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40 Insights into the Lives of Famous War Veterans

Khalid Elhassan July 13, 2019 26 min

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.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.