VLVL (6) Clark Gable

[jbor]

http://www.geocities.com/cactus_st/article/article122.html

At the beginning of World War II, Gable had been in the movies for several
years. This period was an especially hard time for him, however. He was
still suffering from the loss of his great love, Carole Lombard. By entering
the service, "The King," as he was affectionately called, hoped to find the
anonymity he had sought for several years.

Gable enlisted in California on Aug. 12, 1942, with the statement to the
news media: "There is a war to win, and I consider it my right to fight."

The famous movie star was ordered to Miami for basic training.

The press wasted no time covering Gable's entry into the Armed Forces. The
Panama City News-Herald of Aug. 13, 1942, reported that Gable would request
training as an aerial gunner. If he was accepted for gunnery training, local
authorities considered it likely that Gable would be assigned to Tyndall
Field since Tyndall was the nearest gunnery school to Miami.

Gable made it clear that he did not want to be a captain or a major,
however, because he didn't "know beans about the Army."

In Miami Beach, Gable suffered through one of the hottest summers on record
while he attended officer candidate school. Temperatures reached 100 degrees
daily.

But Gable fought hard to succeed and be liked, even though he was almost
twice the age of most of the other men. While he was in training, Gable
shaved off his famous mustache, making it hard for the many fans who
followed him everywhere to recognize him. His movie Somewhere I'll Find You
made the round at various theaters.

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on 29/9/03 5:07 AM, jbor wrote:

> Wonder what that "Clark Gable movie" is -- "[w]ild and rowdy"? (78.6)
> 
> Perhaps:
> 
> http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0035356/
>