<P> His father, Valteris P. Bučinskis, who later adjusted his name to Walter Buchinsky to sound more "American", was from Druskininkai in southern Lithuania . Bronson's mother, Mary (née Valinsky), whose parents were from Lithuania, was born in the coal mining town of Tamaqua, Pennsylvania . The family had Lipka Tatar roots . </P> <P> Bronson learned to speak English when he was a teenager; before that, he spoke Lithuanian and Russian . </P> <P> Bronson was the first member of his family to graduate from high school . When Bronson was 10 years old, his father died and he went to work in the coal mines, first in the mining office and then in the mine . He later said he earned one dollar for each ton of coal that he mined . He worked in the mine until he entered military service during World War II . His family was so poor that, at one time, he had to wear his sister's dress to school for lack of clothing . </P> <P> In 1943, Bronson enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces and served in the 760th Flexible Gunnery Training Squadron, and in 1945 as a Boeing B - 29 Superfortress aerial gunner with the Guam - based 61st Bombardment Squadron within the 39th Bombardment Group, which conducted combat missions against the Japanese home islands . He flew 25 missions and received a Purple Heart for wounds received in battle . </P>

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