What a ride James McEachin’s been on. He was a decorated soldier, fireman, police officer, record producer, successful actor, playwright and award-winning author.
And now, at 91, he sits in a booth at Norm’s Restaurant in Encino last week attacking a baked potato and well-done steak, contemplating his next career move. He’s leaning toward teaching.
If you owned a TV set in the 1970s, you probably remember McEachin. He was everywhere on the small screen, including being the first black actor to have his own television show, “Tenafly” in 1973. It was one of three revolving shows on NBC’s Wednesday Mystery Movie series, and lasted only one season – four episodes.
The country wasn’t ready for an African-American private eye who was happily married, hated violence, and didn’t chase after beautiful women. The show bombed, but the actor was in hot demand.
McEachin went on to appear in more than 150 television shows, including recurring roles on the “Rockford Files” and “Columbo,” as well as roles in big budget movies, like “True Grit,” with his friend John Wayne.
It’s an impressive body of work he’s captured compellingly in his new memoir, “Swing Low, My Sweet Charity,” a great read available on Amazon.
He’s played good guys, bad guys, winners and losers, but the role he cherished the most came well before his fame did. It was his first job, and he needed his mother’s signature to get it.
“When I saw those signs saying ‘Uncle Sam Wants You,’ I swear I thought that bony index finger of his was pointing right at me,” McEachin says. It was.
He joined the Army and served in the Korean War. The Silver Star he was awarded for bravery and the Purple Heart for his wounds are worth more to him than any Emmy or Oscar ever could be, he says.
The longtime Encino resident is featured in all four episodes of the excellent series “American Veteran,” now airing on PBS, and its podcast and digital video platforms. Go to pbs.com for more information.
The medals were awarded for a suicide mission no one wanted. A mortally-wounded soldier had been tied down by the enemy, spread-eagle, to the side of a hill in full view. There was no way King Company was going to leave him there like that. McEachin’s squad volunteered to bring his body back.
It was a trap. The men were picked off one by one. McEachin was wounded twice, in the leg and gut. He crawled to help his squad leader who was pinned down under fire, but by the time he reached him, he was dead, and so were all the others. McEachin kept fighting.
Another blast landed near him and he passed out. When he woke up the battlefield was silent and he was lying face up in a creek bleeding badly – his fatigue jacket full of holes and his leg shot up. He couldn’t move. This is where I will die, he thought.
Out of the bushes, a big, blond haired soldier in Army fatigues came walking toward him. He didn’t recognize the soldier, what was he doing there? Had he hid during the fight or just arrived? McEachin never found out.
“For two days, he carried me on his back across the countryside, evading enemy troops,” McEachin said. “Finally, we reached a forward aid station and I was placed on a litter and prepped for evacuation.
“I never got his name and he never got mine. I still think about him often.”
The acting roles had pretty much dried up when I first met McEachin in 2005. He was a 75-year-old man sitting in a VA waiting room with 20 other veterans — all an hour past their appointment time to see a doctor.
No one recognized him, but he recognized them. He looked around the waiting room, smiling and nodding at each veteran.
“They probably think I’m nuts for staring at them, but I can’t help it,” McEachin said. “I’ve just got so much respect for them. They’ve all contributed so much to this country. These are the guys who inspired me.”
He became a US Army Reserve Ambassador, speaking to thousands of people every year, paying tribute to the American veteran. He wrote books about them, produced one-man plays, and appeared in PBS documentaries like the “American Veteran.”
And now, he’s ready for another job. “There are so many kids out there who have never had the opportunity to meet a veteran, and learn what they’ve meant to this country. I’d like to teach them that history.”
Uncle Sam still needs James McEachin.
Dennis McCarthy’s column runs on Sunday. He can be reached at dmccarthynews@gmail.com.