Some Photos Reveal Clark Gable Trained in Spokane as a Turret Gunner in World War II

In the 1940s, Clark Gable was the King of Hollywood. Millions of people around the world knew and loved him from his iconic roles in films like Gone With the Wind, Mutiny on the Bounty and It Happened One Night. Gable, with his trademark mustache, probably couldn’t have walked down a busy street anywhere in America without being recognized.

But in early January 1943, the 41-year-old Gable, a star even among stars, walked onto Fort George Wright in Spokane as a common soldier, ready to train as an aerial gunner alongside teenagers before heading overseas to fight in World War II.

Gable’s arrival at Fort George Wright would have been a topic of discussion among everyone on base, regardless of rank. The men he trained with during the few weeks he spent in Spokane undoubtedly told stories for the rest of their lives about meeting the Hollywood legend.

But there’s relatively little documented evidence of Gable’s time in Spokane, and his training has, to some extent, been shrouded in mystery.

Photos donated to Fairchild Air Force Base by the son of a man who trained Gable in aerial gunnery have helped remove some of that mystery.

Rebekah Horton, the 92nd Air Refueling Wing’s historian, said she had never seen two of the three Clark Gable photos that Craig Willan donated in June 2021. One of the images shows gunnery sergeant Merrill “Bill” Willan, Craig Willan’s father, next to Gable as the movie star trains in a turret. The other image shows the two men standing side by side holding shotguns.

The photos provide new historical evidence of what Gable was doing when he was here, Horton said. “We had originally thought that he had received his turret training at a different base,” she said. “This is a part of history that I had not yet found.”

Movie actor Clark Gable sits in a turret gun simulator during gunnery training with gunnery sergeant Bill Willan in January 1943 at Camp Seven Mile near Spokane. The movie star was training as a turret gunner at Camp Seven Mile, which is now inside of Riverside State Park, and staying at Fort George Wright, though it wasn’t a part of his assignment, which was to make films for the war effort. (Fairchild Air Force Base archive)

Merrill W. “Bill” Willan, left, stands next to movie idol Clark Gable during gunnery training at Camp Seven Mile in January 1943. Gable flew five missions in Europe aboard bombers. This photo and others were recently donated to the historical archives at Fairchild Air Force Base, proving once and for all that Gable took training in Spokane for several weeks before shipping out for Europe. (Fairchild Air Force Base archive)

In this 1943 military group photo, movie star Clark Gable, center of the back row, poses with the instructors stationed at Camp Seven Mile, a gunnery camp in an area that is now Riverside State Park. The photo was donated to the Fairchild Air Force Base historical archives by the son of Merrill W. “Bill” Willan, who worked at Camp Seven Mile. (JESSE TINSLEY/THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW)

(via The Spokesman-Review)