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Offbeat Warfare Facts that Will Confound History Buffs

Khalid Elhassan February 15, 2021 36 min

Consolidated B-24 Liberator - Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress — Staff Sgt. Alan E. Magee poses for the camera halfway into his ball turret. Historic Wings

16. A Comedian in WWII’s US Navy

Leonard Alfred Schneider, stage name Lenny Bruce (1925 -1966), was an edgy standup comedian whose routines combined satire, politics, religion, sex, and vulgarity. Born in Mineola, NY, to Jewish parents, Lenny lived a chaotic childhood after his parents divorced. Raised in the homes of various relatives after the divorce, he saw little of his father, but was strongly influenced by his mother, a stage performer. He became a poster boy for freedom of speech after prosecutors persecuted him with obscenity charges, of which he was convicted in 1964.

Lenny Bruce’s mugshots after one of his arrests. National Public Radio

However, before his meteoric career, Lenny Bruce had turned serious after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and hurried to serve his country in WWII. Early in 1942, soon after America joined the war, sixteen-year-old Lenny lied about his age in order to enlist in the US Navy. He was assigned to the light cruiser USS Brooklyn. Lenny saw combat in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, as the Brooklyn was tasked with convoy escort and fire support for amphibious landings.

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.