Talk:Alan Alda

Never served in Korea

Alan Alda never served in Korea. He had denied it on multiple occasions. For example in this tweet: https://twitter.com/alanalda/status/1217229317387669504. Plus he details his service in his autobiography and he was only in the US. Is there some way to get that error out of there. It does say he served on some military sites but they are all wrong. QuizzicalBee (talk) 00:36, 20 June 2023 (UTC)

This ref says he served six months during (not in) the Korean war. - FlightTime (open channel) 00:48, 20 June 2023 (UTC)

I get that. The reference is wrong, and obviously so. Alan Alda is a much better source of his own life than a website. Alan Alda is a primary source and the army is a secondary source that is based on faulty information. Secondary sources are less definitive than primary sources in most cases. Not only that, but given that Alda was born in 1936 and the Korean War was 1950 to 1953, he was only barely 17 when the war ended. And not only that, but in his book, he describes his service at Fort Benning, and it's after he graduated from college (about 1956) and shortly before he got married in 1957. So he never even served in the military ANYWHERE during the Korean war. It's time to get this misinformation off of his page. QuizzicalBee (talk) 16:18, 20 June 2023 (UTC)

References

that reference

needs to be totally removed since it is per se wrong on facts. Alda was not in Korea during Korean war.

Highly unlikely he served 6 months on active duty at Ft Benning, so somebody ought to check that for accuracy. What is more likely is that he was there 60 days.

Important to note he was not in Korea during Korean war

In the case of Jason Robards he appeared to have stolen valor due to false claims as claims, possibly by a publicist and not himself, to have received decorations he did not. So it is a disservice to Mr. Alda, who served honorably during peacetime, to erroneously imply he was a combat veteran. He was not. Incidentally We need to REMOVE this reference in story:

https://www.usar.army.mil/OurHistory/FamousWarriorCitizens/

as it is in error, stating

"Alan Alda enrolled in the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC)while in college and went to Fort Benning, Georgia for a year after graduation. As an Army Reserve artillery officer, Alda served a six month tour during the Korean War. He later became a famous actor, well known for his portrayal of Hawkeye, the witty field surgeon in the hit television series “M.A.S.H.”"

Alda was at Fordham from 1952 to 1956 and the armistice ending fighting was signed in July 1953. The statement in that source stating: "Alda served a six month tour during the Korean War" is abjectly false and has been denied by Mr. Alda many times. N34B2 (talk) 02:29, 1 August 2023 (UTC)