I have known of Charles Durning as an accomplished actor for many years. - At least one account says he was assigned to the 159th Infantry Regiment. He was 89. Not because I wuld think that Mr. Durning did not do his duty during the war. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Shortly after it passed this crossroads, the column began to receive fire from two German tanks that were 1,000 yards (0.9 km) down the road. He noted that 1) It appears Durning did not leave the replacement system till March 44 (well after Malmedy); 2) Durning was nominally assigned to the 159th Inf Regt, then transferred to the 398th Inf Regt when the former was shipped stateside in the Fall of 45; 3)Although he was nominally assigned to those infantry regiments, he actually was on temporary duty with the 20th Special Services Bn (an entertainment unit); and 5) Mr. Karras says he knows for a fact that Arlington has cut a new headstone for Durning which omits the Bronze Star medal and two of his supposed Purple Hearts. WRT the EIB/CIB, block 31 says "M1 Rifle Ex 165 5 Mar 45". He was one of the military masterminds of The Invasion of Normandy that also landed at Omaha Beach. - After being wounded in Normandy, Mr. Durning was declared fit for duty on 6 Dec and transferred to the 10th Replacement Depot (in England) on 12 Dec 44. . I lack confidence as an actor, he told The Toronto Star in 1988. 
WebCharles Durning, who plays WWII Vet Ernie Yost, was an actual WWII veteran, specifically an Army private first class who was part of the Normandy invasion, survived the Malmedy massacre, and fought in the Battle of the Bulge. The Battle of the Bulge was the largest battle ever fought in the history of the U.S. infantry and one of the bloodiest battles of World War II, which was the most costly war in human history. He assembled the prisoners in a field there and waited with his tanks and halftracks for further orders. However, what the Germans did next reinforces the belief that they intended to kill the Americans from the beginning. Of his 5,000-man force, only 800 survived to return to Germany. Frank Rich, then the chief drama critic for The New York Times, likened the performance to a dying volcano, in final, sputtering eruption. Cat was Mr. Durnings first Broadway hit since 1972, when he drew praise as a small-town mayor seeking re-election in That Championship Season, Jason Millers Tony-winning drama about the reunion of a high school basketball team. Division, and a former Chief of Staff for the 1st. "Oldbubblehead (talk) 04:25, 17 July 2013 (UTC)Reply[reply]. 
By late fall, the sixty-five Allied divisions operating in northeastern Europe were facing vital supplies shortages, especially of fuel, and their offensive had sputtered to a halt. Arlington National Cemetery has acknowledged some of these discrepancies and is in the process of re-cutting Durnings headstone. That way, instead of spending a lot of time trying to remember what it is I wrote down, I spend the time looking for the paper I wrote it down on. For his injuries, Durning received his 2nd Purple Heart. Before an attack against the Germans on December 21, four days after the massacre, the headquarters of the 328th Infantry sent out an order that read, in part: No SS troops or paratroopers will be taken prisoner but will be shot on sight.. Hell, I dont have an image. He later told The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that he was driven by fear the fear of not being recognized by your peers.. It had seen relatively little frontline duty and was filled with numerous green replacements. His television credits were voluminous, from guest spots to substantial parts in TV movies and mini-series. Discuss here please. It was the start of a long association with Papp, who cast him, often as a clown, in 35 plays, many by Shakespeare. Warren Kozak writes in the Wall Street Journal, "The Real Rules of War," Dec. 23, that his father, who survived the Battle of the Bulge, told him that Again, kudos to Oldbubblehead. If such a trivial thing deserves mention (which IMO it doesn't), then you would need to provide a reference that someone else is the 2nd most decorated soldier of WWII. The list of survivors of the Malmedy massacre is very well known and Durning's name does not appear in it. This does however not mean that he did not do his duty during WWII. -- Lebob ( talk) 12:13, 26 December 2012 (UTC) Please note, however, that the Malmedy Massacre was not the only massacre of prisoners to take place in World War II. the men in the pasture, and the other men who escaped the massacre because for one or other reason they were not at the crossroads when and where they were supposed to be when the massacre occured (I think for instance to a man the artillery observer battalion who had been left in Malmedy because he suddenly fell ill: he escaped the massacre but is not a survivor). 398th Infantry Regiment; part of the 100th Infantry Division, 3. What I know now, was and is still a missed opportunity for us to discuss this event, because like Mr. Durning, my Grandfather, Brigadier General, Norman Cota was an assistant Commander of the 29th. He continued to act almost until his death. Stars in Khaki by Wise and Wilderson provides little information. However, early that evening, three escapees did encounter a patrol led by Colonel Pergrin, who had heard the shooting and was coming to investigate. Page contents not supported in other languages. Brands on Ben Barnes's "Revelation" about the Iran Hostage Crisis, The "Madman Theory" Was Quintessential Nixon. The soldiers of SS-Panzerregiment 1 who did the shooting took great care to ensure no witnesses remained, but as at Wormhoudt (also LSSAH), Le Paradis (SS-Totenkopf-Division) & L'Abbe Ardenne (SS-Pz.Gren.Regt.-25) there were always some who lived to testify against the perpetrators. 
The school dismissed him within a year. Within a few weeks of Malmedy, one U.S. unit had machine-gunned sixty German prisoners to death in a small Belgian village called Chenogne (see Death at Chenogne). He made his stage debut in Buffalo. I meant to say that stupid people are generally conservative. He had probably ordered an attack by his unit, which caused the deaths of forty-three Italian civilians in the village of Boves, Italy, in 1943, and in numerous actions against partisans in Russia, his unit deliberately burned villages and killed Russian civilians. Furthermore one should keep in mind that all survivors to the massacre, i.e. In a sense, the Allied war against the Germans since the D-Day landings of June 6, 1944, had gone almost too well. - On the other hand, if he were assigned to the 398th Inf Regt upon discharge from the hospital - as most accounts reflect - that raises even more serious questions. I'd be interested to learn how he came into show business - his turn in "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" shows him to be a gifted dancer. 
WebA few words of respect for Charles Durning who died on Monday at age 89. I'm beginning to wonder about the veracity of Mr Durning's World War II story. WebTIL That the late character actor Charles Durning, who was a WWII veteran, was not only the sole survivor of a unit during the Normandy invasion but was one of only three men to escape the infamous Malmedy Massacre during the Battle of the Bulge. The current article, which avoids all discussion of these questions of fact, appears dedicated to burnishing and protecting his image, which seems a POV violation. The worksheet shows (additionally) Foreign Service Pay of $128.43 for the period 1 Dec 45 to 24 or 26 Jan 46 $7072/month depending on how it was pro-rated. 
It is hard to see where Mr. Durning would have earned a Silver Star with this unit. [4] Given the scores of thousands of trained infantry replacements prepositioned in Britain in anticipation of D-Day casualties (over 88,000 replacements of all types had been 'stockpiled' in the UK by 7 Jun 44), it defies belief that the Rangers would accept a last minute replacement who was not even infantry qualified. We don't have to resolve the discrepancies, but we should at least note them. Charles Durning Durning was yet another actor who initially served as a soldier in WWII, and he was actually part of the first wave of troops to land at Omaha Beach on D-Day. I'm guessing the latter was in response to Durning wanting to clarify things in the time leading up to his award from the French on 22 April. Web300 East 5th Street, Perris, CA 92570. corsica ryan homes elevations; joan hopper william hopper's daughter. [AlanM1(talk)] 00:56, 29 July 2013 (UTC)Reply[reply], More Durning documents have turned up. WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Jan. 17, 2013) -- Triple Purple Heart holder, Silver Star recipient and award-winning character actor Charles Durning, who died at 89 In some instances, U.S. outfits were completely surrounded by the attacking Germans while, a few miles (kilometers) away, the GIs wiped out entire German companies. Durning's unit guarded German POW's in Krippe, Germany until after VE Day, June 23, 1945. Every so often he landed a bit part in a play. It had much to do with the nature of the wounds, and the length and location of hospitalization. With the 398th Infantry Regiment he moved into Germany where he was again seriously wounded in March 1945 and evacuated to the United States. Mr. Durning received Emmy nominations for supporting performances in the mini-series Captains and the Kings (1976), the prison drama Attica (1980) and a CBS production of Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman (1985), in which he played Charley, the sympathetic neighbor of Willy Loman (Dustin Hoffman). After the war, still mentally troubled, Mr. Durning dropped into a void for almost a decade before deciding to study acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, he told Parade magazine in 1993. In 1977 he played an American president held hostage by rogue military men in Robert Aldrichs film Twilights Last Gleaming. His many other film roles include Chief Brandon in Warren Beattys colorful Dick Tracy (1990), Holly Hunters kindhearted father in Home for the Holidays (1995) and, in a pair of Coen brothers films, a suicidal industrialist in The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) and a gruff Southern governor in O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000). Then came World War II, and he enlisted in the Army. Does anyone think that we should request the page to be locked? Again, Durning is not listed. Holder of the Knights Cross with Oak Leaves, Germanys highest military decoration; an ardent Nazi; and a hardened veteran of fighting in France, Italy, and on the Eastern Front; Peiper was admired by his soldiers, but known as a brutal fighter. I would however draw you attention to the fact that this sentence merely concerns the way the event has been related in many books, i.e. If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with, If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with, This page was last edited on 3 April 2023, at 04:11. The Americans in the rear of the group began to run away, even as an officer yelled Stand fast! thinking that the Germans would shoot them if they saw them escaping. Stetsonharry (talk) 21:09, 2 February 2009 (UTC)Reply[reply], I think everybody's raised good points. It is apparently based on a June 1993 interview the source of which is not listed. The Malmedy massacre (1944) was a war crime in which 84 American prisoners of war were killed by their German captors near Malmedy, Belgium, during World War II. France honors Charles Durning PFC Durning was one of only a few soldiers to escape and survive the subsequent notorious Malmedy massacre. 
That can cause a number of types of confusion. - After being wounded in Normandy, Mr. Durning was declared fit for duty on 6 Dec and transferred to the 10th Replacement Depot (in England) on 12 Dec 44. Mr. Durning played the prosecutor, a character based on William Jennings Bryan, and Scott, in his last Broadway role, was the defense attorney, modeled on Clarence Darrow. (Perhaps eleven men of Battery B had been killed in the initial attack.) The rest of the Wikipedia article on World War II service is, as others have noted here, quite inconsistent. After killing the youth, he said, he held him in his arms and wept. The delay upset Peiper. Stetsonharry (talk) 21:43, 22 February 2009 (UTC)Reply[reply]. I do belive that the edit should stand, however. Charles Durning, who died on Dec. 24 at age 89 in New York City, played a whole lot of roles in his half-century-long career - all told, 207 of them, according the 
WebCharles Durning, a second World War hero who became one of Hollywood's top character actors in films like The Sting, Tootsie and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, has died, a New York City. Total mustering out pay was $300 $100 was paid at the time. - Mr. During supposedly told a close friend that the reason he was transferred to the Rangers was because he hit an officer, and was therefore given the choice of either Leavenworth or the Rangers. Rlevse Talk 03:12, 9 November 2009 (UTC)Reply[reply], I realize it's no shame to have post traumatic stress disorder, but I think that any such assertions in an article must be sourced, as per BLP. This record will need to be linked on this talk page so that other editors can verify this before we can allow this kind of character assassination. 5. Racing to the front of the German column, he upbraided Sternebeck for engaging Battery Bbecause the noise might alert more powerful U.S. combat units nearbyand told him to keep moving. Scavenger Killers, a crime thriller in which he stars with Eric Roberts and Robert Loggia, is scheduled to open next year. Depot/ Repl. Given the manual, handwritten nature of documentation at the time, and the huge growth of forces, it's not at all surprising to me that administrative paperwork was less than accurate. The charge of exaggerating one's military record is a very serious one (see Jeremy Michael Boorda), and needs to be backed up by evidence. Whether true or not, the statements of the French Consul would not be admissible in any U.S. civilian or military court since they do not satisfy either the Best Evidence rule or the Hearsay rule. Why Didn't 60 Minutes Push Back on MTG's "Pedophile" Smear? Thinking about how veterans of that era typically talk about the Army with regard to administrative matters only confirms this feeling that such records may be largely inaccurate. With regards to the re-assignment of soldiers - while it is common knowledge that the replacement system funneled troops from unit to unit after being wounded, they were still moved to units with respect to their training. Two million men fought for three months in Normandy in 1944. The American D-Day beach landings were under the command of US 1st Army, and the 1st Infantry was part of the First Army until - afaik - until the end of the war in Europe. [5]. JavaScript is disabled. I thought the guys shot at the crossroads were all from one unit, a field artillery observation battalion. In 2000, in a retitled revival called Gore Vidals The Best Man, he played an ailing former president who tries to mediate a power struggle between two candidates. ) 21:43, 22 February 2009 ( UTC ) Reply [ Reply ] on Ben 's... The crossroads were all from one unit, a crime thriller in which stars... Known of Charles Durning as an officer yelled Stand fast the time the... 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WebCharles Durning, who plays WWII Vet Ernie Yost, was an actual WWII veteran, specifically an Army private first class who was part of the Normandy invasion, survived the Malmedy massacre, and fought in the Battle of the Bulge. The Battle of the Bulge was the largest battle ever fought in the history of the U.S. infantry and one of the bloodiest battles of World War II, which was the most costly war in human history. He assembled the prisoners in a field there and waited with his tanks and halftracks for further orders. However, what the Germans did next reinforces the belief that they intended to kill the Americans from the beginning. Of his 5,000-man force, only 800 survived to return to Germany. Frank Rich, then the chief drama critic for The New York Times, likened the performance to a dying volcano, in final, sputtering eruption. Cat was Mr. Durnings first Broadway hit since 1972, when he drew praise as a small-town mayor seeking re-election in That Championship Season, Jason Millers Tony-winning drama about the reunion of a high school basketball team. Division, and a former Chief of Staff for the 1st. "Oldbubblehead (talk) 04:25, 17 July 2013 (UTC)Reply[reply]. By late fall, the sixty-five Allied divisions operating in northeastern Europe were facing vital supplies shortages, especially of fuel, and their offensive had sputtered to a halt. Arlington National Cemetery has acknowledged some of these discrepancies and is in the process of re-cutting Durnings headstone. That way, instead of spending a lot of time trying to remember what it is I wrote down, I spend the time looking for the paper I wrote it down on. For his injuries, Durning received his 2nd Purple Heart. Before an attack against the Germans on December 21, four days after the massacre, the headquarters of the 328th Infantry sent out an order that read, in part: No SS troops or paratroopers will be taken prisoner but will be shot on sight.. Hell, I dont have an image. He later told The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that he was driven by fear the fear of not being recognized by your peers.. It had seen relatively little frontline duty and was filled with numerous green replacements. His television credits were voluminous, from guest spots to substantial parts in TV movies and mini-series. Discuss here please. It was the start of a long association with Papp, who cast him, often as a clown, in 35 plays, many by Shakespeare. Warren Kozak writes in the Wall Street Journal, "The Real Rules of War," Dec. 23, that his father, who survived the Battle of the Bulge, told him that Again, kudos to Oldbubblehead. If such a trivial thing deserves mention (which IMO it doesn't), then you would need to provide a reference that someone else is the 2nd most decorated soldier of WWII. The list of survivors of the Malmedy massacre is very well known and Durning's name does not appear in it. This does however not mean that he did not do his duty during WWII. -- Lebob ( talk) 12:13, 26 December 2012 (UTC) Please note, however, that the Malmedy Massacre was not the only massacre of prisoners to take place in World War II. the men in the pasture, and the other men who escaped the massacre because for one or other reason they were not at the crossroads when and where they were supposed to be when the massacre occured (I think for instance to a man the artillery observer battalion who had been left in Malmedy because he suddenly fell ill: he escaped the massacre but is not a survivor). 398th Infantry Regiment; part of the 100th Infantry Division, 3. What I know now, was and is still a missed opportunity for us to discuss this event, because like Mr. Durning, my Grandfather, Brigadier General, Norman Cota was an assistant Commander of the 29th. He continued to act almost until his death. Stars in Khaki by Wise and Wilderson provides little information. However, early that evening, three escapees did encounter a patrol led by Colonel Pergrin, who had heard the shooting and was coming to investigate. Page contents not supported in other languages. Brands on Ben Barnes's "Revelation" about the Iran Hostage Crisis, The "Madman Theory" Was Quintessential Nixon. The soldiers of SS-Panzerregiment 1 who did the shooting took great care to ensure no witnesses remained, but as at Wormhoudt (also LSSAH), Le Paradis (SS-Totenkopf-Division) & L'Abbe Ardenne (SS-Pz.Gren.Regt.-25) there were always some who lived to testify against the perpetrators. The school dismissed him within a year. Within a few weeks of Malmedy, one U.S. unit had machine-gunned sixty German prisoners to death in a small Belgian village called Chenogne (see Death at Chenogne). He made his stage debut in Buffalo. I meant to say that stupid people are generally conservative. He had probably ordered an attack by his unit, which caused the deaths of forty-three Italian civilians in the village of Boves, Italy, in 1943, and in numerous actions against partisans in Russia, his unit deliberately burned villages and killed Russian civilians. Furthermore one should keep in mind that all survivors to the massacre, i.e. In a sense, the Allied war against the Germans since the D-Day landings of June 6, 1944, had gone almost too well. - On the other hand, if he were assigned to the 398th Inf Regt upon discharge from the hospital - as most accounts reflect - that raises even more serious questions. I'd be interested to learn how he came into show business - his turn in "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" shows him to be a gifted dancer. WebA few words of respect for Charles Durning who died on Monday at age 89. I'm beginning to wonder about the veracity of Mr Durning's World War II story. WebTIL That the late character actor Charles Durning, who was a WWII veteran, was not only the sole survivor of a unit during the Normandy invasion but was one of only three men to escape the infamous Malmedy Massacre during the Battle of the Bulge. The current article, which avoids all discussion of these questions of fact, appears dedicated to burnishing and protecting his image, which seems a POV violation. The worksheet shows (additionally) Foreign Service Pay of $128.43 for the period 1 Dec 45 to 24 or 26 Jan 46 $7072/month depending on how it was pro-rated. It is hard to see where Mr. Durning would have earned a Silver Star with this unit. [4] Given the scores of thousands of trained infantry replacements prepositioned in Britain in anticipation of D-Day casualties (over 88,000 replacements of all types had been 'stockpiled' in the UK by 7 Jun 44), it defies belief that the Rangers would accept a last minute replacement who was not even infantry qualified. We don't have to resolve the discrepancies, but we should at least note them. Charles Durning Durning was yet another actor who initially served as a soldier in WWII, and he was actually part of the first wave of troops to land at Omaha Beach on D-Day. I'm guessing the latter was in response to Durning wanting to clarify things in the time leading up to his award from the French on 22 April. Web300 East 5th Street, Perris, CA 92570. corsica ryan homes elevations; joan hopper william hopper's daughter. [AlanM1(talk)] 00:56, 29 July 2013 (UTC)Reply[reply], More Durning documents have turned up. WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Jan. 17, 2013) -- Triple Purple Heart holder, Silver Star recipient and award-winning character actor Charles Durning, who died at 89 In some instances, U.S. outfits were completely surrounded by the attacking Germans while, a few miles (kilometers) away, the GIs wiped out entire German companies. Durning's unit guarded German POW's in Krippe, Germany until after VE Day, June 23, 1945. Every so often he landed a bit part in a play. It had much to do with the nature of the wounds, and the length and location of hospitalization. With the 398th Infantry Regiment he moved into Germany where he was again seriously wounded in March 1945 and evacuated to the United States. Mr. Durning received Emmy nominations for supporting performances in the mini-series Captains and the Kings (1976), the prison drama Attica (1980) and a CBS production of Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman (1985), in which he played Charley, the sympathetic neighbor of Willy Loman (Dustin Hoffman). After the war, still mentally troubled, Mr. Durning dropped into a void for almost a decade before deciding to study acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, he told Parade magazine in 1993. In 1977 he played an American president held hostage by rogue military men in Robert Aldrichs film Twilights Last Gleaming. His many other film roles include Chief Brandon in Warren Beattys colorful Dick Tracy (1990), Holly Hunters kindhearted father in Home for the Holidays (1995) and, in a pair of Coen brothers films, a suicidal industrialist in The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) and a gruff Southern governor in O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000). Then came World War II, and he enlisted in the Army. Does anyone think that we should request the page to be locked? Again, Durning is not listed. Holder of the Knights Cross with Oak Leaves, Germanys highest military decoration; an ardent Nazi; and a hardened veteran of fighting in France, Italy, and on the Eastern Front; Peiper was admired by his soldiers, but known as a brutal fighter. I would however draw you attention to the fact that this sentence merely concerns the way the event has been related in many books, i.e. If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with, If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with, This page was last edited on 3 April 2023, at 04:11. The Americans in the rear of the group began to run away, even as an officer yelled Stand fast! thinking that the Germans would shoot them if they saw them escaping. Stetsonharry (talk) 21:09, 2 February 2009 (UTC)Reply[reply], I think everybody's raised good points. It is apparently based on a June 1993 interview the source of which is not listed. The Malmedy massacre (1944) was a war crime in which 84 American prisoners of war were killed by their German captors near Malmedy, Belgium, during World War II. France honors Charles Durning PFC Durning was one of only a few soldiers to escape and survive the subsequent notorious Malmedy massacre. That can cause a number of types of confusion. - After being wounded in Normandy, Mr. Durning was declared fit for duty on 6 Dec and transferred to the 10th Replacement Depot (in England) on 12 Dec 44. Mr. Durning played the prosecutor, a character based on William Jennings Bryan, and Scott, in his last Broadway role, was the defense attorney, modeled on Clarence Darrow. (Perhaps eleven men of Battery B had been killed in the initial attack.) The rest of the Wikipedia article on World War II service is, as others have noted here, quite inconsistent. After killing the youth, he said, he held him in his arms and wept. The delay upset Peiper. Stetsonharry (talk) 21:43, 22 February 2009 (UTC)Reply[reply]. I do belive that the edit should stand, however. Charles Durning, who died on Dec. 24 at age 89 in New York City, played a whole lot of roles in his half-century-long career - all told, 207 of them, according the WebCharles Durning, a second World War hero who became one of Hollywood's top character actors in films like The Sting, Tootsie and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, has died, a New York City. Total mustering out pay was $300 $100 was paid at the time. - Mr. During supposedly told a close friend that the reason he was transferred to the Rangers was because he hit an officer, and was therefore given the choice of either Leavenworth or the Rangers. Rlevse Talk 03:12, 9 November 2009 (UTC)Reply[reply], I realize it's no shame to have post traumatic stress disorder, but I think that any such assertions in an article must be sourced, as per BLP. This record will need to be linked on this talk page so that other editors can verify this before we can allow this kind of character assassination. 5. Racing to the front of the German column, he upbraided Sternebeck for engaging Battery Bbecause the noise might alert more powerful U.S. combat units nearbyand told him to keep moving. Scavenger Killers, a crime thriller in which he stars with Eric Roberts and Robert Loggia, is scheduled to open next year. Depot/ Repl. Given the manual, handwritten nature of documentation at the time, and the huge growth of forces, it's not at all surprising to me that administrative paperwork was less than accurate. The charge of exaggerating one's military record is a very serious one (see Jeremy Michael Boorda), and needs to be backed up by evidence. Whether true or not, the statements of the French Consul would not be admissible in any U.S. civilian or military court since they do not satisfy either the Best Evidence rule or the Hearsay rule. Why Didn't 60 Minutes Push Back on MTG's "Pedophile" Smear? Thinking about how veterans of that era typically talk about the Army with regard to administrative matters only confirms this feeling that such records may be largely inaccurate. With regards to the re-assignment of soldiers - while it is common knowledge that the replacement system funneled troops from unit to unit after being wounded, they were still moved to units with respect to their training. Two million men fought for three months in Normandy in 1944. The American D-Day beach landings were under the command of US 1st Army, and the 1st Infantry was part of the First Army until - afaik - until the end of the war in Europe. [5]. JavaScript is disabled. 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