Frank Sutton was a military veteran of what branch?

Frank Spencer Sutton was born October 23, 1923 in Clarksville, Tennessee. He is best known for his portrayal of Sgt. Carter on Gomer Pyle.

His father was a linotype operator for the Nashville Tennessean and died, when his son Frank was 14 years old.

Sutton tried to join the Marines, but was turned down for failing to pass the physical, because one arm was bent too far back at the elbow.

However, he was able to join the Army and participated in 14 assault landings, including those at Leyte, Luzon and Corregidor during World War II.

After the war he returned to work as an announcer on a Nashville radio station. However, that didn’t go so well, when his boss turned on the radio and heard silence, since Sutton had fallen asleep. That ended his radio career, but it helped launch his acting career, since he went to Columbia University and graduated cum laude in Dramatic Arts.