Internships were rewarding, but they barely covered his expenses. He may have only been writing public service announcements and squibs, but it was still writing for radio. The job delighted Serling who, in this small way, was following in the footsteps of his radio drama heroes Arch Oboler and Norman Corwin. There, Serling got his first experience as a scriptwriter. In 1946, he landed a job interning at New York City public radio station WNYC as part of his Antioch work-study. Switching majors to English literature and drama, Serling began to seriously pursue writing.
However, a required first-year language and literature course taught by writer Nolan Miller soon rekindled his artistic passions. Serling initially majored in physical education. The war haunted Serling and influenced him for the rest of his life. Although the physical scars would fade, the psychological wounds never healed. For his service, Rod Serling was awarded the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star. Seeing action at the Battle of Tagaytay Ridge and the siege of Manila, Serling was wounded numerous times and watched a friend die. Stationed in the Philippines during the latter days of the conflict, Serling came face-to-face with the realities of combat. War was far from the adventure he assumed it to be. Instead, he wound up in the 511th Parachute Infantry of the 11th Airborne Division.Īlthough Rod Serling had hoped to take on Hitler's forces in Europe, he was shipped off to the Pacific Theater. Uncle Sam, however, had a different plan for Rod Serling whose eyesight wasn't quite keen enough. Eager to get in the thick of the fight, he had read of the high mortality among tailgunners and naively decided that was where the action was. Initially, Rod Serling longed to be a tailgunner.
0 kommentar(er)
