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| By ABC Television (eBay item photo front photo back) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons |
Hugh O'Brian was born on April 19, 1925 with the name of Hugh Charles Krampe. His father was Hugh John Krampe, a captain in the Horse Marines during WWI, and his mother was Edith Lillian Krampe.
O'Brian finished High School and started attending the University of Cincinnati, but soon dropped out and enlisted in the Marines Corps. "I just felt that I should enlist," he said. "I tried to enlist when I was sixteen, but you had to have your parents permission and my dad wouldn't sign the papers." His dad finally relented when O'Brian was seventeen, and he served from 1943 - '49. When he obtained his honorable discharge, he held the rank of corporal.
Fresh out of boot camp and at the age of 17, O'Brian was made a drill instructor. "Let me tell you," he said, "some of those guys were tough as nails, and I was the one who had to whip 'em into shape."
"I think it's a tremendous experience to belong to the Marine Corps. Once a Marine, always a Marine and all that stuff." Also, Hugh's brother was a Marine and was wounded in the Korean War.
On January 30, 1966, after touring Vietnam, Hugh appeared on the game show, What's My Line?, as the mystery guest. When John Daly questions Hugh about Vietnam, he replies, "Well . . . it was the greatest experience of my life. I spent two weeks there just before Christmas. I went alone and was able to visit areas where civilians have never been before, because I did go alone. . . . And I . . I just wish that there were some way that the public could possibly get there themselves, or be better informed to what our men are doing, besides fighting the war, because the thing that really touched me, and the thing that I'm very excited about as a citizen is the civilian work that they're doing in the communities that they do pacify.
"These people that they are working with over there have never known what it was to have the next meal to look forward to, much less a government they could count upon. And our boys, when they've gone into an area, have done such a fantastic good in the civil actions work that they've done, not only working with the people as far as giving them first aid and health treatment, but also teaching them and helping them to establish local governments, and giving them a sense of pride in themselves and the government which the majority of them are behind at this point. And it was a great experience, and one which I am deeply grateful as a citizen to have been part of."
O'Brian's expression of pride in the American troops could easily have been unpopular at that time, but when he finished speaking, applause rose from the TV studio crowd.
O'Brian valued the lessons he learned from the Marines about teamwork and working hard, and this professionalism followed him throughout his life as an actor and humanitarian.
He passed away on September 5, 2016, at the age of 91, in Beverly Hills, CA.
Sources:
Hugh O'Brian's Official Site
Together We Served
Wikipedia
What's My Line? January 30, 1966
Emmy TV Legends, Hugh O'Brian Interview