# Did John Wayne ever serve in the military?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-john-wayne-ever-serve-in-the-military/552421>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [September 2, 2010, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-john-wayne-ever-serve-in-the-military/552421 "2010-09-02T19:55:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-john-wayne-ever-serve-in-the-military/552421/1 "2010-09-02T19:55:34Z")

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[http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/332/did-john-wayne-ever-serve-in-the-military](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/332/did-john-wayne-ever-serve-in-the-military)

An earlier discussion thread, including a link to Cecil’s somewhat more pungent 1998 column, “Was John Wayne a draft dodger?”: [Duke [John Wayne]'s military service - Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=403074)

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**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-john-wayne-ever-serve-in-the-military/552421/2 "2010-09-02T21:43:18Z")

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Looks to me like you’ve included the answer(s) to your title. What am I missing?

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**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-john-wayne-ever-serve-in-the-military/552421/3 "2010-09-02T23:08:04Z")

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Click on the second link and find out!

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**Author:** ![kahlereese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4da419/32.png) [@kahlereese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kahlereese)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2010, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-john-wayne-ever-serve-in-the-military/552421/4 "2010-09-06T08:14:13Z")

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As a student at UC Irvine, my father had a part-time job on Balboa Island, and would occasionally see John Wayne walking around sipping from a flask completely bald from the cancer treatment. I didn’t realize that he wore a wig.