WWII Vet, Actor to Be Interred at Arlington

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Human Events:

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 on Christmas eve of natural causes, will be laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery, Va., Feb. 21.

Born in Highland Falls, N.Y., adjacent to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, where his mother was a laundress for the cadets and his father a Soldier, Durning was the fourth of 10 children. He had four brothers who lived into adulthood, but his five sisters died from smallpox and scarlet fever as children.

Known as Chuck by friends, Durning was drafted and found himself in the Army in one of the first waves to land on the beach at Normandy on June 6, 1944, D-Day. Just nine days later he earned his first Purple Heart when he was seriously wounded by a German mine at Les Mare des Mares.

Following a six-month recovery in England, he was rushed to the front lines to fight against the German Ardennes offensive. During the Battle of the Bulge, Durning suffered wounds, this time in hand-to-hand bayonet combat for which he would later receive a second Purple Heart.

Still able to fight, Durning would earn his third Purple Heart when he moved into Germany in March with the 398th Infantry Regiment, where he was severely wounded in the chest in March 1945. Durning was then evacuated to the U.S. to spend the remainder of his time in the Army recovering until he was discharged in January 1946 as a private first class.