Celebrities in WWII

Here is an interesting link to a spot called "Actors in WW2", while it isn't completly correct all the time, it is most of the time and is willing to make changes (or is was) when errors are pointed out to them:

Actors in WWII

A great many of these men whom you wouldn't have thought of as veterans, were!

 

I was surprised to see that funny men like Don Knotts and Mel Brooks served, and even Benny Hill in England. We cant forget Glenn Miller, who went mia...

 

Here is one out of left field, I don't think she was a celeb at the time but is famous now:
Julia Childs was in the OSS

Julia Child - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

She was listed in some other thread, but she wasn't really all that involved either. A minor paper pusher in an office, making copies of maps I think. She had tried to enlist in one of the women's auxillary groups, but was rejected because she was too tall. She ended up in the OSS 'cause she really wanted to do something and only they would take her. It isn't like she was "dropping behind enemy lines" or anything. She did come up with a shark repellant (didn't work).

 

Martin Gilbert's book "The Schweinfurt-Regensberg Mission" mentions Jimmy Stewart. Shot down and falling, his words as recorded by the crew of his B-17 on bailing out were "Shithouse mouse! We're goin' down!!!!"

 

Jimmy's my all-time favorite actor. He really was a hero onscreen and off ^^.

 

I think Ian Fleming, Author of James Bond novels, was a real spy in the British OSS during WWII.

Also, the Comedian Jonathan Winters was in the Marines, I believe, but I don't know if he was in WWII.

Audie Murphy became a celebrity/actor ONLY AFTER WWII, when he was the most decorated soldier of WWII, and got a battlefield promotion to 2nd Lt. A skinny little 17 year old kid (I think he was 17 when he joined) from Texas. My father, who was a Lt. in the US Navy during WWII, always said of Audie Murphy "he was in the right place at the right time"... to get all those medals. Luckiest guy in the war, until he got shot in the butt.

It seems that Jimmy Stewart did the most, serving as a Bomber Commander in combat flights over Germany. Going from Private to Full Colonel at end or WWII. Stayed in the Air Force Reserves, promoted to Brig. General in 1959, retired in 1968, then post-retirement promoted to Major General by President Reagan.

US Senator Bob Dole, former US Presidential Candidate, was a Navy Pilot at the end of WWII. I think he got his "bad arm" from injuries from Japanese.

Just read on another site, that the Actor Robert Clary, who played Corporal Louis LeBeau in "Hogan's Heroes" starting in 1965, at age 39, was born in 1926 in France, was Jewish, and was in a Nazi Concentration Camp, from 1942. Buchenwald I think it said. He was the youngest of 14 children, I think it said. He was in camp with many of his siblings, he was the only one to survive, and was thrilled when he found someone them (ones not sent to camp) still alive in Paris after Germans driven out.

Yikes!! I never heard that about Adolf Hitler's nephew serving in the US Navy during WWII. How did they ever let him in? Even if he was born in England, to an Irish mother.

Yeah, can you imagine having served with Mel Brooks on or about the Battle of the Bulge? Either you wanted to love him or shoot him. He must have driven them insane. "Phhhlllpppttt Hiel, Phhhhllllpppttt Hiel.. right in der Fuhrer's face".

Don Knotts was in WWII? I hope he wasn't in charge of any Nitro.

You think maybe Julia Childs could have dropped some poisoned Belgian Waffles over the enemy lines?

 

The man who played Col. Klink was also a Jewish man and wasn't going to take the part until he saw the script that had him looking like a idiot. John Banner made the show worth watching and was IMO the best actor of the bunch!

 

Bob Dole wasn't in the Navy, nor a pilot, nor in the Pacific. He was in Italy, and in the infantry. I'll have to look to find out his unit, but he was injured very early on in his "service life" during the Italian campaign.

And William Patrick Hitler did serve in the US Navy, but ony after extensive research by the FBI and clearence by them to do so. As an interesting ironic twist, the fellow who swore him in had the last name of Hess!

Hermann Goering's nephew also served in the US military, he was a bomber pilot in B-17s. If you look at one of my earlier posts you can find his story. Werner Goering only seemed reluctant with one bombing raid, that was when he was tasked with bombing the city his grandmother still lived in . I believe it was Koln, but that could be wrong without looking for the stuff again, so don't hold me to it.

And just for fun, Childs wasn't in the OSS in any more of a fashion than as a "map clerk", she didn't participate in any covert actions and didn't become a chef until post war. That service in the Far East is where she met the man who became her husband, and became Julia Childs. I forget her maiden name at the moment. She did participate in the development of a "shark repellent" for downed fliers, but it wasn't too successful from what I have read.

Here is a link to a list of most of the actors who served, it isn't always 100% spot-on, but pretty much correct.

Goto:

http://www.jodavidsmeyer.com/combat/military/actors_in_wwii.html#A

There are quite a few of them who were sort of surprising to myself.

 

He might have been confusing the two men Lou, but Bush Sr. didn't have a "bum arm".