Urban Legends

Almost nothing irritates me more then receiving forwarded emails about stories that are untrue. To me, it’s comparable to irresponsible journalism. Today I received an email about the heroics of Lee Marvin, Captain Kangaroo, and Mr. Rogers. It’s the stuff of Hollywood masterpieces. The only problem is, it is all complete fiction.

In an effort to quell the urban legends, I have decided to address the characters of this email here, on my blog. It begins like this:

THE MYTH:

YOU NEVER KNOW WITH THE QUIET ONES.

In a time when many Hollywood stars served their country in the armed forces often in rear echelon posts where they were carefully protected, only to be trotted out to perform for the cameras in war bond promotions, Lee Marvin was a genuine hero. He won the Navy Cross at Iwo Jima. There is only one higher naval award... the Medal of Honor.

If that is a surprising comment on the true character of the man, he credits his sergeant with an even greater show of bravery.

Dialogue from The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson: His guest was Lee Marvin.

Johnny said, "Lee, I'll bet a lot of people are unaware that you were a Marine in the initial landing at Iwo Jima...and that during the course of that action you earned the Navy Cross and were severely wounded."

"Yeah, yeah... I got shot square in the bottom and they gave me the cross for securing a hot spot about halfway up Suribachi. Bad thing about getting shot up on a mountain, is guys getting shot hauling you down. But, Johnny, at Iwo, I served under the bravest man I ever knew... We both got the cross the same day, but what he did for his Cross made mine look cheap in comparison. That dumb guy actually stood up on Red Beach and directed his troops to move forward and get the hell off the beach. Bullets flying by, with mortar rounds landing everywhere and he stood there as the main target of gunfire so that he could get his men to safety. He did this on more than one occasion because his men's safety was more important than his own life,” Marvin recalled.

“Johnny, I'm not lying, Sergeant Keeshan was the bravest man I ever knew. The Sergeant's name is Bob Keeshan. You and the world know him as Captain Kangaroo."

THE TRUTH:

This story almost complete fabrication.

Lee Marvin and Bob Keeshan did both serve in the Marines.

Before his death in January, 2004, we checked with Bob Keeshan, who was living in Vermont, and he said he never served at Iwo Jima, was not presented with the Navy Cross and, in fact, never saw combat.

There is no record of Lee Marvin at Iwo Jima or winning the Navy Cross. According to a biography that we have on file at TruthOrFiction.com, Marvin did see a lot of action in the Pacific participating in the invasions at Kwajalein and Eniwetok and was wounded in Saipan, for which he was awarded the Purple Heart. Marvin is buried in Arlington Cemetery.

THE MYTH:

On another note, there was this wimpy little man (who recently 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. Nevertheless, 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-sleeved sweater on TV, to cover the many tattoos on his forearm and biceps. He was a master in small arms and hand-to-hand combat, able to disarm or kill in a heartbeat.

After the war, Mr. Rogers became an ordained Presbyterian minister and therefore a pacifist. Vowing never to harm another human, he dedicated the rest of his life to trying to help lead children on the right path in life. He hid away the tattoos and his past life 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.

THE TRUTH:

This same rumor has often been applied to boyish country singer-songwriter John Denver (among others), and it's just as false when told of Fred Rogers. Not only did Fred Rogers never serve in the military, there are no gaps in his career when he could conceivably have served in the military — he went straight into college after high school, he moved directly into TV work after graduating college, and his breaks from television work were devoted to attending the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary (he was ordained as a Presbyterian minister in 1963) and the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Child Development. Moreover, Fred Rogers was born in 1928 and was therefore too old to have enlisted in the armed services by the time of America's military involvement in Vietnam.

He wore long-sleeved shirts and sweaters on his show to maintain an air of formality — although he was friendly with the children in his viewing audience and talked to them on their own level, he was most definitely an authority figure on a par with parents and teachers (he was Mister Rogers to them, after all, not Fred), and his choice of dress was intended to establish and foster that relationship.