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Obi Wan Kenobi Took On the Third Reich and Other Lesser Known World War II Facts

Khalid Elhassan September 14, 2022 38 min

KRT ENTERTAINMENT STORY SLUGGED: OSCARS-COUNTDOWN KRT PHOTOGRAPH VIA ZAP2IT.COM (November 21) Alec Guinness, who played Colonel Nicholson in the 1957 Academy Award-winning war drama "The Bridge on the River Kwai," won the Oscar for Best Actor for his role in the film. (ZP) NC KD 2002 (Horiz B&W Only) (lde)

After WWII, Obi Wan Kenobi Almost Became a Priest

WWII - Alec Guinness, in the middle of the middle row, third from right and left, with his landing craft and crew — Alec Guinness, in the middle of the middle row, third from right and left, with his landing craft and crew. Star Wars

Alec Guinness 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. There, they began to train for the Allied invasion of Sicily. On July 9^th, 1943 he took 200 men to land on Passaro, Sicily. However, because of a communications breakdown, he was not informed that the invasion had been delayed. So his craft arrived on the beach alone and disembarked its troops an hour early.

Later, he landed troops on the island of Elba, and in the Normandy invasion. He also ferried agents and supplies to the Yugoslav partisans. 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’ WWII experiences led him to contemplate becoming a priest. Fortunately for the stage and film and millions of viewers worldwide, he decided to continue his thespian career, which he resumed after his demobilization.

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.