Petty Officer First Class Ernest Borgnine From The Pacific Theater to The Dirty Dozen

The 1967 film “The Dirty Dozen” sported an All Star cast of World War II veterans. One of the most popular films of its time, “The Dirty Dozen” still holds as one of the most successful war films ever made. The cast included: Lee Marvin, Robert Webber and Robert Ryan (US Marine Corps); Telly Savalas and George Kennedy (US Army); Charles Bronson (US Army Air Forces); Ernest Borgnine (US Navy) and Clint Walker (US Merchant Marine) as major players. Please take a moment to learn a little more about US Navy veteran Ernest Borgnine who portrayed General Sam Worden.

Ernest Borgnine joined the United States Navy in 1935 after he graduated from James Hillhouse High School in New Haven Connecticut. He served aboard the USS Lamberton and was honorably discharged from the Navy in October 1941. Borgnine re-enlisted when the United States entered World War II and served until 1945 reaching the rank of Petty Officer 1st Class. From January 1942 until the end of the war he served in the USS Sylph (PY-12), a converted yacht devoted to antisubmarine warfare activities throughout the war.

After serving in the Navy for ten years, Petty Officer 1st Class Ernest Borgnine was honorably discharged in September of 1945.

Ten years later, he won the Best Actor Academy Award for his performance as the lead in “Marty.” In 1967 he would star in Robert Aldrich’s “The Dirty Dozen” in addition to the 1969 Western epic “The Wild Bunch.”

Ernest went on to star as the title character in the hit ’60s sitcom “McHale’s Navy.”

Ernest Borgnine would continue to work in the entertainment industry until 2011.

“In 2004, Borgnine received the honorary rank of Chief Petty Officer from the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Terry D. Scott – the U.S. Navy’s highest ranking enlisted sailor at the time – for Borgnine’s support of the Navy and Navy families worldwide.”

Chief Petty Officer Ernest Borgnine passed away on July 8, 2012 at the age of 95. A US Navy Honor Guard paid tribute to the late actor with a full-honors military sendoff at Forest Lawn Memorial-Park and Mortuaries Cemetery in Hollywood, California on July 14, 2012.

Please join us in honoring the late Ernest Borgnine and his lifetime of service and contributions to the US Navy. Lest We Forget.

picture credit: WWII Uncovered