Charles Bronson Received the Purple Heart for His Service in the Pacific Theater During World War II

Charles Bronson gained fame by portraying tough, resilient characters on film, mirroring his nature in real life. Having grown up in poverty and working in coal mines, he joined the US Army Air Forces (USAAF) and served as an aerial gunner aboard a Boeing B-29 Superfortress during World War II.

Early life in the coal mines of Pennsylvania

Born on November 3, 1921, in Ehrenfeld, Pennsylvania, Charles Bronson was originally named Charles Dennis Buchinsky. He was the 11th child in a destitute Roman Catholic family of Lithuanian descent and initially spoke no English. During his teenage years, he became fluent in Russian, Lithuanian, English and Greek.

After his father passed away, Bronson started working in the Pennsylvania coal mines at the age of 10 to support his family, earning just one dollar for each ton of coal he mined.

Entering the US Army Air Forces (USAAF)

In 1943, after 12 years in the mines, Charles Bronson joined the US Army Air Forces.

Bronson was initially assigned to the 760th Flexible Gunnery Training Squad, before serving aboard a Boeing B-29 Superfortress as an aerial gunner. He performed this role as part of the 61st Bombardment Squadron, 39th Bombardment Group in Guam , and flew a total of 25 combat missions against Japan, many of which were highly hazardous.

On one particular mission, he suffered an injury to his arms, resulting in him being awarded the Purple Heart for wounds received in battle. He left the military in 1946, after three years of service.

Charles Bronson adapted well to military life

While many disliked the standards of military life, Charles Bronson found them luxurious, saying , "I never had it so good as when I entered the Army. Men were complaining around me. But I was eating and sleeping well, and I thought: 'Jeez! This is great!' For me, being drafted was like having a fairy godfather change me into a prince."

Once Bronson became a famous Hollywood celebrity - a true rags to riches story - news outlets put his service into question. Some said he'd simply worked as a delivery truck driver for the 760th Mess Squadron in Arizona. However, his World War II colleagues verified his role as a nose gunner aboard a B-29.

Furthermore, records have been located that prove his presence in Guam as a B-29 crew member - in particular, a 61st Squadron roster from September 1945, which includes his name.

Post-World War II

After his military service, Charles Bronson used the money he received from the GI Bill to study art and enrolled in the Pasadena Playhouse in sunny California. This change in career didn't go as smoothly as he would have liked and he had to work many odd jobs. At one point, he was living in an apartment with fellow aspiring actor, Jack Klugman.

His first roles were minor and uncredited, and at the time he was still going by his birth name of Charles Buchinsky. It wasn't until his role as Igor in 1953's House of Wax that audiences and major Hollywood studios began to take notice of his abilities.

Starting in the late-1940s and continuing throughout much of the 1950s, the US experienced a nationwide fear of Communism , known as the Second Red Scare. After a series of Soviet spies were discovered in seemingly secure positions, the country began actively hunting and putting a stop to Communist activities.

In 1954, he changed his name to "Charles Bronson" to stop his Eastern European-sounding name drawing unwanted attention from the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC).

Charles Bronson's career eventually gained steam

Charles Bronson's career gained steam in the 1950s, and by the '70s he was considered one of Hollywood's leading men, earning $1 million per film. Among his most popular movies were The Great Escape (1963), Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) and Death Wish (1974). These roles saw him starring alongside some of Tinsel Town's finest, including Steve McQueen and Henry Fonda.

While a beloved star, Bronson's past remained with him, and for much of his life he suffered from bouts of claustrophobia due to his time in the coal mines and aboard B-29 bombers. Bronson's final role was as Paul Fein in the Family of Cops television movie franchise, of which there were three films.

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He retired from acting following a hip replacement, and in the later years of his life suffered from deteriorating health. In 2003, at the age of 81, he passed away and was interred at Brownsville Cemetery in West Windsor, Vermont.