![]() ![]() Durning was obliged to return with American troops to identify the bodies of his fellow prisoners. He and two others escaped, and the rest were murdered. Durning recovered from those wounds and was released from the hospital just in time to fight in the Battle of the Bulge, where he was taken prisoner.Ĭharles Durning was one of only three men to survive the infamous massacre of American POWs at Malmedy, Belgium. That day, he survived by killing the German with a rock in hand-to-hand combat. Several months later, in Belgium, Durning was stabbed eight times by a bayonet-wielding teenage German soldier. Despite suffering serious machine gun and shrapnel wounds, Durning killed seven German gunners to survive D-Day. He was the only man to survive a machine-gun ambush. As a 21-year-old infantryman, Private Charles Durning was in the first wave of soldiers to land on Omaha Beach during the D-Day invasion of Normandy. However, like Medal of Honor recipient Audie Murphy, before he began an acting career, Charles Durning was a highly-decorated soldier in World War II. He was recently honored, at age 84, with a Life Achievement Award by the Screen Actors Guild. Then he showed his singing and dancing skills as the two-stepping Texas governor in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas with Dolly Parton. In the 1970's he made a name for himself in The Sting with Paul Newman and Robert Redford. Most of today's generation know Charles Durning, if they know him at all, as an actor. Notable American actor discusses his wartime experience in a 2007 Memorial Day speech ![]()
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