A Gilligan's Island Star Was Shot Down Over A Tropical Island In WWII

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

Everyone who grew up on "Gilligan's Island" knows Russell Johnson as the ever resourceful Professor Roy Hinkley, Ph.D. But very few know him as a war hero. While serving in World War II as an Air Force pilot, Russell's plane was shot down over a tropical island in the Philippines. He and most of the other downed soldiers were rescued shortly thereafter, but the actor's co-pilot was killed in the incident.

Though it only lasted three seasons, thanks to its syndication deals and multiple follow-up films "Gilligan's Island" was a beloved part of childhood for multiple generations. As such, there's plenty of 60s, 70s, and even 80s kids who, today, are curious about what happened to, or who's even still alive from, the cast of "Gilligan's Island." But the stories of what the ensemble went through before being cast on CBS's hit sitcom are just as interesting.

That's especially the case for Russell Johnson, who not only spent his retirement just like the Professor but also had a relatively non-controversial and steady career prior to his death in 2014. Prior to being cast on the show, however, the man who played the Professor experienced the kind of drama those of us living through the social media age can only barely imagine. Born in 1924, Johnson lost both his father and a brother to pneumonia, before enlisting in the United States Air Force and serving in World War II. It was during his deployment to the Pacific Theater that he was shot down. Thankfully, unlike the castaways of the S.S. Minnow, Johnson was rescued shortly after, but the whole ordeal sounds terrifying nonetheless.

The world has avoided a truly global conflict since the end of World War II, which means it's been a long time since Hollywood's leading men were also veterans of war. James Stewart famously wasn't the same actor after World War II, in which he flew several missions for the U.S. Air Force and earned multiple medals. But Stewart's planes were never shot out of the sky. Russell Johnson, on the other hand, also flew multiple missions for the Air Force, and on one occasion, he found himself the victim of enemy fire that brought his and two other bombers down.

In his book, "Here on Gilligan's Isle," the actor wrote, "Believe it or not, until recently the idea of being on an island held much appeal to me. As a bombardier in World War II, I was shot down over one, and in the 1960s my career got me stranded on one." Johnson served as a B-24 bombardier, flying missions over the Pacific during World War II. It was during one such operation that he was shot down over a town in the Philippines called Zamboanga.

On March 4, 1945, Johnson embarked on his 44th mission, during which he was tasked with commandeering a .50 caliber machine gun and shooting from a B-25 bomber. As the actor recounts in his book, the plane was flying around 50 feet above the water when the Japanese "blasted twenty-and forty-millimeter guns that set both of our plane's engines on fire." Already going down, the plane took another direct hit, sending shrapnel through the interior of the aircraft and breaking both of Johnson's ankles. "It killed the radio operator next to me," wrote the actor. "He was only on his eighth mission."

Two other B-25 bombers were also shot down alongside Russell Johnson's on that same day. Thankfully, most of the soldiers survived. In "Here on Gilligan's Isle," Johnson recalled how, after surviving the crash, he and his fellow soldiers weren't out of harm's way. "We were in a strait of water just a couple of miles wide between Zamboanga and an island called Basilan," he wrote. "We could see the Japanese were coming out after us in boats."

Thankfully, nearby United States planes quickly laid down fire on the Japanese boats. After an hour of being in the water, Johnson and his group were rescued by the Army Air-Sea Rescue Service and brought back to their base on the Halmahera Islands. According to a report on the incident, all the stranded crew survived except for one, who left the rescue ship and "suddenly disappeared below the waves."

For his efforts on that mission, Johnson was awarded a Purple Heart, and he went on to earn several other decorations before being honorably discharged as a First Lieutenant on November 22, 1945. Upon leaving the Air Force, Johnson took advantage of the GI Bill which allowed him to enroll in the Actors Lab in Hollywood. In that sense, Johnson's military career and his experience of being stranded near an island in the Philippines was largely responsible for him becoming stranded with the other castaways on "Gilligan's Island" in 1963. Though Johnson initially regretted playing the Professor on "Gilligan's Island," he eventually made peace with it, which must have been tough. But it was surely a lot easier than recovering from literally being shot out of the sky.