The show lasted for 20 years before it was cancelled by TV executives. He’s a young fella and I’m proud to present James Arness as Marshall Matt Dillon in ‘Gunsmoke.’ You’ll get used to him like you got used to me all these years.” Wayne promised Jim he’d introduce him on the first TV show, and Arness “could take it from there.” True to his word, John Wayne, on September 10, 1955, introduced Jim, by saying, “Ladies and gentlemen, this is a new western TV show called ‘Gunsmoke,’ and there is only one man who could play the part. Duke told him to “take the part,” saying it would be a good opportunity for him to learn his craft. It took 18 months recovery and rehabilitation time in military hospitals before being honorably discharged and sent home.īut not John “Duke” Wayne, whose advice Arness highly respected.
Seriously wounded in the assault by German machine-gun fire in his knee and lower leg, Jim earned the Bronze Star and Purple Heart for bravery under fire. By midnight, history books say that “36,000 men landed, securing a beachhead 2-3 miles deep.” The 6615th Ranger Force attacked the port, while the 3rd Army Infantry Division landed south of town. The British 1st Infantry Division landed north of Anzio. The infamous battle of Anzio lasted from Januto May 29, 1944. Anzio Beach was a stretch of sand 15 miles long and 7 miles deep. In his autobiography, Jim described it as being “waist high” as he stormed ashore dodging bullets and wounded men falling around him.Īnzio, located 30 miles south of Rome, was one of the deadliest battles of WWII. Because Jim was 6-foot-7-inches tall, this young Army Private was ordered into the water first, determining its depth for the others. They were heading to the beach at Anzio, where they faced immediate, horrendous, German Army resistance. 3rd Army Infantry Division on Januas it forged its way to shore.
Four months shy of his 21st birthday, James King Aurness of Minneapolis, Minn., was waiting anxiously with fellow soldiers, standing on one of the U.S.