Did john Wayne ever serve in the armed forces?

Answer 1

No. By the start of World War II Wayne had been suffering for years from a badly torn shoulder muscle incurred in a body Surfing accident that cost him his football scholarship at USC in 1927. He also had a bad back from performing his own stunts during ten years acting in "B" Westerns. Moreover, he suffered from a chronic ear infection, resulting from hours of underwater filming on Cecil B. De Mille's Reap the Wild Wind in 1941. Had Wayne actually undergone a pre-induction physical, he might indeed have been classified 4-F.

According to Randy Roberts and James Olson's top notch John Wayne American, as a married but separated father of four and thirty-four years old in 1942 Wayne was classified by the Selective Service as 3-A (deferred for family dependency). In 1944 as the U.S. Military feared a manpower shortage he was reclassified 1-A (draft eligible). There is no record that he disputed this reclassification but his employer, Republic Studios, did and requested he be given a 2-A classification (deferred in the national interest, i.e., war bond drives, visiting the troops, etc.). Selective Service records for World War II are spotty at best, many having been destroyed, but surviving records indicate these claims were filed "by another," i.e. Republic Studio's legal department. In fact, a letter from Republic Studios head Herbert Yates threatened to sue Wayne for breach of contract should he leave the studio for volunteer military service, though it is doubtful he would have carried through with the threat. But Wayne was indeed Republic's biggest moneymaker during the war and that studio's only "A" star at the time.

Answer 2

No. He never was in the military. He played many parts in war movies, but he never saw action beyond the movie set. Just like he never was a cowboy.

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At the start of the war, John Wayne was 34 years old, a father of four, making him exempt from the draft. When he took a military physical it was found that he had a damaged ankle that would prevent him from serving, especially in combat.

Answer 3

no, but almost made it to Annapolis naval academy

Answer 4

No, he was never in the military, although he portrayed servicemen in many films.

Answer 5

No.

Answer 6

He did.