Corporal James King Arness, A Soldier's Story
Corporal James King Arness, A Soldier's Story
Corporal James King Arness was born on May 26, 1923, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. After graduating from high school in 1942, he initially hoped to become a Naval Aviator. However, at 6 feet 7 inches tall, he exceeded the Navy’s height requirements for pilots and instead accepted his draft into the United States Army.
Arness trained as a rifleman and was assigned to the 3rd Infantry Division, one of the Army’s most active combat divisions in the European Theater of Operations. On January 22, 1944, he landed with Allied forces during the amphibious assault at Anzio, Italy, a brutal, hard-fought campaign aimed at breaking the stalemate south of Rome.
During the battle, Arness was severely wounded in his right leg by machine gun fire. The injury required multiple surgeries and extensive hospitalization. Though he fought hard to recover, his wounds ended his military career, and he was medically retired in January 1945.
His wartime experience left a lasting mark. Arness later reflected that serving at Anzio made him realize how very precious life is, a perspective forged under fire.
After the war, he attended Beloit College in Wisconsin and worked as a radio announcer at WLOL in Minneapolis. Determined to pursue acting, he hitchhiked to Hollywood, where his height and commanding presence initially led to roles in Western and frontier films.
His breakthrough came when John Wayne recommended him for the television series Gunsmoke. Cast as Marshal Matt Dillon, Arness would portray the character for more than 20 years, making Gunsmoke one of the longest-running primetime dramas in American television history.
Beyond his television legacy, Arness authored James Arness: An Autobiography, reflecting on both his military service and acting career.
He was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was inducted into the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.
Corporal James King Arness died on June 3, 2011. He is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in California.
Before he became an icon of the American West on screen, he was a young soldier on a beachhead in Italy, wounded in one of the war’s hardest campaigns. The uniform came first. The fame came later.
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About the Author
a.d. elliott is a wanderer, photographer, and storyteller traveling through life
She shares her journeys at Take the Back Roads, explores new reads at Rite of Fancy, and highlights U.S. military biographies at Everyday Patriot.
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