Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.

Captain Douglas E. Fairbanks Jr.
1909–2000
United States Navy

Accession number:
2025.02

Maker:
N/A

Historical period:
1946

Miltary branch:

Wars and Conflicts:

Type:

Dimensions:
N/A

Acquisition date:
N/A

Credit line:
Gift of LCDR M.A. Zampella USN

Location:
,

Provenance:

2019: Gift of LCDR M.A. Zampella USN

Label:

Captain Douglas E. Fairbanks Jr. (1909–2000) was an actor, producer, and Army Navy Club member who set aside a thriving film career to serve on active duty with the U.S. Navy in World War II (1941–46). Assigned to Rear Adm. Lord Louis Mountbatten’s Combined Operations Headquarters in London, he trained in deception and joined cross-Channel commando raids. He then adapted those methods for U.S. amphibious forces as founder of the Navy’s Beach Jumpers, whose small craft and electronic ruses simulated landings far from the real invasion beaches during Sicily, Italy, and southern France. For bravery he received the Silver Star and Legion of Merit with “V”; foreign honors included the Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom) and appointments to the Order of the British Empire as Knight Commander (KBE), the Légion d’honneur and Croix de Guerre with Palm (France), and the War Cross for Military Valor (Italy).