Ford, Gwyllyn Samuel Newton “Glenn”, born 01-05-1916 in Portneuf, Quebec Canada,

the son of Newton Ford and
Hannah (Mitchell Wood) Ford, moved to Santa Monica, California with his family at the age of eight and became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1939 and an movie actor. His father was a railroad executive and mill-owner, and a descendant of Sir John A MacDonald,

the first Prime Minister of the dominion of Canada who, when confronted by a crisis, was reputed to retire to bed with six bottles of port. In 1942, Ford interrupted his film career to volunteer for duty in World War II with the United States Marine Corps Reserve on 13-12-1942. He was assigned in March 1943 to active duty at the Marine Corps Base in San Diego.

He was sent to Marine Corps Schools Detachment, Photographic Section in Quantico, Virginia three months later, with orders as a motion-picture production technician. Promoted to sergeant, Ford

returned to the San Diego base in February 1944 and was next assigned to the radio section of the Public Relations Office, Headquarters Company, Base Headquarters Battalion. There he staged and broadcast the radio program Halls of Montezuma. Ford was honorably discharged from the Marines on 07-12-1944. Immediately after Germany’s surrender, Ford had discovered that, while attention was focused on Dachau

, some 15,000 intended victims were still alive, but barely, at the nearby camp of Fernwald, outside Munich. Defying orders that rations should not be diverted to displaced persons, Ford persuaded supply-sergeants to turn a blind eye while he loaded his truck with food and medical supplies for the starving survivors. It was a lifeline he kept going for seven weeks. He was credited with single-handedly saving the lives of between 5,000 and 6,000 of the abandoned inmates, and women in the camp named new-born sons after him. He rarely spoke of his military service; and it was only 30 years later, when he was presented with a Liberator’s Award

by the
Simon Wiesenthal 
Centre for Holocaust Studies, that it emerged he had been responsible for an act of extraordinary courage and compassion. His World War II decorations are as follows: American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal, Rifle Marksman Badge, and the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Medal. He retired from the Naval Reserve in the 1970s at the rank of captain.
Death and burial ground of Ford, Gwyllyn Samuel Newton “Glenn”.
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