Lee Marvin, actor, and Bob Keeshan, television's 'Captain Kangaroo,' fought together at Iwo Jima.
The above-quoted bit of purported dialog from the Tonight Show does have some elements of truth to it, but although actor Lee Marvin was a guest on that late-night talk show at least seven times during Carson's tenure as host,most of what is reproduced above is an outright fiction or a transcript based on someone's badly flawed memory.Lee Marvin did enlist in the U.S. Marines, saw action as Private First Class in the Pacific during World War II, and was wounded (in the buttocks) by fire which severed his sciatic nerve. However, his injury occurred during the battle for Saipan in June 1944, not the battle for Iwo Jima, which took place several months later, in February 1945. Marvin also received a Purple Heart and was indeed interred at Arlington National Cemetery (but he was not, as some versions of this piece claim, awarded a Navy Cross).Bob Keeshan, later famous as television's 'Captain Kangaroo,' also enlisted in the U.S. Marines, but he did so too late to see any action during World War II. Keeshan was born on 27 June 1927 and enlisted two weeks before his 18th birthday, several months after the fighting at Iwo Jima. In a 1997 interview, Keeshan explained that he 'enlisted in the U.S. Marines but saw no combat' because he signed up 'just before we dropped the atom bomb.'Military officials have also disclaimed the exaggerated accounts presented in the Internet-circulated versions of the two actors' military exploits:Jack Green, the public-affairs officer with the Naval Historical Center in Washington, frequently gets calls about Fighting Captain Kangaroo. 'I have to tell them it's a nice story, but it didn't happen,' said Green, who served as a historical adviser for the movie Pearl Harbor. He doubts that Marvin, who also never was on Iwo Jima, perpetrated such a fantasy. 'Lots of legends pop up and who knows where they come from,' Green said.In 2003 someone thought to throw children's television host Fred Rogers into the mix by add the following bit to the existing e-mail about Lee Marvin and Bob Keeshan:On another note, there was this wimpy little man (who just passed away) on PBS, gentle and quiet. Mr. Rogers is another of those you would least suspect of being anything but what he now portrays to our youth. But Mr. Rogers was a U.S. Navy Seal, combat proven in Vietnam with over twenty-five confirmed kills to his name. He wore a long sleeve sweater to cover the many tattoo's on his forearm and biceps. A master in small arms and hand-to-hand combat, able to disarm or kill in a heartbeat. He hid that away and won our hearts with his quiet wit and charm. America's real heroes don't flaunt what they did, they quietly go about their day to day lives, doing what they do best. They earned our respect and the freedoms that we all enjoy. Look around and see if you can find one of those heroes in your midst. Often, they are the ones you'd least suspect, but would most like to have on your side if anything ever happened.Numerous rumors about children's television host Fred Rogers having a violent, criminal, or military background have been bandied about for years, but there is nothing to any of them. As our Mr. Rogers page explains, Fred Rogers never served in the military.
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