Page 12 - Aerotech News and Review – November 2024: Veterans Day Special Edition

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November 2024
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Jeff Bridges, ‘The Dude’ in the film ‘The Big Lebowski,’ was in the Coast Guard
by David Vergun
DOD News
actor Lloyd Bridges, who served in the Coast Guard during World War II. He was later made an honorary commodore in the Coast Guard Auxiliary, primarily for the publicity generated from the TV series “Sea Hunt,” which aired from 1958 to 1961.
In “Sea Hunt,” Lloyd Bridges was cast as the lead character, Mike Nelson, a member of the Coast Guard Auxiliary. Jeff Bridges and his older brother, Beau Bridges, also starred in the series.
Another influence on Jeff Bridges was his brother Beau, who enlisted in the Coast Guard Reserve in 1959 and served for eight years, working aboard the cutter Dexter as a cook and editor of the ship’s newspaper.
Jeff Bridges, born Dec. 4, 1949, in Los Angeles, said his father and mother, actress Dorothy Bridges, were proud that he and his brother continued the family’s Coast Guard tradition. He said his parents also encouraged the boys to get into acting.
All three Bridges — Lloyd, Jeff and Beau — received The Lone Sailor Award in 2011, which honors veterans of the sea services for their achievements in later life.
Jeff Bridges has been married since 1977 to Susan Geston. The couple has three daughters: Isabelle, Jessica, and Hayley.
nomination as Best Supporting Actor and his film career took off after that.
A few of his films had military themes.
In director Tony Scott’s 1995 film, “Crimson Tide,” Hackman played Navy Capt. Frank Ramsey, in command of the ballistic missile submarine USS Alabama in the 1990s, shortly after the breakup of the Soviet Union.
White House photograph
Gene Hackman, right, and Presi- dent Ronald Reagan in 1987 at the White House.
Actor Jeff Bridges, aka “The Dude” in di- rector Joel Coen’s film “The Big Lebowski,” served in the Coast Guard Reserve from 1967 to 1975 as a boatswain’s mate, attain- ing the rank of petty officer 2nd class when he separated from the service.
Boatswain’s mates are the service’s ex- perts in all aspects of deck seamanship and navigation. Because of their expertise, few things happen at sea without a Boatswain involved, according to the Coast Guard.
Bridges was assigned primarily to the Coast Guard Reserve Center in San Luis Obispo, Calif.
Although he was never in combat, Bridg- es said he had some arduous experiences in the Coast Guard, such as chipping paint while aboard a buoy tender for weeks at a time and then painting the vessel.
Coast Guard cutters are notorious for lack of space, he recalled. Racks were stacked three- or four-high so there wasn’t much privacy.
He remembers getting seasick, along with his other shipmates, during rough seas.
by David Vergun
DOD News
Actor Gene Hackman, who starred in “The French Connection” (1971), “The Poseidon Adventure” (1972), “Get Shorty” (1995), and many other films, also served in the Marine Corps.
Born on Jan. 30, 1930, in San Bernardino, Calif., Hackman left home at age 16 to enlist in the Ma- rine Corps, lying about his age so he could get in, which was a fairly common practice before the advent of computer records. He served from 1947 to 1952 as a field radio operator and then as a broadcast journalist.
In the 1940s, he was stationed in Qingdao, China, and then Shang- hai. Part of his duties, he said, was destroying Japanese military equipment so that the communists couldn’t obtain it.
Hackman participated in Opera- tion Beleaguer, a major operation led by Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Keller E. Rockey. Rockey com- manded 50,000 Marines of the III Marine Amphibious Corps which deployed to northeastern China
Coast Guard photograph
Jeff Bridges in 1967 in his Coast Guard uniform.
Despite those minor hardships, he said overall he had wonderful times, fond memo- ries and plenty of friends.
The decision to enlist in the Coast Guard was undoubtedly influenced by his father,
Courtesy photograph
Marine Corps photograph by Staff Sgt. David Vergun
Shanghai, China, in early 1985 before there were many cars. The scene looked the same in the late 1940s when actor Gene Hackman was stationed there in the Marine Corps.
Jeff Bridges
Awards, Los Angeles, March 5, 2010.
at the
Independent Spirit
Actor Gene Hackman served in the Marine Corps in China
Marine Corps photograph
Gene Hackman in his Marine Corps uniform sometime be- tween 1947 and 1951.
between 1945 and 1949.
The main objectives of the opera-
tion were the repatriation of more than 600,000 Japanese and Kore- ans who remained in China after the end of World War II, as well as the protection of American lives and property in the country. Over nearly four years, American forces engaged
in several skirmishes with the com- munists while the Americans suc- cessfully evacuated and repatriated thousands of foreign nationals.
The unit withdrew from China when the Red Army took control of the country in 1949. Hackman subsequently served in Hawaii and Japan.
Hackman used his GI Bill ben-
efits to study journalism and televi- sion production at the University of Illinois.
Success as an actor, he said, didn’t come easy. He got a few bit roles, such as on the TV series “Route 66” in 1963 and performed in several off-Broadway plays.
“Bonnie and Clyde” (1967) earned Hackman an Academy Award