Was Mr. Rogers a Marine Sniper / Navy Seal?
Dear Urban Legends: I’ve been listening to the radio today, and a couple of speakers made mention of the “fact” that Mr. Rogers was a Marine sharpshooter; some even said he’s supposed to have had something like 150 “kills” in the Vietnam War. I don’t think that can be true, because I think he was on TV during the war — in any case, he would have likely been too old to serve in Vietnam. I was wondering if you’d heard the story, whether it — or any part of it — was true. Dear Reader: Unless all the biographical information that exists about him is wrong, Fred McFeely Rogers never served in the military in any capacity, let alone as a Marine sniper (or Navy Seal, as another version of this apocryphal story claims). Some cynical folks may be loathe to believe that the gentle, soft-spoken host of “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood” was exactly what he seemed, but he was. Rumors to the contra
