, Charles Durning was not one of Rudders Rangers. But IIRC, he did land in Normandy and end up fighting at least thru the Ardennes. Any soldier to have survived either of those campaigns, let alone both, is a fortunate man indeed.
wasn’t there an actor who landed with the rangers? i know a lot of post ww2 actors were in the war…
No. The Rangers were a very small force and did not have the high rotational replacement rate of regular line units. While many actors of that era served, and a good portion of those saw combat, only a handful served in any of the Allied WWII elite units. I don’t think that I have read of any served with any of the 6 US WWII Ranger Battalions. I do know that Aldo Ray was a UDT in the PTO, and Rod Sirling was with the 11th Airborne in the Phillipines. But they did not become entertainers until postwar.
carlos is right. Charles durning landed in Normandy but not with the Rangers. And his character in NCIS, Sgt Yost, was a Marine on Iwo, who also fought and was wounded in Guadalcanal. I love the last scene where they meet up with an old Japanese who also fought on the 'canal!
I am always amazed at how many actors were in the war. James Doohan of Star Trek fame (Scotty) landed in Normandy as well. Julia Childs was a Maquis who also served as interpreter for Gen. Eisenhower.