According to testimony at the war crimes trial, Major Poetschke was heard by a U.S. soldier who understood German telling a Sergeant Beutner: You know what to do with the prisoners.. Shearonink (talk) 19:53, 9 June 2019 (UTC)Reply[reply], Not so far as I can tell, information does not appear in cited souces. WebTIL That the late character actor Charles Durning, who was a WWII veteran, was not only the sole survivor of a unit during the Normandy invasion but was one of only three men to escape the infamous Malmedy Massacre during the Battle of the Bulge. The French government apparently issued a statement mentioning Malmedy, but the closest I can come is this[1]. Many of the Americans fighting in the Battle of the Bulge were green replacements who had never seen combat before, let alone this kind of vicious and bloody fighting. Wikipedia says no primary sources and the military record is a primary source. They had seen for themselves thousands of mangled corpsesafter a terror raid had passed. Eleven Americans fled to the caf nearby, but the Germans set it on fire and then gunned down the men as they ran out. - At least one account says he was assigned to the 159th Infantry Regiment.

Captured during the Battle of the Bulge, Durning, was one of the few survivors of the Malmedy massacre when German troops opened fire on dozens of American prisoners. Durning served as a soldier in World War II, during which he was awarded a Silver Star, three Purple Heart medals, and a Good Conduct Medal On Omaha Beach itself, In Belgium he was stabbed in hand-to-hand combat with a German soldier, whom he bludgeoned to death with a rock. His daughter Michele Durning confirmed the death. He boxed professionally for a time, delivered telegrams and taught ballroom dancing, meeting his first wife, Carole, at an Arthur Murray studio. On the other hand I am far from being convinced that the fact this would have been said by the French consul (if it was the case) make it the revealed truth. He was one of the military masterminds of The Invasion of Normandy that also landed at Omaha Beach. We should remember the tremendous contribution of the Queen Mother to the war effort: Could not place the name till you mentioned the NCIS programme.

The ceremony took place in Los Angeles and the presenter was Philippe Larrieu, Consul General of France. He described finding Marines who had been literally skinned alive by the Japanese in later island fighting, and admitted killing Japanese POWs in retaliation. Some fired into already dead Americans, as if to practice their aim. [5]. This area covered the rugged and desolate Ardennes Forest and was mountainous and remote. Nine still had their arms raised above their heads. Some survivors later testified that the Germans were laughing as they did this. Division, and a former Chief of Staff for the 1st. Thinking about how veterans of that era typically talk about the Army with regard to administrative matters only confirms this feeling that such records may be largely inaccurate. Traffic copper to Sir Arthur "Bomber" Harris, 1943: "Don't drive so fast sir, you might kill somebody". Division. North American military history task force, United States military history task force, http://www.historynet.com/magazines/world_war_2/3030591.html, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, http://westlaonline.com/wcnp_article.php?articleid=5, http://www.ww2f.com/wwii-today/25135-they-also-served-celebrities-uniform-ww2.html, http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2008/04/france_honors_charles_dur.php, http://www.monstersandcritics.com/people/news/article_1401379.php/France_says_Viva_Charles_Durning_actor_and_war_hero, http://www.legiondhonneur.fr/shared/fr/ordresdecorations/fhist.html, http://stephane.delogu.free.fr/hs12-07.pdf, http://m.web2carz.com/article/article.php?articleId=2097, http://news.yahoo.com/durning-king-character-actors-dies-nyc-075353360.html, http://www.homeofheroes.com/members/04_SS/2_WWII/indexes/army/Army-D.html, http://www.arrse.co.uk/military-history-militaria/87046-actor-charles-durning-talks-about-d-day.html, http://nmisscommentor.com/random-firings/charles-durning-obit-in-the-new-york-times/comment-page-1/#comment-126171, http://www.web2carz.com/people/who-you-know/2097/charles-durnings-war-heroism-exaggeration-fabrication, https://web.archive.org/web/20071201183644/http://tv.zap2it.com/tveditorial/tve_main/1%2C1002%2C271%7C91918%7C1%7C10%2C00.html, http://tv.zap2it.com/tveditorial/tve_main/1%2C1002%2C271%7C91918%7C1%7C10%2C00.html, https://web.archive.org/web/20060625095909/http://www.army.mil/soldiers/apr1999/news/index.html, http://www.army.mil/Soldiers/apr1999/news/index.html, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Charles_Durning&oldid=1147937624, Start-Class biography (actors and filmmakers) articles, Mid-importance biography (actors and filmmakers) articles, Actors and filmmakers work group articles, Start-Class biography (military) articles, Low-importance biography (military) articles, Unknown-importance New York (state) articles, C-Class North American military history articles, North American military history task force articles, C-Class United States military history articles, United States military history task force articles, Military biography articles needing attention to referencing and citation, North American military history articles needing attention to referencing and citation, United States military history articles needing attention to referencing and citation, World War II articles needing attention to referencing and citation, Military history articles needing attention to referencing and citation, Military history articles needing attention only to referencing and citation, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This article has not yet received a rating on the project's, This article has been checked against the following, A news item involving Charles Durning was featured on Wikipedia's, Reading the remarks by the French Consul General (no doubt prepared by a careless researcher using limited references to accomplish the job in a rapid period) only mentions. But some of these same GIs later recalled that the story of the Malmedy Massacre so angered them that they decided they would now stand and fight with everything they had. - According to another source, Durning and 12 others were levied out of C/386 AAA/AW on 23 May 44, just two weeks before D-Day and assigned to the 17th Replacement Depot; he arrived in Normandy still assigned to a detachment of that Depot (as Old bubblehead noted). Sergeant Beutner then stopped a halftrack that held a 75-mm cannon and attempted to depress its barrel low enough to aim at the prisoners in the field. If such a trivial thing deserves mention (which IMO it doesn't), then you would need to provide a reference that someone else is the 2nd most decorated soldier of WWII. Earlier in the discussion somebody (rightfully) pointed out General Reynold's sentence "Few of these accounts are based on fact, and most are embellished and inaccurate". The current article, which avoids all discussion of these questions of fact, appears dedicated to burnishing and protecting his image, which seems a POV violation. Preceding unsigned comment added by Deemery (talk contribs) 16:08, 26 December 2012 (UTC)Reply[reply], In 1943 you joined the army, enlisting as an Army Ranger. The Service Stars (or campaign stars or battle stars) came in bronze or silver. Time is always important in military operations, but in the Ardennes in December 1944, it was the most crucial factor that Peiper, and by extension the entire Wehrmacht, faced. I lack confidence as an actor, he told The Toronto Star in 1988. However, what the Germans did next reinforces the belief that they intended to kill the Americans from the beginning. Before I make any changes to his page, I have asked for some clarification from the Wikipedia powers that be. The question of why a trained rifleman (if that is what he was on D-Day) would suddenly end up in a field artillery observation battalion (if that is what happened) on 17 December is still pertinent.

Charles Durning served his country with honor and with great personal sacrifice. Found this on Youtube which I thought some members might find interesting. He spent months in hospitals and was treated for psychological trauma. He advised them to go to St. Vith by another route, but Mills and Lary refused, perhaps because ahead of them were several members of Battery B who had been laying down road markers, and they did not wish to abandon them, or perhaps simply because the route they were to take was stated in their orders. NEW YORK (Reuters) - Charles Durning, a World War Two hero who became one of Hollywoods top character actors in films like The Sting, Tootsie and The Best

(2000). See: Nightmares are indeed an indicator of PTSD, but not everyone who has experienced stress or has nightmares is suffering from a "disorder". Not only has no text been provided from this document, but it sounds like the entire thing was cribbed from this very article. Peiper, who was murdered in France in 1976 by a shadow group of anti-Nazi terrorists who called themselves the Avengers, always claimed that he did not give express orders to kill the prisoners at Malmedy, and he probably did not. Now, the Early life section has been written in a way that claims Frances is a brother, though the cited source (IMDb) does not specify. During the Battle of the Bulge, Germans captured Durning. Both his war record and his acting career were mentioned. Once he had captured this vital port, he could force the Allies to sue for peace. Charles Durning (AP)Charles Durning, a World War II hero who became the king of the character actors, died Monday at his Manhattan home. Charles was the ninth of 10 children, and five of his sisters died of smallpox or scarlet fever in childhood, three of them within two weeks. Snow blanketed the little towns, vacation chateaus, and deep forests of the area. By the time the war ended, the U.S. public knew all about the Malmedy massacre and clamored for revenge. I have tried finding more about Charles Durning's military service on the Web but all I find are even more preposterous stories. And there's the weakness in Wiki; the burden of proof should be on those making assertions of fact; instead, Wiki gives credence to unsubstantiated, possibly self-serving claims made by individuals, that are only bolstered by second and third hand retellings of that same man's stories. the men in the pasture, and the other men who escaped the massacre because for one or other reason they were not at the crossroads when and where they were supposed to be when the massacre occured (I think for instance to a man the artillery observer battalion who had been left in Malmedy because he suddenly fell ill: he escaped the massacre but is not a survivor). It was the start of a long association with Papp, who cast him, often as a clown, in 35 plays, many by Shakespeare. WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Jan. 17, 2013) -- Triple Purple Heart holder, Silver Star recipient and award-winning character actor Charles Durning, who died at 89 Web#VeteranOfTheDay Army Veteran Charles Durning - VA News Todays #VeteranOfTheDay is Army Veteran Charles Durning, who served as an infantryman during World War II and I'd also hope that other identified incorrect entries be removed from the article, such as earning 3 Puprple Hearts (he earned just one); serving with the 1st Division (he did not) and receiving campaign credit for the Battle of the Bulge (Ardennes Campaign - which, again, he did not); Oldbubblehead's research has proven those elements invalid. In conclusion I still have strong doubts about this story and I think that one should check for more reliable sources before writing that Mr. Durning is a Malmedy massacre survivor. He was 89. Durning was temporarily assigned to the Special Services (entertaining troops) before shipping home with the 398th Regiment in January, 1946. I'm guessing the latter was in response to Durning wanting to clarify things in the time leading up to his award from the French on 22 April. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. It is apparently based on a June 1993 interview the source of which is not listed. But then I found a book in Google Books on actors serving in the military (Duty, Honor, Applause) that talks about Durning's service in the Rangers, says some of his fellow rangers were killed at Malmedy but says nothing about his escaping.[2]. WebWho Survived the Malmedy Massacre? WebWilliam J. Stepp - 12/23/2009 . A German soldier ran toward me carrying a bayonet. [AlanM1(talk)] 00:56, 29 July 2013 (UTC)Reply[reply], More Durning documents have turned up. Charles Edward Durning (February 28, 1923 December 24, 2012) was an American actor who appeared in over 200 movies, television shows and plays. 7. It's entirely possible that Durning (or someone on his behalf) asked for (and obtained) corrections to the original records in the time since his discharge, explaining the additional awards in the 2002 summary and the letter from 2008. --Chuck Baggett (talk) 02:48, 29 November 2017 (UTC)Reply[reply], Cheers.InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 12:27, 14 December 2017 (UTC)Reply[reply], Recent edits have removed a reference while asserting a claim "from IMDb" about Mr Durning's ancestry. http://news.yahoo.com/durning-king-character-actors-dies-nyc-075353360.html, Sca (talk) 14:53, 25 December 2012 (UTC)Reply[reply], While the article notes there appears to be some confusion at Durning's war record (which unit he was with at any particular moment etc), I think the Third Army [art needs to be clarified. - While many individual service records were indeed destroyed by fire, the General Orders which issued Silver Stars were stored at other locations - such as in the unit files - that have been archived at other facilities. His combat experiences were harrowing. Mr. Durning was among the few to escape. He would have been extremely lucky indeed to have survived the Baugnez crossroads massacre. But some quick Google searches, including this database of citations: http://www.homeofheroes.com/members/04_SS/2_WWII/indexes/army/Army-D.html does not contain the name Charles Durning. Sorry to go off topic a bit but weren't the Canadians notorious for not taking prisoners after discovering a massacre of their own troops by the Germans? For example, tankers were returned to armored units, specialist troops (rangers, paratroops, etc.) By the wars end he had been awarded a Silver Star for valor and three Purple Hearts, having suffered gunshot and shrapnel wounds as well. This is four days after the start of the Battle of the Bulge and three days after the Malmedy Massacre.Oldbubblehead (talk) 06:39, 7 May 2014 (UTC)Reply[reply]. He tried to perform in at least one play a year. This was an outfit whose job was to spot enemy artillery emplacements and transmit their location to other U.S. units. They are not survivors although they escaped the massacre. He does not appear in the list of survivors who were brought back to the massacre site. In fact, the Battle of the Bulge, as it would become known for the deep indentation the attacking German forces pushed into the U.S. lines, quickly became a series of confused small actions, with isolated units engaging each other in fierce battles. I believe that is so obviously and universally admitted a principle that I hardly think any gentleman will deny it." the relation of the facts, how things happened. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=c0GVUXh4tQQ&feature=related, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Durning, http://www.historynet.com/massacre-at-malmedy-during-the-battle-of-the-bulge.htm, http://www.consulfrance-losangeles.org/article.php3?id_article=673, http://www.historynet.com/massacre-at-malmedy-during-the-battle-of-the-bulge.htm/3, http://stephane.delogu.free.fr/hs12-07.pdf, Soviet intel and sample on Panther to UK in 1944. Jochen Peiper never reached the Meuse, his much-sought-after goal. With the skies filled with clouds, Allied scout planes could not get a clear picture of just how enormous the attack was, and frantic reports from infantry units in the area were confused and fragmented. Every so often he landed a bit part in a play. The Germans killed everybody! they shouted at Pergrin. Monkeyzpop (talk) 01:53, 16 October 2011 (UTC)Reply[reply], we all have watched the cuban crime rags to ritches film with al pacino , i am personnely convinced that charles durning done a voice over for an emigration officer at the early stages of the film watch the start and the questions about the tattoo ,,,,if this is not charles durning voice then im an aardvaark. [1](No mention made of service with an antiaircraft unit), In populating the Infobox, I made the assumption that Frances is Charles' sister because of the spelling of the name (instead of Francis), based on my experience (admittedly OR) and "Frances is a human name, the feminine version of Francis." [Ref: http://www.web2carz.com/people/who-you-know/2097/charles-durnings-war-heroism-exaggeration-fabrication]. Frankly speaking I have doubts about this. From Trump to Putin: How People Came to Look to Timothy Snyder for Predictions, The Curious History of Ulysses Grant's Great Grandfather, H.W. That way, instead of spending a lot of time trying to remember what it is I wrote down, I spend the time looking for the paper I wrote it down on. Of course there were other shootings in the Battle of the Bulge, some also by KG Peiper. Charles Edward Durning (February 28, 1923 - December 24, 2012) was an American actor, with appearances in over 200 movies, television shows and plays. However, immediately after the massacre occurred and well before the bodies were recovered, the news quickly spread through the GIs fighting for their lives in the Ardennes. And on the morning of December 17, the second day of the German attack, he was a frustrated man. WebIt is now a fact that Charles Durning's war record - including his involvement at Malmedy - has been publicly detailed by the French Consul. But it should be possible to ask them whether they have kept a record of this speach. Again, kudos to Oldbubblehead. As this killing was going on, the German column continued to pass through Five Points, and soldiers on halftracks chatted and pointed. Finally, this story about Durning present at the crossroad is running on several websites since many years. Mr. Durning played the prosecutor, a character based on William Jennings Bryan, and Scott, in his last Broadway role, was the defense attorney, modeled on Clarence Darrow. 6. Standing in the barren field outside of the town of Malmedy on that cold early afternoon in the winter of 1944, they smoked and joked with each other.

Sternebeck and his tanks proceeded down the road, pushing burning and wrecked U.S. jeeps and trucks out of the way and firing their machine guns at U.S. soldiers who cowered in ditchessomething Sternebeck later told historian Michael Reynolds that he did to get the Americans to surrender, which most of them did, since they were armed only with rifles and pistols, weapons that could not possibly fight off tanks. His work in That Championship Season, first produced at the Public Theater, led the film director George Roy Hill to tap Mr. Durning for the part of a corrupt police lieutenant in The Sting. Two years later he played a beleaguered police hostage negotiator squaring off against Al Pacinos manic bank robber in Sidney Lumets celebrated Dog Day Afternoon., The 1970s and 80s were fruitful years. Lejoly, who was a German sympathizer, nevertheless could not believe his eyes as he watched one SS man allow a U.S. medic to bandage a wounded soldier, after which the German shot both men dead. A news item involving Charles Durning was featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the In the news section on 27 December 2012. 1 Everwood on the WB / medical problems? 9 Malmedy survivor? The inability of anyone, to include his family, to produce these General Orders, or even cite the GO#, must arouse curiosity, to put it mildly. Within a few weeks of Malmedy, one U.S. unit had machine-gunned sixty German prisoners to death in a small Belgian village called Chenogne (see Death at Chenogne). I made the following changes: When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs. - Should note that at the time Mr. Durning would have served with the 386th AAA (AW) Bn (he joined the unit while still stateside and he was levied out on 23 May 44 . Forty-three of them, including Peiper, were sentenced to die by hanging, twenty-two to life imprisonment, and the rest to ten- to twenty-year sentences. A good many of them had lost their parents, their sisters and brothers, during the [Allied] bombing [of German cities]. On the other side there are based on what the Germans say (at least those who are ready to admit they actually were there: curiously if you listen at the men of Peiper, almost all were miles away from that particular place a that particular time): most of the times, this is presented as an unfortunate accident due to the fact that some US PoWs had tried to escape. As even the official U.S. military history of the Battle of the Bulge states: It is probable the Germans attempting to surrender in the days immediately following [the killings at Malmedy] ran a greater risk.. The convoy consisted of about 130 men, thirty jeeps, weapons carriers, and trucks and was led by Captain Roger Mills, and Lieutenants Virgil Lary and Perry Reardon. You are using an out of date browser.

In the Parade interview, he recalled the hand-to-hand combat. They clearly violated the Geneva Conventions and "were technically guilty of war crimes.". Rangers in World War II by Robert W. Black contains a complete roster of all Rangers who served during World War II. I have put some editing only text above the section warning editors not to edit that area. Being a fellow member of The Screen Actors Guild with Mr. Durning, I hope one day to meet with him again. These tanks were the spearhead of Kampfgruffe Peiper, led by Lieutenant Werner Sternebeck, and their 88-mm guns and machine guns easily tore up the U.S. column. Scavenger Killers, a crime thriller in which he stars with Eric Roberts and Robert Loggia, is scheduled to open next year. The Germans of Kampfgruppe Peiper, seventy of whom were convicted in a war crimes tribunal after the war, were surprisedexecuting prisoners was standard fare on the Eastern Front. Theres terror and repulsion in us, the terrible spot that we dont talk about. Review: Will Bunch on the College-No College Divide, Historian Chris Miller on the Amazingand DangerousSemiconductor. Unfortunately, Durning is very frail and his conversation is a bit wandering and imprecise. 2. Charles Durning Durning was yet another actor who initially served as a soldier in WWII, and he was actually part of the first wave of troops to land at Omaha Beach on D-Day.