← Back to the front page

40 Insights into the Lives of Famous War Veterans

Khalid Elhassan July 13, 2019 26 min

5. Johnny Carson, WWII US Navy Vet

Johnny Carson in the Navy and later in life. Pintrest

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.

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.