When Van Dyke heard the Army recruits with special abilities could be placed in other positions, he sprang into action, literally.
He was stationed at Camp Crowder in Missouri, which counted among its inhabitants the Beetle Bailey cartoonist Mort Walker.
Grumpy Navy Veteran James Donovan lives in a retirement community, and his only real pleasure in life is raising the flag every morning in the community courtyard. His routine is interrupted when the ever-cheerful Lou Addison, a retired Army veteran, moves in across the way and challenges James for the right to hoist the flag in their retirement community every morning.
“I tap-danced and sang right on the spot,” Van Dyke quipped in the interview. “I got into USO shows […] and entertaining [troops]. So cowardice got me into showbiz.”
He served as a radio announcer before transferring to the Special Services and entertaining troops in the continental United States, he was honorably discharged in 1945. https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/Dick_Van_Dyke (Encyclopedia Britannica states he was discharged in 1946)
Fyi, VE day was May 8, 1945, VJ day was Sept 2, 1945
He was stationed at Camp Crowder in Missouri, which counted among its inhabitants the Beetle Bailey cartoonist Mort Walker.
He received his high school diploma in 2004 at the age of 78.
By the way, in the 1950s took various acting jobs and hosted a series of TV game shows. In 1960, he earned him a Tony Award for starring in Bye Bye Birdie on Broadway, despite having never been a professional dancer.
The following year, he signed on to play comedy writer Rob Petrie on The Dick Van Dyke Show. In 1963 the feature film adaptation of Bye Bye Birdie co-starred Ann-Margret and Janet Leigh. In 1964 he was the charming chimney sweep Bert in Walt Disney’s movie musical Mary Poppins, and did not get an Oscar, because of the accent offended the Academy voters, but he earned the Grammy for the soundtrack to the movie.
He got the job as Rob Petrie, because Carl Reiner, who wrote the show, was deemed by Sheldon Leonard (CBS producer) to not be right to play himself on screen, and was replaced by Van Dyke. During WW2 Reiner was serving as a radio operator and French translator, before joining an entertainment unit that toured the Pacific, which included Hogans Heroes Colonel Klink, actor Werner Klemperer, Jewish German, whose parents escaped Germany in 1935, and was drafted into the combat infantry, before auditioning to be transferred into the entertainment special services, where he spent the rest of the war in Hawaii with Carl Reiner.
Van Dyke’s potentially upcoming (in process for 4 years, might not happen) project is an upcoming film about two Korean War veterans — a soldier and a sailor — who fight over which of them gets to raise the flag over their retirement community each morning. In a promotional interview for the film, which is in development,
https://coffeeordie.com/dick-van-dyke-wwii/
https://coffeeordie.com/dick-van-dyke-wwii/
A group of elderly Vets engage in a spirited game of 'capture the flag' for the privilege of raising Old Glory every morning in their community.
A humorous rivalry begins and, after a series of escalating pranks, the two rivals decide to settle the score with a no-holds barred camp game of ‘capture the flag.’ They each recruit a team of feisty seniors to determine the winner -- but not before they come to terms with their own regrets, fears, and losses in this funny, heart-warming script about rivalry, respect, sacrifice and friendship.
By the way, you're distantly related to Dick Van Dyke if you're related to John Alden, passenger on the Mayflower https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/Dick_Van_Dyke
Thanks for making me aware of this...looking forward to seeing it.
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