On Sunday, Ernest Borgnine died at 95.
Best known for his screen roles in films like Marty , From Here to Eternity and television shows McHale's Navy and Airwolf , Borgnine also spent ten years in the U.S. Navy retiring as a Gunner's Mate First-Class. Borgnine was a lifetime member of the U.S. Naval Institute.
By Ernest Borgnine
Proceedings April 2009
It was just like in the movies.
The year was 1935, and I was right out of high school, restless, and bored with my temporary job working on a vegetable truck. One day, on a delivery run through New Haven, Connecticut, I spotted a sign on a storefront that said "JOIN THE NAVY—SEE THE WORLD." Hey, I thought, I ought to look into that. So I stopped in to see the recruiter. Two days later, I was on a bus to the U.S. Naval Training Station in Newport, Rhode Island. more
