03 September 2006

Last of the Line

Deceased: August 31, 2006. Glenn Ford, laconic, soft-spoken actor who played leading roles in many westerns, melodramas and romantic films from the early 1940's through the 60's, died yesterday at his Beverly Hills home. He was 90. A laconic, soft-spoken actor with an easy smile, he played leading roles in many westerns, melodramas and romantic films from the early 1940's through the 60's.

That is how most of the obituaries read. CAPT Glenn Ford, USNR-Ret was indeed a movie star, and a big one. His career spanned more than a hundred movies, and that easy smile made him part of the fabric of the American Century.

But his story gets more interesting. He was the last of the line.

I won't belabor the criticality of the rapid and effective dissemination of information that supports a war effort. One of the reasons I retired when I did was frustration over our inability to do so, even in the post 9/11 environment. But that is a matter for another time.

In the process of advocating a GWOT-equivalent of the Office of War Information (which emerged with OSS over the course of months, not years) I came across the work done by some great Americans who happened to work in Hollywood. Glenn Ford was one of them. If the naval service acted like the Air Force, he would have retired as a General, like Jimmy Stewart.

But Glenn was drawn to the WWII world of "information operations" by a great figure in naval intelligence that was never a formal part of our community, but was there at the founding of what we know as "Central Intelligence," and proudly wore the naval uniform.

Navy Reserve CAPT John Ford was born Sean Aloysius O'Fearna in Capetown, Maine, on Feb. 1, 1895. He was acting in and writing for films before he embarked on his career behind the camera, which commenced with the feature "The Tornedo," produced in Toronto in 1917.

He was excluded from military service during World War I because as an assistant director, he was in an industry ”essential to the war effort."

The enforced inactivity in WWI always pained him. In September 1934, John Ford was commissioned a lieutenant commander in the naval reserve, and promptly sailed his private yacht to Mexico, where he gathered information on the Japanese presence in the area for the Office of Naval Intelligence. It was a pioneering cover that was later used for collection in other sensitive areas.

In addition to his contributions to the Navy, he was already a major force in Tinsel Town. He had won an Oscar as Director of "The Informer" (1935) with a second nomination for the breakthrough John Wayne vehicle "Stagecoach" (1939). Storm clouds were gathering on the continent and in Asia that would distract the nation from tales of Ireland and the Old West.

In April 1940, he was encouraged by Regular Navy friends to personally form a naval reserve unit of filmmakers called the Naval Field Photographic Unit (NFPU). They were recruited from all the technical trades that made the movies work: actors, directors, cinematographers, editors, and production specialists. In November, the unit was made official. After December 7th, the unit was transferred to the Office of Strategic Services under MG "Wild Bill" Donovon.

Ford won an Oscar for "Grapes of Wrath" in 1940, and was just completing "How Green Was My Valley" in September of 1941 when he was called to active duty and promoted to CDR. Ordered to Washington, his salary abruptly dropped from $250,000 a year to $4,000.

He was aboard the USS Salt Lake City on April 14, 1942, when he learned that "Valley" won him his third Oscar. He was on a convoy escort, preparing a film report on the condition of the Atlantic Fleet. In March of 1943, he won his fourth Oscar for the documentary "The Battle of Midway," which was the product of his presence at the climactic battle.

FADM Chester Nimitz wanted him there on the island but he did not tell him that he knew from CDR Joe Rochfort's penetration of the Japanese Naval codes that the main body of the enemy fleet was steaming down on the atoll. Ford's oral history interview about his time on the island is available at:  http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq81-8b.htm

By late January 1944, John Ford was back in Washington being briefed by OSS Chief Donovan. The general revealed to him that Operation OVERLORD, the Allied invasion of Europe, was planned for June. It was to be the largest maritime operation in history, and Ford was to be in charge of all Allied photography. On April 5, 1944, newly-promoted CAPT Ford left Washington for London, and the invasion of Normandy.

The peripatetic fictional Navy Captain "Pug Henry" in Herman Wouk's "Winds of War" seemed to pop up at every major turning point in the global conflict. It was a plot device for a novel, but John Ford really did jump from turning point to turning point, complete with camera crew.

Ford spent the afternoon of 6 June 1944, and the next week embarked in a PT boat commanded by LCDR John Bulkley. Bulkley had been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for conducting the evacuation of Gen. Douglas MacArthur from the Philippines. He was in charge of a squadron of PT boats patrolling the coast of Normandy.

Ford had been approached earlier to direct a movie called "They Were Expendable" about Bulkley's action in the Philippines. After seeing combat with the man for five days, Ford decided to do it. The film was released on Dec. 7, 1945, the fourth anniversary of Pearl Harbor.

Also on the Normandy beaches was a young Hollywood actor named Glenn Ford. Born Gwyllyn Ford in Quebec, Canada, on May 1, 1916, Ford moved to California and fell in love with it. He determined to be part of the Hollywood life, and he succeeded beyond his wildest dreams. In his later days he was close-mouthed about his combat experience, and modestly stated that during the war, while others were fighting, he was “making films.”

What he failed to mention wasa that his films were not made on a sound-set in Hollywood. He was recruited for John Ford's OSS unit, and he commanded a camera crew filming the D-Day landings while under German small arms fire.

Glenn Ford had enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps on Dec. 13, 1942, and completed basic training amid the Spanish-style buildings of the Marine Corps Recruiting Depot at San Diego. He was then assigned to John Ford's unit, where he followed the Allied advance across Europe. By then a Marine sergeant, he was one of the first Americans to enter the concentration camp at Dachau, and filmed the event to ensure that the truth of the Nazi atrocities would be recorded for all time.

Ford was discharged from the Marines as a sergeant in 1946.  He was not recalled to duty for Korea, as many of his contemporaries were to fill out the ranks in the come-as-you-are conflict. But like his mentor John Ford, he chafed at missing a war due to the pressures of a his high-profile civilian career. He made fourteen films between 1950 and 1954, a productive period that cemented him as a major film star.

It was not enough for him. He enlisted in the Naval Reserve on Dec. 30, 1958, and was selected for service as a 1655 Special Duty Public affairs officer where he served in the 11th Naval District, rising to the grade of Captain.

During one thirty-day active-duty-for-traing (ACDUTRA) period, he was assigned to the Republic of Vietnam. He urtilized his OSS experience to advise USMC combat camera teams filming a documentary in the Mekong Delta. For his actions, CDR Glenn Ford was awarded the Navy Commendation Medal, and decorated with the Vietnamese Legion of Merit (First Class) by Republic of Vietnam Premier Nguyen Cao Ky on Feb. 4, 1967.

Glenn Ford retired from the Naval Reserve on Oct. 1, 1978.

His mentor John Ford, legend and the master of information operations, died on 31 August 1973. President Richard Nixon said this about a man who had contributed so much to the very beginnings of the intelligence community, and to the Navy in particular:

"In the history of American films, no name shines more brightly than that of John Ford. A consummate master of his craft, he was one of the pioneers in transforming an infant industry into an art form that developed in America and swept the world. He was also a man who deeply loved his country, and who helped at least three generations of Americans to a fuller understanding of their Nation and its heritage. He represented the best in American films, and the best in America."

You could say the same thing about Glenn Ford. But as far as Hollywood goes, he appears to be the last of the line.

Copyright 2006 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com

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