6.08.2004
Ronald Reagan In the Military
From Where's The Rest of Me?
via RonaldReagan.com:
" ... the Army had designated me for "Limited Service" because of my poor eyesight. Three months after Pearl Harbor, I received a letter from the War Department. I was ordered to report in fourteen days to Fort Mason, the port of embarkation in San Francisco.
At the time, General Hap Arnold was moving toward achieving his dream of creating an independent Air Force. He'd established the intelligence unit to make air force training films and documentaries, train camera crews, and accompany our planes on combat missions. I was sent to the unit because of my experience in motion pictures. My first assignment was to recruit technicians and artists from the movie business for the new unit who were ineligible for the draft, and pretty soon, even though I was wearing the bars of a second lieutenant, I was offering majors' insignias to half-million-dollar-a-year movie directors. We also had first call on draftees from the industry. I wound up as adjutant and personnel officer for the unit. Our combat camera crews went to every war zone in the world and our training films were used throughout the army air corps. In a way, we'd become the Signal Corps for Hap Arnold's new air force.
My assignment as the post's adjutant and personnel officer (I ended the war a captain) put me in close contact with the civilian bureaucrats and it didn't take long for me to decide I didn't think much of the inefficiency, empire building, and business - as - usual attitude that existed in wartime under the civil service system. If I suggested that an employee might be expendable, his supervisor would look at me as if I were crazy. He didn't want to reduce the size of his department; his salary was based to a large extent on the number of people he supervised. He wanted to increase it, not decrease it. We had a warehouse filled with cabinets containing old records that had no use or historic value. They were totally obsolete. Well, with a war on, there was a need for the warehouse and the filing cabinets, so a request was sent up through channels requesting permission to destroy the obsolete papers. Back came a reply - permission granted provided copies are made of each paper destroyed.
From various other sources
Reagan joined the Reserves in 1937, while working on radio. Once activated in 1942, he was assigned to the 1st Motion Picture Unit in Culver City, CA Reagan made over 400 training films for the military. He had been commissioned in the Army Reserves as a cavalry officer back when he was a radio broadcaster in Iowa. He remained in the Army Reserves after his move to California to become an actor.
Another account says he "he oversaw the loading of convoys and narrated flight training films for bomber pilots."
He was soon promoted to 2nd lieutenant in the Officers Reserve Corps of the Cavalry.
One of his most popular feature films, "This is the Army," was also made during this period. An unabashed flag waving celebration of American patriotism -- and the music of Irvin Berlin - the film teamed Reagan with the renowned hoofer George Murphy, and a cast of thousands in the show stopping musical revue that closes the film.
He was discharged as an Army captain in 1945.
He may not have gone overseas, and he may not have seen any combat, but he certainly didn't let any grass grow under his feet in the service of his country.
via RonaldReagan.com:
" ... the Army had designated me for "Limited Service" because of my poor eyesight. Three months after Pearl Harbor, I received a letter from the War Department. I was ordered to report in fourteen days to Fort Mason, the port of embarkation in San Francisco.
At the time, General Hap Arnold was moving toward achieving his dream of creating an independent Air Force. He'd established the intelligence unit to make air force training films and documentaries, train camera crews, and accompany our planes on combat missions. I was sent to the unit because of my experience in motion pictures. My first assignment was to recruit technicians and artists from the movie business for the new unit who were ineligible for the draft, and pretty soon, even though I was wearing the bars of a second lieutenant, I was offering majors' insignias to half-million-dollar-a-year movie directors. We also had first call on draftees from the industry. I wound up as adjutant and personnel officer for the unit. Our combat camera crews went to every war zone in the world and our training films were used throughout the army air corps. In a way, we'd become the Signal Corps for Hap Arnold's new air force.
My assignment as the post's adjutant and personnel officer (I ended the war a captain) put me in close contact with the civilian bureaucrats and it didn't take long for me to decide I didn't think much of the inefficiency, empire building, and business - as - usual attitude that existed in wartime under the civil service system. If I suggested that an employee might be expendable, his supervisor would look at me as if I were crazy. He didn't want to reduce the size of his department; his salary was based to a large extent on the number of people he supervised. He wanted to increase it, not decrease it. We had a warehouse filled with cabinets containing old records that had no use or historic value. They were totally obsolete. Well, with a war on, there was a need for the warehouse and the filing cabinets, so a request was sent up through channels requesting permission to destroy the obsolete papers. Back came a reply - permission granted provided copies are made of each paper destroyed.
From various other sources
Reagan joined the Reserves in 1937, while working on radio. Once activated in 1942, he was assigned to the 1st Motion Picture Unit in Culver City, CA Reagan made over 400 training films for the military. He had been commissioned in the Army Reserves as a cavalry officer back when he was a radio broadcaster in Iowa. He remained in the Army Reserves after his move to California to become an actor.
Another account says he "he oversaw the loading of convoys and narrated flight training films for bomber pilots."
He was soon promoted to 2nd lieutenant in the Officers Reserve Corps of the Cavalry.
One of his most popular feature films, "This is the Army," was also made during this period. An unabashed flag waving celebration of American patriotism -- and the music of Irvin Berlin - the film teamed Reagan with the renowned hoofer George Murphy, and a cast of thousands in the show stopping musical revue that closes the film.
He was discharged as an Army captain in 1945.
He may not have gone overseas, and he may not have seen any combat, but he certainly didn't let any grass grow under his feet in the service of his country.
# posted by Frank_D @ 11:42 
