Harry Dean Stanton
When news broke out that the US was going to participate in World War II, Harry Dean Stanton jumped at the chance to join the Navy. Harry, like many other young men of his day, was enraged and eager to join the fight against terrible regimes in Europe. At the time, he was a broke college dropout trying to make it big in Hollywood, but he realized this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It was humiliating to be a capable young man left at home during the war.
He worked as a galley cook aboard a landing ship during the Battle of Okinawa. When the war ended, he pursued other options in journalism, then radio, before deciding to stay to acting.