Borgnine PT 73

Borgnine joined the United States Navy in 1935, after graduation from James Hillhouse High School in New Haven, Connecticut. He was discharged in 1941, re-enlisted after Pearl Harbor, and served until 1945 (a total of ten years), reaching the rank of gunner's mate 1st class. He served aboard the destroyer USS Lamberton. His military decorations include the Navy Good Conduct Medal, American Defense Service Medal with Fleet Clasp, American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal and the World War II Victory Medal.

Borgnine received the honorary rating of chief petty officer in October 2004 from Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Terry D. Scott for Borgnine's support of the Navy and naval families worldwide.


In 1962, Borgnine signed a contract with Universal Studios for the lead role as the gruff but lovable skipper Lieutenant Commander Quinton McHale in what began as a serious one-hour 1962 episode called Seven Against the Sea for Alcoa Premiere, and later reworked to a comedy called McHale's Navy, a World War II sitcom. The insubordinate crew of PT-73 helped the show become an overnight success during its first season, landing in the Top 30 in 1963.

Plot:

During World War II, Lieutenant Commander Quinton McHale (Borgnine) is the commanding officer of the U.S. Navy PT boat, PT-73, stationed at the Pacific island base Taratupa. In the late spring of 1942, the Japanese heavily bomb the island, virtually destroying the base. Only 18 out of the 150 Naval Aviators and Marines assigned to the base survive. With the Japanese patrols in the region too heavy for the Navy to mount a rescue mission, McHale and his men are forced to survive by hiding on the island.

Yet another great series out of the sixties that encompassed ethics and common good, writing that was Right with The Ship.



R.I.P Ermes Effron Borgnino January 24, 1917 – July 8, 2012


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