10/12/2026
Millions knew him as the steady lawman of Dodge City. Fewer knew the young Purple Heart recipient who brought Anzio home with him.
Before he became Marshal Matt Dillon, James Arness was a rifleman with 3rd Infantry Division in Italy. At 6'7", he was among the first sent off his landing craft at Anzio in January 1944, ordered ahead to test the depth of the water for the men behind him.
In the fighting that followed on the beachhead, machine-gun fire badly injured his right leg, ending his military service.
Arness' leg never fully healed. He lived with chronic pain that sometimes became more severe while he was mounted on horses during his performances on "Gunsmoke."