George Erwin Diestel Jr.

PVT in 603rd Engineer Camouflage Bn : Co C

ASN#16100281

Born 1921 in IL, Died 1994

Artist

County of residence at enlistment: Cook County, IL

Other residence(s): Chicago, IL; New York, NY; Hollywood, CA; Angola, IN

United States Army, European Theatre of Operations

Occupation before the war: commercial artists

College education before the war: Chicago Art Institute 3 years

College education after the war: American Academy of Dramatic Arts

Notes: promoted to T/5; co messenger; TV actor; scenic artist; Sound of Music

Source: 603rd Camouflage Engineer Roster provided by W. Anderson; Comment by Howard Holt; Rick Beyer; Company C roster; bio info from The Ghost Army by Beyer/Sayles; Fort Meade clipping from Harold Dahl; photo from Belisario Contreras Collection, GALP Archive

George Diestel was born in Chicago, Illinois on April 12, 1921.

He was interested in art, and pursued his studies at the Art Institute of Chicago.

At the time he was drafted, in February 1942, he was working at the Meyercord Company, a Chicago company that specialized in advertising signage, with an extensive client list that included many breweries.

When he enlisted in the Army on August 12, 1942, he stated that he had three years of college and that he was working as a commercial artist.

In an interview many years later, George said of his Ghost Army compatriots that "it was the greatest group of men that I've ever met in my life." He also wryly described the work he did in the Ghost Army: “The trouble with camouflage is you really never know if it works, because you just simply don’t get bombed. You only know if it doesn’t work.”

After the war he moved to New York where he graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1947. After that he appeared for some years in summer stock, gradually earning his way into radio, TV, movies, and a couple of Broadway plays.

In the mid-1950s, he relocated to the Los Angeles area. He appeared in a number of well-known movies and TV shows in the 1950s and 1960s, including films such as Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and TV shows such as Highway Patrol, Kraft Suspense Theatre, GE Theatre, Sergeant Preston of the Yukon, You Are There, Gangbusters, and Studio One.

At about the same time, he and his long-time partner Roy G. Gunther started spending the summer, or part of it, at Buck Lake Ranch, near Angola, Indiana. George's sister, Eleanor Smythe, and her husband, Harry, had bought the land and built a country music center starting in 1947. Every famous country star of the time performed there, including Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Johnny Cash, June Carter Cash, Merle Haggard, Dolly Parton, and Tammy Wynette. George painted murals of the Old West in the ranch's Western Pioneer Town, and acted in a number of productions. He was there until at least 1963.

At some point he combined his interests in art and acting, and moved into set design, working for many years as a scenery artist for Universal.

Throughout the 1960s he also performed in local theatre productions in Sherman Oaks, Pasadena (where he appeared with Dianne Ladd), Hollywood, and elsewhere. In one interesting role, in an example of art imitating life imitating art, he appeared in a production of Reclining Figure in Hollywood as an expert in the art world.

He died on November 30, 1994 in Sherman Oaks, CA.