We walked around Arlington National Cemetery this afternoon — it was a beautiful day. While there, we paid a visit to a few of our heroes.
We were told there was a desire to give Audie Murphy his own monument at Arlington. But in his will, he requested that he be buried just like his buddies.
Lee Marvin is buried next to boxer Joe Louis. The nice lady in the Visitor’s Center knew exactly where Marvin was, rattling off his location (Section 7A, grave 176) in a split second. He’s a popular one, she says.
Burt Kennedy is also in Section 7A (grave 15). Took these with my cell phone, so I apologize for the quality. Also, the subject line is lifted from Harry Carey Jr.’s book.
I really appreciated your sharing the picture of Burt Kennedy’s tombstone.
As they made a point of at his Memorial Service at the Gene Autry museum (lots of Hollywood folks who had worked him with there–they had all liked him, and you only had to know him to understand why), he had always been very reticent to play up his WWII heroism.
And that’s true, because in all the conversations I had with him he never even mentioned it until I finally did. Then he told me those landings had been frightening, partly just because of the sound alone, which was so loud. He didn’t make anything of being the hero that he had been, though I already knew about it from others, because he was just not that kind of guy. I have a feeling that’s how it often is with those of real courage. They have no need to brag about it or act like it made them special.
A timely post in that I recently asked my husband to add to my Audie Murphy collection for my upcoming birthday and yesterday I “made” my daughter watch “7 Men from Now” for the first time. It’s important to remember their lives away from movies.
Real and True heroes in every aspect of the word “valor”. Missed by me and by many, growing up with them on or behind the silver screen, a vital part of my formative years.
…I can only hope and wish to prove true to their courage and ideals.
I try.
Awesome post and pictures. Thanks for sharing something that is truly beautiful.
This post startled me at first because of the finality of these individuals that we all celebrate by virtue of their great contributions to the genre we love. In a sense, they live on…
I appreciate the remarks from Blake. I read Burt Kennedy’s book, Hollywood Trail Boss, and he is humorous and self deprecating and never mentions his WWII exploits and heroism.
He wrote and directed some episodes for the first year of the COMBAT TV series and was offered an Executive Producer position but turned it down because he did not want to be tied to a series. Anyway, his episodes are excellent and I suggest checking them out to anyone interested.
Specifically, two episodes are worth mentioning, Next in Command and Far From the Brave. Both have captivating suspense and tension along with brilliant dialog. Vic Morrow’s acting is outstanding and Burt’s directing shines.
By the way, Lee Marvin also stars in a Combat episode,The Bridge at Chalons.
He capricious as usual and you can’t take your eyes off of him.
Thanks for the thought provoking post Toby.