In interviews, Durning revealed that he still struggled with the lingering physical and mental effects of his experiences. Durning would later be a regular figure at events honoring World War II vets, but did not speak about his experiences until his "Evening Shade" co-star, Ossie Davis, suggested that he appear at the annual National Memorial Day Concert on the 50th anniversary of D-Day in 2004. Durning was shipped back to the United States and received treatment for his injuries as well as psychological trauma from his involvement in these two bloody ordeals eventually being discharged in 1946 with three Purple Hearts and the Silver Star. He was once again wounded and taken prisoner by Axis forces, and was one of only a handful of POWs to survive the brutal massacre at Malmedy, in which German forces machine-gunned an engineering battalion that had been caught behind enemy lines after the American retreat and who were surrendering at the time. As the lone survivor in his unit, Durning was immediately shipped to England to recover, and returned to the frontlines for the Battle of the Bulge in late 1944. He also received eight stab wounds from a German soldier, whom he killed with a rock in hand-to-hand combat. The event was by all accounts a horrific one for him: among the first wave to land on Omaha Beach on June 6, he suffered machine gun wounds to his right leg and shrapnel injuries over his entire body. When America entered World War II, Durning was drafted into the Army as a rifleman and was present at the invasion of Normandy on D-Day in 1944. Unfortunately, like many men just starting out their lives at the time, world events proceeded to get in the way.
CHARLES DURNING MOVIE TONIGHT PROFESSIONAL
He also did time as a professional boxer, construction worker, elevator operator, cab driver, nightclub singer and ballroom dancer before making his stage debut in Buffalo. He even took to the stage there after a comic was relieved of his job for drunkenness. As a teen, Durning displayed the tenacious nature that would later earmark many of his film and television roles by working as an usher at a burlesque theater in Buffalo, NY. Born in Highland Falls, NY, Durning was reared solely by his mother Louise after his father, John, died when he was very young, leaving Louise to support her and her son by working as a laundress at the nearby West Point military academy.
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