8. This Comedy Star Had a Hairy Job Clearing Mines
Mel Brooks had a hairy job, made even hairier when he had to do it while exposed to German fire. As the future star described it to Conan O’Brien on his show: “You take a bayonet, and you look for mines – planted mines. And they could blow a tank, I mean they’re big. … You find them, unearth them … if it could blow up a tank, it could certainly take away a Jew in no time“. On at least five occasions, Brooks’ unit had to put down their tools and pick up rifles to fight as infantrymen and took casualties as they did so. He also fought in the Battle of the Bulge during the winter of 1944-1945.
When he recalled his WWII experience decades later, Brooks observed that: “War isn’t hell. War is loud. Much too noisy. All those shells and bombs going off all around you. Never mind death. A man could lose his hearing“. He distilled his wartime experience to its essence when asked what he thought during the war about saving Europe and the world: “You thought about how you were going to stay warm that night. How you were going to get from one hedgerow to another without a German sniper taking you out. You didn’t worry about tomorrow“.
