In 1951, Eastwood was drafted by the United States Army. Allegedly, he avoided being sent into combat in the Korean War by romancing the daughter of an officer, and was instead appointed as a lifeguard and swimming instructor at Ford Ord, California. Those sharp swimming skills were to save his life when he was returning from a weekend visit to his parents aboard a Douglas AD bomber. The aircraft ran out of fuel and crash landed in the ocean about three miles from shore. Firmly reasserting his status as a badass, he swam those three miles to safety and survived. "I thought I might die," he said upon reflection, "but then I thought 'other people have made it through these things before'. I kept my eyes on the lights on shore and kept swimming." After his ordeal, he was probably feeling pretty lucky, punk.
