Maggie's Farm

Many of us stayed up late to watch the Tonight Show. Johnny Carson’s multi-decade sidekick, Ed McMahon has passed away at 86.

Stars and Stripes reminds us of an earlier, and better, time: Col. McMahon, USMC (Ret.), like many Hollywood celebrities of his era, was a military veteran.  He volunteered for service during World War II.  He went through flight training at various bases, but the end of the war came before he was deployed overseas. 

In the 1950s, McMahon was recalled by the Marines to serve in Korea. There, he was an F-9 Panther pilot and flew 85 combat missions as an artillery spotter, according to an Army website….

In the 21^st Century, the everyman-celebrity continued to participate in military ceremonial events, including an appearance in 2003 (above) with then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Peter Pace, to commemorate the 50^th anniversary of the Korean armistice, and a 2006 Valentine's Day concert event for the troops taped at the Pentagon.

The living connections to the golden era of Hollywood stars who served in World War II is quickly coming to a close….

For you young whippersnappers, this may seem as old as the pyramids, but so many movie stars - like so many Americans, in general - wore the uniform when the entire country was called to duty for World War II. Andrea Shea King’s 2007 interview with Ed McMahon is up at Big Hollywood. 

 “The California Air National Guard named me a Brigadier General, an honorary position, but in the Marine Corps, I got to be a full bird, what they call a full bird, a colonel.  And I’m very proud of that, and I’m very proud of my career in the Marines.  I had six years, two wars, 85 combat missions, so I’m very proud of that.”

“It’s not the same, no it’s not.  It’s unfortunate.You know, in World War Two, even in Korea, everyone was kind of involved.  They called Korea the ‘forgotten war’ but still, everybody had someone, a cousin or somebody that was in the war, and in World War Two, everybody was in the war — the Gold Star mothers, you know, everybody was involved.  We had certain restrictions and rules we had to abide by and it was a different situation.

“Unfortunately now, it’s tumbled into a thing almost like Vietnam again where these boys coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan — they should be honored as well and it disappoints me that they’re not.”

Good night, Ed.  We won’t forget to pay honor.