Not a native, but lots of my family are. Born in Alabama, grew up in Florida and spent a ton of time all over the place. Plenty of Texas punk rock. Butthole Surfers, the Dicks, MDC, DRI.........
When is this stuff ever going to end? I always saw him as a Patriotic Individual who loved our great nation.
Who can forget John Wayne in the Alamo?
He was an an actor, plain and simple. He was an excellent actor.
Patriot? He chose Hollywood over serving his country in WWII.
However, the airport isn't named after him for being a patriot, but for being an great actor. That hasn't changed, nor should the airport's name.
So what did this "super patriot" do that was super patriotic? Did he do war movies for free? Did he do USO tours for free? Nope, that was all part of his normal duties. What did he do that was so patriotic? Seriously, during WWII, there were literally hundreds of thousands of people who were doing more patriotic stuff.
So he could not join the military because he might get sued for leaving his acting contract, but applied for a job with the OSS? Would that not also result in a lawsuit of he got the job.
Then, of course, the letter went to the wrong place, because the OSS, America's spy operation at the time, could not otherwise find John Wayne, one of the most famous people in America at the time, to tell him that he was hired? Oh, but later Wild Bill found him, did not hire him, but asked if he would snoop around while on his paid USO gig? That is really weird. He was accepted to work for the OSS and even met with Wild Bill Donovan, yet managed to not be employed by the OSS. Weird.
As you note, Wayne repeatedly made excuses not to join when he had the chance.
Lots of conflicting messages going on with all that.
People perceive John Wayne as a cowboy, war hero, etc. when he was none of those things. He was an actor, plain and simple. The general public knows little of John Wayne's personal life. They have a perceived persona that is based on his acting roles.
He’s a famous actor who actually lived in Orange County. Had a nice house on the water in Newport Beach not far from the airport.
The airport was renamed simply to memorialize a famous local resident.
I grew up in Orange County.
The Newport Beach area is wealthy and traditionally conservative, but just slightly right-of-center.
There really wasn’t anything super-patriotic about any of it.
The airport call letters are SNA - Santa Ana - which is both the “capital” of Orange County and the armpit of it...I was raised in Santa Ana.
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I could see people trying to relate that to Orange Man TrumpCall it Orange County Airport and be done with it?
Soldiers get paid too. Just because you get compensation for doing good work, doesnt negate that is was good work for a good cause.So what did this "super patriot" do that was super patriotic? Did he do war movies for free? Did he do USO tours for free? Nope, that was all part of his normal duties. What did he do that was so patriotic? Seriously, during WWII, there were literally hundreds of thousands of people who were doing more patriotic stuff.
So he could not join the military because he might get sued for leaving his acting contract, but applied for a job with the OSS? Would that not also result in a lawsuit of he got the job.
Then, of course, the letter went to the wrong place, because the OSS, America's spy operation at the time, could not otherwise find John Wayne, one of the most famous people in America at the time, to tell him that he was hired? Oh, but later Wild Bill found him, did not hire him, but asked if he would snoop around while on his paid USO gig? That is really weird. He was accepted to work for the OSS and even met with Wild Bill Donovan, yet managed to not be employed by the OSS. Weird.
As you note, Wayne repeatedly made excuses not to join when he had the chance.
Lots of conflicting messages going on with all that.
People perceive John Wayne as a cowboy, war hero, etc. when he was none of those things. He was an actor, plain and simple. The general public knows little of John Wayne's personal life. They have a perceived persona that is based on his acting roles.
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/politicians-demand-john-wayne-airport-191222654.html
When is this stuff ever going to end? I always saw him as a Patriotic Individual who loved our great nation.
Who can forget John Wayne in the Alamo?
Next will be Ronald Reagan.....
Maybe they can name it after Jane Fonda? Desi Arnaz? Nancy Pelosi....