Bob Keeshan
Early life

An urban legend claims that actor Lee Marvin said on The Tonight Show that he had fought alongside Keeshan at the Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945. Over time, this legend has been published verbatim. Other legends had compounded on it, such that Keeshan was a trained killer, that he was awarded the Navy Cross, that he was a tough sergeant who saved the lives of dozens of men and women in the war, and that he destroyed a German tank in action in North Africa (an apparent confusion with a similarly named British soldier). However, Marvin never made the statement (he never served in Iwo Jima, but was wounded during the Battle of Saipan). Keeshan never saw combat in Europe or Japan, having enlisted too late to serve overseas. The Naval Historical Center in Washington, D.C, still receives calls asking for verification of Keeshan's "heroic" war service. Keeshan continuously dispelled the rumors.
combination:two_responses, startend:end_checker