Another Immigrant Who Became An American Legend.

               Glenn Ford

Today’s article is about another famous man who was born at Jeffrey Hale Hospital in Quebec City, Canada on the 1^st of May 1916.  His name was Gwyllyn Samuel Newton Ford.  He was the son of the Quebecois Hannah Wood Mitchell and Newton Ford, a railway man.  Ford was a great nephew of Canada’s first Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald through his father and was also related to United States President, Martin Van Buren.  When he was eight years of age, he and his family moved to Santa Monica, California.  He became a naturalized citizen of the United States of America in 1939.

Glenn Ford died at the age of ninety on the 30^th August 2006. The media recalled his long Hollywood career [106 films, his many romances and marriages]. The Associated Press wrote, "He was a star to the end of his career."

Glenn Ford was much more than that, yet none of his obituaries mentioned his extraordinary patriotism or his distinguished military career. Ford rose to the rank of Captain in the United States Navy after years of dedicated service which began with World War II and continued through the Vietnam War.

He was undoubtedly a star, one of Hollywood's enduring major stars, but as his biography on a Web site devoted to his long life states, his accomplishments were even larger than life off-screen.  As his son Peter once told NewsMax.com, Ford was "one of those Ronald Reagan, true-blue American types."

At the beginning of World War II Glenn Ford served in the Coast Guard Auxiliary. In 1942 he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps.  As a Marine he helped build safe houses in occupied France for those hiding from the Nazis and he was among the first Americans to enter the infamous Dachau concentration camp at the end of the war.  He went on to serve in the Navy and at war's end he was commissioned a Commander in the Naval Reserves.

Committed to service in the armed forces, Ford also served two tours of duty in Vietnam with the Third Marine Amphibious Force in 1966-1968.  During the Vietnam War, he once went on a jungle mission with a Special Forces Team.  Ford was the only actor to have served with both the Green Berets and the French Foreign Legion and his military record is well recognized in both the United States and France as a highly decorated veteran.

Among his numerous medals and commendations are the Medal of Honor presented by the Veterans of Foreign Wars; the Medaille de la France Libre for the liberation of France;  two commendation medals from the U.S. Navy; and the Vietnamese Legion of Merit.  He received the rank of Captain with the U.S. Naval Reserves in 1968; retiring in 1977.

Ford bravely served his country in two wars in the front lines facing enemy fire on many occasions and never expecting to be treated like a Hollywood star but as a fellow fighting man.  He was indeed a hero both on and off the screen.

 

Commander Glenn Ford

In 2004, Glenn Ford told NewsMax.com, "Let's never forget that to remain free we must always be strong. That's an important lesson I learned in my Navy career in World War II.  National defense must be the top priority for our country. If you are strong, you are safe. Now is the time for every American to be proud. This is the land of the free and the home of the brave. If we are not brave, we will not be free."

Glenn Ford lived the motto of the Marine Corps, Semper Fidelis –He was always faithful to the nation he served so long and so well.