40 Insights into the Lives of Famous War Veterans

39. Yogi Berra fought on D-Day

Yogi Berra was signed up by the Yankees in 1942, but he interrupted his career to serve in the US Navy, and wound up as a gunner’s mate aboard the USS Bayfield, an attack transport. On D-Day, June 6^th, 1944, Berra served on detached duty aboard a Navy rocket boat, lobbing missiles and firing machine guns at German positions on Omaha Beach. He was also sent to Utah Beach, to support the GIs there. Berra’s craft came under enemy fire, but luckily for him and for baseball, he escaped injury.

38. YOGI BERRA ENJOYED D-DAY

Yogi Berra was 19 at D-Day, and he relished the adventure. As he described it decades later: “Being a young guy, you didn’t think nothing of it until you got in it. And so we went off 300 yards off beach. We protect the troops. If they ran into any trouble, we would fire the rockets over. We had a lead boat that would fire one rocket. If it hits the beach, then everybody opens up. We could fire one rocket if we wanted to, or we could fire off 24 or them, 12 on each side. We stretched out 50 yards apart. And that was the invasion. Nothing happened to us. That’s one good thing. Our boat could go anywhere, though. We were pretty good, flat bottom, 36-footer“.

37. Yogi Berra shot down an airplane… an American one.

Yogi Berra’s craft lingered off Normandy after D-Day, furnishing further support to the expanding Allied beachhead there. The Luftwaffe could do little to disrupt the the Allied effort, but what little it did was enough to make people jumpy. Naval vessels off the beachhead were instructed to fire on any airplane that flew below a certain height, so Berra and his crew mates shot down a plane that appeared suddenly below the clouds. Unfortunately, it turned out to be American. Luckily for the pilot, he bailed out, and was fished out of the water by Berra’s boat.

36. George Patton had a scandal worse than slapping soldiers

General George S. Patton’s best known controversy occurred during the Sicilian Campaign, when he accused a PTSD-suffering soldier in a hospital of cowardice, slapped him around, and threatened to shoot him. Then did it again a few days later in another hospital. When the scandal broke, it nearly got Patton cashiered. However, had a worse, but lesser known scandal, in which he got dozens of GIs killed for personal reasons. It happened in late March, 1945, when Patton ordered Task Force Baum, comprised of 314 men, 16 tanks, and dozens of other vehicles, to penetrate 50 miles behind German lines and liberate a POW camp, which housed Patton’s son in law.

35. FDR’s death saved Patton

Task Force Baum’s raid ended catastrophically: all tanks and vehicles were lost, and only 35 men made it back, with the rest being killed or captured. Eisenhower, was furious at Patton’s misuse of military personnel and assets for personal reasons, and reprimanded him. In light of his valuable services, however, Eisenhower declined to punish Patton beyond the reprimand. A reporter got wind of the scandal, however, and when the story first broke in a major publication on April 12^th, 1945, it would have wrecked Patton under normal circumstances. However, FDR died that same day, and his demise eclipsed all other news. The scandal got little traction, and when Patton died a few months later, the story became a mere historic footnote.

34. Ernest Borgnine, US Navy Vet

Ernest Borgnine (1917 – 2012), helped by his endearing gap toothed smile, earned a place as one of Hollywood’s most beloved character actors. He had notable supporting roles in movies such as From Here to Eternity, China Corsair, and The Wild Bunch, and won a Best Actor Oscar for his lead in 1955’s Marty. He also had TV success in the 1980s’ series Airwolf, and the 1960s’ McHale’s Navy. His success playing US Navy Commander McHale in the TV series was owed in no small part to the fact that, in real life, Borgnine had spent a decade in the Navy.

33. Borgnine went from vegetable seller to vet

After graduating high school in 1935, Ernest Borgnine was selling vegetables on the street when he saw a Navy recruitment poster, and decided being a sailor seemed more interesting than his current occupation. He enlisted, and ended up aboard the destroyer/ minesweeper USS Lamberton, until his honorable discharge in October of 1941. A few months later, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, and Borgnine reenlisted soon thereafter. He spent WWII patrolling the Atlantic coast aboard the USS Sylph, on antisubmarine duty, until his discharge in 1945 as a Gunner’s Mate, 1^st Class.

32. Kirk Douglas was a WWII Navy Vet

Aged 102 at the time of this writing in 2019, actor, producer, writer, and philanthropist Kirk Douglas (1916 – ) is one of the last surviving Hollywood Golden Age stars. He made his Hollywood debut in 1946’s Strange Love of Martha Ivers, became a breakout star in 1949 with Champion, and cemented his place in movie history with 1960’s Spartacus, which he produced and starred in. Along the way he accumulated 3 Oscar nomination, won an Oscar for Lifetime Achievement, and was awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom. Before the fame, however, Douglas had fought in the US Navy during WWII.

31. Kirk Douglas ended up in the navy after getting rejected by the Air Force

Born Issur Danielovitch, the future star caught the acting bug in kindergarten, when he recited a poem, and reveled in the audience’s applause. Unable to afford college, he talked a dean into letting him attend St. Lawrence University’s drama program, in exchange for working on campus as a janitor and gardener. After graduation, he got into stage acting, and had barely started getting himself established in the theater, when WWII broke out. He tried to join the Army Air Forces, but when the airmen turned him down, he joined the Navy in late 1941.

30. Kirk Douglas was seriously injured in WWII

Kirk Douglas attended the US Navy’s midshipman school in Notre Dame, and upon graduation, he was commissioned an ensign. He was sent to the Pacific Theater, where he served as a communications officer aboard USS PC-1137, a submarine chaser. He spent most of 1942 and 1943 hunting Japanese submarines, and while doing that, Douglas suffered severe internal injuries when a depth charge exploded prematurely. He spent months in a hospital, before he was medically discharged in 1944.

29. Lee Marvin looked and acted like a badass, because he’d been one in real life

Lee Marvin is best known for his breakout performance in the TV series M Squad, and for his starring roles in the Hollywood blockbusters Hell in the Pacific, The Dirty Dozen, and the Western comedy Cat Ballou, which earned him an Oscar for Best Actor in 1965. Before that, he had been a front line WWII US Marine. Born in New York City, Marvin was a problem child who went on to become a problematic teenage delinquent. He liked hunting and drinking, often both at the same time, and kept getting expelled from various schools for trespasses ranging from smoking to throwing other students out of second story windows.

28. Lee Marvin, the Leatherneck

Lee Marvin dropped out of high school during WWII to join the Marines, then spent the next few years storming beaches. His courage was counterbalanced by orneriness and defiance of authority, so he kept bouncing through the ranks, getting promoted to corporal before getting busted back down to private. He was wounded in the Battle of Saipan, first by Japanese machine gun fire, then by a Japanese sniper who shot his foot. It took him a year to recover. After WWII, he moved to Hollywood, where his combat experience made him a sought after war consultant, and lent authenticity to his acting. He excelled in roughneck roles because he had been a roughneck in real life, with a mean streak that made his malevolent and tough guy characters ring true.

27. Jimmy Stewart, Star and Vet

James “Jimmy” Stewart excelled in portraying middle class American men, diffident and resolute of character, as they struggled with crises. He appeared in over 80 movies, including notable performances in the Christmas standby It’s a Wonderful Life, as well as Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Vertigo, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. He was nominated for five Oscars, and won Best Actor for his role in 1940’s Philadelphia Story. He got another Oscar in 1985 for Lifetime Achievement. Less known about him is that he was a WWII vet.

26. Jimmy Stewart left Hollywood to join the Air Force

When America joined WWII, Jimmy Stewart was an established star. It would have been easy to avoid service – e.g.; John Wayne – or secure a safe gig that allowed him to be seen in uniform while staying away from danger – e.g.; Ronald Reagan. But Stewart’s grandfather had fought against the South, and his father had fought against Spain and Germany. So when war came along, Stewart signed up. He had been drafted in 1940, but was medically rejected for being underweight. However, Stewart was a flight enthusiast with a pilot’s certificate, and over 400 hours flying when the war began. He managed to join the Army Air Forces in 1941, despite being underweight, and was commissioned a second lieutenant.

25. Jimmy Stewart avoided cushy gigs and deliberately sought combat

Higher ups sought to shunt Jimmy Stewart into PR and use him in bonds drives. Stewart, however, wanted to fight. After many clashes, he managed a transfer to a B-24 heavy bomber group, which joined the US Eighth Air Force in Britain in autumn of 1943. On December 13^th, 1943, Stewart flew his first combat mission, piloting the lead B-24 of the group’s high squadron as they bombed U-boat facilities in Kiel, Germany. A few days later, he flew lead bomber for the entire group as it bombed Bremen. By February, 1944, Stewart had been promoted to major, and was awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross. The following month, he led an entire Bomb Wing during a raid on Berlin.

24. Jimmy Stewart ended up as an Air Force General

In March of 1944, Jimmy Stewart became operations officer for a newly formed bomb group, an assignment that meant he was not required to fly combat missions. However, Stewart sought to inspire and encourage his new unit by personally piloting the lead B-24 on a number of raids deep into the Third Reich, and served as a crewman on other missions. His actions earned him a second Distinguished Flying Cross, a French Croix de Guerre, an Air Medal with three oakleaf clusters, and other decorations. Stewart resumed acting after the war, but served in the Air Force Reserves. In subsequent years, he was certified to pilot B-36 Peacemakers, B-47 Stratojets, and B-52 Stratofortresses. He retired in 1969, with the rank of brigadier general.

23. Obi Wan Kennobi (Sir Alec Guinness) was a Royal Navy Veteran

One of Britain’s greatest stage and film actors, Sir Alec Guinness (1914 – 2000) began his career in the theater at age 20, while still a drama student, and by age 22, he had attracted attention as a Shakespearean actor. In subsequent decades, he had an Oscar winning performance in 1957’s Bridge on the River Kwai, as well as notable performances in Great Expectations and Oliver Twist in the 1940s, and Doctor Zhivago and Lawrence of Arabia in the 1960s. He is perhaps best known today as Obi Wan Kenobi of the Star Wars trilogy – which he, ironically, thought was tripe. Less known is that he was a British Royal Navy WWII veteran.

22. Alec Guinness launched the invasion of Sicily an hour early

In 1941, Alec Guinness enlisted in the Royal Navy Reserves, and was commissioned a naval officer the following year. He was ordered to Boston in 1943 to take charge of his first command, a freshly built landing craft. He sailed his ship and new crew across the Atlantic to North Africa, where they began training for the Allied invasion of Sicily. On July 9^th, 1943 he took 200 men to land on Passaro, Sicily, but due to a communications breakdown, was not apprised that the landing had been delayed. So Guinness arrived on the beach alone, and disembarked his troops an hour early.

21. Guinness’ wartime service combined acting with clandestine missions

After the invasion of Sicily, Guinness landed troops on the island of Elba, and Normandy. He also ferried British agents and supplies to Tito’s partisans in Yugoslavia. During the war, he was allowed a leave of absence to appear onstage in the play Flare Path, about the RAF’s Bomber Command. Guinness’ wartime experiences led him to contemplate becoming a priest, but fortunately for the stage and film and millions of fans, he decided to continue his acting career.

20. George Washington saved the revolution by crossing the Delaware River

Washington Crossing the Delaware is perhaps the most iconic image of the American Revolution. As 1776 drew to a close, the Patriots’ bid for independence had not been going well. They had been outgeneralled, outfought, and soundly drubbed. Morale was low, so Washington planned a daring raid to score a quick victory and restore some confidence. From his base in Pennsylvania, he would cross the nearly frozen Delaware River, to suddenly descend upon and destroy Hessian forces on the opposite bank, in Trenton, New Jersey.

19. George Washington crossed the Delaware while cracking jokes

Less known about Washington’s crossing the Delaware is that he did so while cracking jokes, as his cold, hungry, and demoralized men clambered into boats on a freezing night, made even more miserable by driving sleet. When it was Washington’s turn, he looked at Henry Knox, his overweight artillery chief, and said: “Shift your fat ass, Harry! But don’t swamp the damn boat!” Not comedy gold, but any levity from George Washington in public, especially on such a serious occasion, was highly unusual. At first, the men were stunned, and stood staring at each other in disbelief. Then somebody chuckled. Before long, contagious laughter rippled through the force, as Washington’s comment was spread and repeated. With their spirits lifted, the Revolutionaries crossed the river, and fell upon the enemy in Trenton, killing, wounding, and capturing about a thousand men, for the loss of only two dead and five wounded.

18. David Niven was a Sandhurst graduate

David Niven was a popular character actor, who won a Best Actor Oscar for his role in the 1958 movie Separate Tables. He also won acclaim for his roles as Phileas Fogg in Around the World in Eighty Days, as The Phantom in the Pink Panther, and as a squadron leader in A Matter of Life and Death. Born into Britain’s upper class, Niven’s antics in school got him expelled at age 10. That doomed his chances for getting into Eton, the elite private school his parents had hoped to send him to. So they sent him to the era’s dumping ground for unpromising scions of Britain’s elite, the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, from which he graduated in 1930.

17. Niven quit the military to try his hand at acting

David Niven resigned his commission after two years years in the military, and left for Hollywood. He got a series of bit parts during the 1930s, but just when he seemed to be on the verge of breaking out, WWII broke out first. Returning home, Niven rejoined the British army as a lieutenant in a motor training battalion. Craving more excitement, he transferred to the Commandos, and was assigned to the GHQ Liaison Regiment – a special reconnaissance unit known as the Phantom Signals Unit. However, to take advantage of his acting experience, the authorities temporarily detached Niven to the Army Film Unit, where he acted in two war movies.

16. Niven served with the British Commandos

In 1944, Niven served in Normandy to locate and report German positions, and liaise with commanders in the rear to apprise them of frontline conditions. Notwithstanding his reputation as a great storyteller and exceptional raconteur, Niven remained tight-lipped about his wartime experiences until his dying day, and was contemptuous of those who glorified their service. As he once put it: “I was asked by some American friends to search out the grave of their son near Bastogne. I found it where they told me I would, but it was among 27,000 others, and I told myself that here, Niven, were 27,000 reasons why you should keep your mouth shut after the war.”

15. Comedian Lenny Bruce fought in the US Navy in WWII

Lenny Bruce (1925 -1966) popularized edgy comic routines that combined satire, politics, religion, sex, and vulgarity. Growing up, he saw little of his father, but was strongly influenced by his mother, a stage performer. He eventually became a poster boy for freedom of speech after prosecutors persecuted him with obscenity charges, of which he was convicted in 1964. But before his meteoric comic career, Lenny Bruce had served his country in WWII.

14. Lenny Bruce Lied about his age to enlist

Bruce’s wartime service began in early 1942, when 16 year old Lenny lied about his age to join the US Navy. He was assigned to the light cruiser USS Brooklyn, and saw combat in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean while providing convoy escort. The Brooklyn also provided fire support for amphibious landings, including the Torch landings in North Africa, the invasion of Sicily, the Anzio landing, and Operation Dragoon, the Allied landings in southern France.

13. Having lied to get into the Navy, Lenny Bruce lied to get out

As the war drew to a close, Lenny grew bored with the Navy. A slapstick performance in which he dressed in drag upset his officers, and that gave him an idea: he checked into the Brooklyn’s sick bay to report that he was feeling gay. He described having been normal when he joined the Navy, but his shipmates gave him “abnormal attention”, including feeling his body and kissing him. As a result, he became attracted to some of his comrades. The medical officer reported to the captain that 19 year old Lenny was suppressing homosexual tendencies, but the desire and temptation kept getting stronger. The Navy sent him for a psychiatric evaluation because he had “a tremendous amount of homosexual drive“.

12. Lenny Bruce’s ruse worked, and made its way to M*A*S*H

Naval shrinks noted that Lenny Bruce was the kind of homosexual who could adjust to heterosexual relations, and concluded that if he remained aboard a ship filled with men, he would “eventually give way to the performance of homosexual acts“. The Brooklyn’s captain concurred, and wrote that Lenny might give in at any moment to an explosion of homosexuality, that was “potentially dangerous socially” to his ship. He urged prompt action, before Bruce engaged in “scandalous action [causing] discredit to the ship in particular and to the naval service in general“. Bruce got his discharge. His ruse became the inspiration for Corporal Klinger, the cross-dressing M*A*S*H character desperate to get kicked out of the Army for being gay.

11. Clark Gable quit Hollywood and helped bomb Germany

Clark Gable, once known as “The King of Hollywood”, quit school at age 16 to work in a tire factory, then tired of that and decided to become an actor after seeing a play. He starred in over 60 movies, and is perhaps best known for his role as Rhett Butler in the blockbuster Gone With the Wind. He also he won a Best Actor Oscar for his lead in It Happened One Night. When America entered WWII, Gable was Hollywood’s biggest star, as well as it biggest box office draw. That didn’t stop him from taking a break from acting, to fight the Axis.

10. Gable’s decision to enlist and go to war was as romantic as anything from a movie

Clark Gable was MGM’s biggest earner when America joined WWII. Following his wife’s death in an air crash while returning from a war bonds tour, a devastated Gable decided to enlist. Despite MGM’s reluctance to let its most lucrative star go, he joined the Army Air Forces in 1942, with the hope of becoming an aerial gunner. He was sent instead to Officer Candidate School, and was commissioned a 2nd lieutenant. On personal orders from the Air Forces’ chief, general Hap Arnold, Gable was sent to the Eighth Air Force in England and tasked with making a combat recruitment film for aerial gunners.

9. Gable duked it out with the Luftwaffe in B-17s over Germany

To obtain footage for his recruitment film, Clark Gable flew five combat missions as a B-17 gunner in 1943, including a bombing raid into Germany. His presence in the missions was for propaganda and PR purposes, but the dangers were all too real: during one mission, his B-17 lost an engine and had its stabilizer damaged after it was hit by antiaircraft fire and was attacked by fighters. Over Germany, two of his B-17’s crew were wounded, another was killed after being struck by flak, and shrapnel went through Gable’s boot and almost took off his head.

8. Gable’s studio went behind his back to yank him out of combat

Gable’s brushes with death alarmed the folk at MGM, who had no wish to lose their most valuable actor. So the studio worked its connections to have Gable reassigned to noncombat duty. The star actor was awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross and an Air Medal, and in late 1943, he was ordered back to the US to edit the film. Gable hoped for another combat assignment, but none came, and by the summer of 1944, he finally gave up and requested to be relieved from active duty. He stayed in the Air Forces reserves until 1947, when he finally resigned his commission.

7. The world’s most famous mime was also a French Resistance hero

Marcel Marceau was the world’s most famous mime. Before becoming world famous, however, Marceau spent most of WWII in hiding, and working for the French Resistance. His father, a Jewish butcher, had fled from the Nazi invasion in 1940, but was captured, and died in Auschwitz. Marcel moved to Paris with a new name and forged identity papers, and adopting the surname “Marceau” after a French Revolutionary War general, joined the Resistance.

6. Miming came in handy for Marcel Marceau in WWII

Marcel Marceau’s underground activities included rescuing Jewish children from German clutches, and smuggling them to safety. His talent for miming – a career to which he had aspired ever since he first saw a Charlie Chaplain movie at age five – came in handy to distract and quiet the children as he smuggled them past German guards to safety in Switzerland. After the Allies landed in France, he gave his first major performance before an audience of 3000 troops in recently-liberated Paris. He then joined the Free French army for the remainder of the war. His talent for languages and near fluency in English and German led to his appointment as a liaison officer with Patton’s Third US Army.

5. Johnny Carson, WWII US Navy Vet

Johnny Carson, host of The Tonight Show from 1962 to 1992, had a talent for reeling them in since early childhood. At age 12, bought a mail-order magician’s kit, and started doing tricks to entertain family and friends. His favorite were card tricks, and he took to following people around with a deck of cards, while pestering them to “pick a card. Any card” – which became a signature expression on TV. For decades, he was one of the best known American. Less known about him is that he was a also a WWII US Navy veteran.

4. Johnny Carson joined the Navy when he was 17

Johnny Carson joined the US Navy in 1943, aged 17. He wanted to become a pilot, but the Navy had other ideas. After completing the Navy College Training Program, he was commissioned an ensign in 1945, and then sent to the Pacific Theater, where he was assigned to the battleship USS Pennsylvania as a communications officer. Carson also took up amateur boxing while in the Navy, and ran up a 10-0 record, with most of the matches taking place aboard the Pennsylvania.

3. Johnny Carson joined the war just in time to scrape up dead bodies from his ship

Johnny Carson was en route to the combat zone in August of 1945 when the war ended. He saw no combat, but did its aftermath: the Pennsylvania had been torpedoed two days before he joined the ship. The damaged vessel sailed to Guam for repairs, and as the newest and most junior officer, Carson was tasked with the removal of 20 dead sailors. Reminiscing about his naval experience, Carson thought that the highlight of his naval career was performing a card trick for James Forrestal, the notoriously cantankerous Secretary of the Navy. Forrestal was amused, and the realization that he could entertain somebody so crabby was a major boost to Carson’s self confidence.

2. Josephine Baker was a French Resistance Heroine

Josephine Baker, AKA the “Creole Goddess”, “Black Pearl”, and “Bronze Venus”, was recruited by French military intelligence when WWII began. In the 1930s, she had voiced support for Mussolini’s invasion of Ethiopia, so when the Axis overran Franc in 1940, they assumed she was sympathetic to their cause. They were mistaken. Taking advantage of the occupiers’ trust, Baker exploited her fame to charm Axis officials at social gatherings to collect information. As an international entertainer, she had an excuse to travel, and she did, smuggling coded messages, written in invisible ink on her music sheets, between the French Resistance and the Allies.

1. Josephine Baker earned a military funeral for her WWII exploits

Josephine Baker also hid fugitives in her home, supplying them with fake IDs and visas. Later in the war, she joined the French Women’s Auxiliary Air Force, in which she was commissioned as a lieutenant, and also performed for Allied troops. In recognition of her wartime exploits and contributions to France, she was named a Chevalier of the Legion d’honeur by Charles de Gaulle, and was awarded the Croix de Guerre and the Medal of Resistance with Rosette. Upon her death in 1975, Baker became the first American woman buried with military honors in France, including a gun salute.

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Where Did We Find This Stuff? Some Sources and Further Reading

Alter Net, December 28^th, 2018 – Josephine Baker‘s Secret Life as a WWII Spy

Bronx Pinstripes – On This Day in History: Yogi Berra Takes Part in D-Day

Cooper Toons – Did George Washington Really Tell Henry Knox to ‘Shift That Fat Ass’?

Defense Media Network – Actor Clark Gable Served in Uniform, Flew Combat Missions in WWII

Encyclopedia Britannica – David Niven

History Net – Mr. Stewart Goes to War

Military Dot Com – Famous Veterans: Ernest Borgnine

Military Dot Com – Famous Veterans: Johnny Carson

Ranker – The Most Beloved US Veterans

Reel Rundown – Kirk Douglas: 9 Amazing Things About Hollywood‘s Favorite ‘Spartacus’

Smithsonian Magazine, March 22^nd, 2017 – The Mime Who Saved Kids From the Holocaust

Smoking Gun – Lenny Bruce‘s Gay Naval Ruse

Task Force Baum – The Hammelburg Raid

Vintage News – More Than 30 Years Before ‘Star Wars’, Sir Alec Guinness Was a WWII Landing Craft Hero

We Are the Mighty – Patton Once Sent 300 Men to Rescue His Son-in-Law From a Nazi Prison

Wikipedia – Lee Marvin

Wikipedia – Yogi Berra