People (Deaths)

• 2000 – Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., US Navy captain, actor, and producer (b. 1909).

Douglas Fairbanks Jr.

Douglas Elton Fairbanks Jr., KBE, DSC (09 December 1909 to 07 May 2000) was an American actor, producer and decorated naval officer of World War II.

He is best known for starring in such films as The Prisoner of Zenda (1937), Gunga Din (1939) and The Corsican Brothers (1941). He was the son of actor Douglas Fairbanks and was once married to Joan Crawford.

World War II

Fairbanks was commissioned as a reserve officer in the United States Navy when the United States entered World War II and was assigned to Lord Mountbatten’s Commando staff in the United Kingdom.

In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed him special envoy to South America. Fairbanks served on the cruiser USS Wichita during the disastrous Convoy PQ 17 operation.

Lieutenant Fairbanks was subsequently transferred to Virginia Beach where he came under the command of Admiral H. Kent Hewitt, who was preparing US naval forces for the invasion of North Africa. Fairbanks convinced Hewitt of the advantages of a military deception unit, then repeated the proposal at Hewitt’s behest to Admiral Ernest King, Chief of Naval Operations. King thereupon issued a secret letter on 05 March 1943 charging the Vice Chief of Naval Operations with the recruitment of 180 officers and 300 enlisted men for the Beach Jumper programme.

The Beach Jumpers’ mission would simulate amphibious landings with a very limited force. Operating dozens of kilometres from the actual landing beaches and utilising their deception equipment, the Beach Jumpers would lure the enemy into believing that theirs was the principal landing.

United States Navy Beach Jumpers saw their initial action in Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily. For the remainder of the war, the Beach Jumpers conducted their hazardous, shallow-water operations throughout the Mediterranean.

For his planning the diversion-deception operations and his part in the amphibious assault on Southern France, Lieutenant Commander Fairbanks was awarded the United States Navy’s Legion of Merit with bronze V (for valour), the Italian War Cross for Military Valour, the French Légion d’honneur and the Croix de Guerre with Palm, and the British Distinguished Service Cross.

Fairbanks was also awarded the Silver Star for valour displayed while serving on PT boats and in 1942 made an Officer of the National Order of the Southern Cross, conferred by the Brazilian government.

Among his other exploits was the sinking of the corvette UJ-6083 (formerly the Regia Marina Gabbiano-class Capriolo) while in command of a mixed division of American PT boats and British Insect-class gunboats plus assorted other small craft. Fairbanks commanded from HMS Aphis.

Fairbanks stayed in the US Naval Reserve after the war and ultimately retired as a captain in 1954.

Fairbanks returned to Hollywood at the conclusion of World War II.