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Who Are The Celebrities Who Were Veterans Of The Great War


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No Politicians Please or Generals of the Second World War. Harry Truman excepted, as he was already posted. Only those Vets from the Entertainment, Sports, and the Literary world and or Art and Architecture.

 

The son of Alois Schicklgruber

 

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I guess this is your levity moment :lol:

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world war I nerd

Russian born immigrant Irving Berlin, who is thought to be one of the greatest American song writers of all time, served as a private in the 152nd Depot Brigade at Camp Upton in Long Island, New York.

 

Because of his fame as a song writer, it was a big deal when Berlin was drafted into the U.S. Army ... In fact, one newspaper headline declared "Army Takes Berlin!"

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The American astronomer Edwin Hubble, whom a really big telescope is named after, was one of the preeminent cosmologists of the 20th century. He also joined the U.S. Army and served in the 343d Infantry Regiment of the 86th Infantry Division. He finished the war as a lieutenant colonel.

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The British - American novelist who is best known for his detective fiction, and creating the immortal literary characters Philip Marlowe and Sam Spade, enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Forces and saw combat with the 50th Regiment Gordon Highlanders during the Great War.

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Ronald Coleman, the English actor who became popular during the 1930s and 1940s, also won the Academy Award for best actor in 1947 for the film "A Double Life". He joined the London Scottish Regiment and shipped out for France with the British Expeditionary Force in 1914. Later that year he received a serious shrapnel wound to the ankle, which caused him to be invalided out of the Army in 1915.

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Walter Brennan, the great American character actor won three Academy Awards for best supporting actor in 1936, 1938 and 1940. Prior to his success in Hollywood, when America declared war on Imperial Germany in 1917, Brennan quit his job as a bank clerk and joined the U.S. Army. He served as a private in the 101st Artillery Regiment, 26th Infantry Division.

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The British character actor Nigel Bruce (left), who is probably best remembered as Doctor Watson to Basil Rathbone's Sherlock Holmes also served in the British Army during the Great War. He served as a lieutenant in the 10th Service Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry and the Honorable Artillery Company. He was severely wounded at the battle for Cambrai in 1917, when he was struck in the left leg by no less than 11 bullets!

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The American composer and song writer Cole Porter, moved to Paris just as the U.S. declared war on Imperial Germany in 1917. There he joined the French Foreign Legion. His primary duty was apparently teaching gunnery to American officers at the French Officers' School at Fontainebleau.

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The American actor Randolph Scott was one of Hollywood's leading actors for thirty years. At age 19, before becoming famous on the silver screen, Scott joined the U.S. Army and served overseas in the 2nd Trench Mortar battalion of the 19th Field Artillery Regiment, 5th Infantry Division.

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James Reese Europe was a leading ragtime and jazz bandleader, composer and arranger on the New York music scene during the first decade of the 20th century. During World War I he obtained a commission as a lieutenant in the 15th Infantry Regiment, New York national Guard. The 15th went on to become the 369th Infantry regiment of the 93rd Infantry Regiment. Reese served overseas in France as the band leader of the 369th Infantry Regimental band, which was considered to be the best regimental band in the entire AEF.

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In 1917, at age 23, America's favorite artist Norman Rockwell attempted to join the U.S. Navy. However, because he stood six feet tall and weighed a mere 140 pounds, he failed to meet the Navy's minimum weight requirements as he was 17 pounds underweight! Not one to give up, Rockwell bulked up on a diet of bananas and doughnuts and was eventually accepted into the ranks of the Navy.

 

His first assignment was painting insignias on aero planes. However, he eventually shoved off for Europe, but unfortunately his ship was diverted to South Carolina. Once there he was Shanghaied to be an illustrator for the Charleston Naval Yard's official monthly periodical - "Afloat and Ashore." After serving four months of dutifully illustrating the naval base's rag Rockwell managed to obtain an early special discharge, ahem ... but only after painting a portrait of his commanding officer!

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Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald who is better known as F. Scott Fitzgerald and the author of "The Great Gatsby" dropped out of Princeton University in November of 1917 to join the U.S. Army.

 

After basic training and completing officer candidate school, Fitzgerald was commissioned a 2nd lieutenant in June 1918. He never saw service in France as he spent the remaining five months of the war at Camp Sheridan in Alabama.

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Siegfried Albon Rumann, Deustshe Soldat. Rumann better know as Sig Ruman left Germany in 1924, probably because of the economic troubles then. No idea on unit, of if he was an Lanser of an Offizer, he might of been an officer as he was in University in 1914 studying Electrical Engineering.

 

 

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Here he is in his most remembered role, at least among forum members, the original Sergeant Schulz in Stalag 17.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sig_Ruman

 

 

 

 

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Despite having never played professional hockey, Hobart Amory Hare Baker ... aka "Hobey" Baker, to this day is considered to be America's first born hockey star.

 

While attending St. Paul's High School in New Hampshire, he excelled at hockey. From there he went on to play both football and hockey at Princeton University. He became the captain of the football team and one of the few players who refused to wear a helmet on the field! It was his ability to paly hockey however, for which he gained notoriety. During the three season's he played at Princeton he scored over 120 goals and was credited with 100 assists.

 

After graduating, Hobey joined the St. Nicolas amateur hockey club in New York City. He also turned down a $20,000, three year contract to play for the Montreal Canadians in the National Hockey league. He claimed that one should play for the love of the sport, not for money.

 

In 1916, he joined the Civilian Aviation Corps. After war was declared, Hobey became one of the first Army aviators to sail for France in August 1917. While overseas, he served with the 103rd and 141st Aero Squadrons. By the time the Armistice had been signed he'd been promoted from 2nd lieutenant to captain, ben awarded the Croix de Guerre, and been credited with three confirmed kills.

 

After receiving orders to sail for America in December of 1918, Hobey took his black and orange (the colors of Princeton University) painted airplane for one last spin. Shortly after taking off in heavy rain his engine failed and he crash landed near the aerodrome. Hobey was pulled from the wreckage, but he tragically died at the age of 26 in the ambulance with the orders sending him home still in the pocket of the service coat he wore.

 

Despite having never competed for the Stanley Cup, Hobey Baker was among the first twelve inductess into the Hockey Hall of Fame when it was founded in 1945.

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Director Howard Hawks, in 1941/42 received a Oscar nomination for Best Director for Sergeant York. He was in, he was an Air Cadet, but never got Over There after his training, was sent to Fort Monroe Virginia instead. Hawk was involved with a few of the now classic war films of those years, like the 1930 version of Dawn Patrol, The Road To Glory (About the French Army in the Great War), Air Force, Corvette K-255, and last but not least, I Was a Male War Bride :lol:.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Hawks#Early_film_career

 

 

Here's Hawk with his brother also in the service then, sorry about the small image, it's the only one I could find.

 

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James Joseph "Gene" Tunney became the heavyweight boxing champion from 1926 to 1928, by defeating Jack Dempsey in what is considered to be one of the most famous bouts in all of boxing history.

 

Prior to becoming a champion prize fighter Tunney served as a private in the 13th Marine Regiment during WW I. During his time overseas he distinguished himself by winning the light heavyweight boxing championship for the AEF during the 1919 Inter-Allied Games, thus earning the nickname the "Fighting Marine".

 

In 1926, he was commissioned a 1st Lieutenant in the USMC Reserves. He received both his commission and his sword in front of newspaper reporters on the steps of New York's City Hall. He resigned his commission shorty afterwards, but served as a naval officer during WW II.

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Edward Osterman, aka "William Delaney" was best known as "Edward Eastman" and one of the most notorious gangsters of New York City during the first decade of the 20th century. At the peak of his criminal career, he was in command of a gang of some 1,200 thugs who virtually controlled all of the criminal activity in the lower east side from the Bowery to 14th Street.

 

After serving five years of a ten year sentence for robbery in the Sing Sing correctional facility of New York, Eastman at age 42 decided to try his hand at soldiering. To that end in October of 1917, he enlisted in the New York National Guard which was destined for overseas service in France.

 

As he underwent his physical, the doctors at the recruiting station were shocked at the sight of the numerous scars, which were the result of multiple razor, knife and gunshot wounds accrued during his lengthy criminal career that covered his body from ankle to chest. Assuming that he'd once been a soldier, the doctors inquired where he'd seen service. It was said that he replied, "Oh, just a lot of little private wars around New York."

 

Overseas he served with distinction with the 106th Infantry Regiment of the 27th Division. Upon his discharge from the Army, it was claimed that during his with service with the AEF, the former gangster had been transformed from "hoodlum to hero". However, just two days after Christmas in 1920, Eastman was murdered by a shady Prohibition Agent by the name of Jerry Bohan. Afterwards there was much speculation in the press in respect to his alleged rehabilitation.

 

Two of his military buddies from the 106th paid for his funeral stating that Eastman was a hero and that he deserved to be buried with full military honors ... and so he was.

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Academy Award winning Hollywood film director Victor Fleming is best known for bringing the 1939 epics "Gone With the Wind" and "The Wizard of Oz" to life.

 

During WW I he served overseas in France with the photographic section of the U.S. Army Signal Corps. He was also the chief photographer for President Woodrow Wilson during the Paris Peace Conference in 1919.

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Guglielmo Marconi was an inventor and electrical engineer who is best known for his work on long distance radio transmission. He is frequently credited with being the inventor of the radio as he and Karl Ferdinand Braun shared the 1909 Nobel Peace Prize for Physics for their contribution to the development of wireless telegraphy.

 

As both an Italian Army and Naval officer during WW I he was placed in charge of the Italian Army's radio service. For his service he attained the rank of lieutenant in the Army and commander in the Navy.

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Alexander Fleming is the English bacteriologist who discovered penicillin. For this achievement he was awarded the Nobel peace Prize for medicine in 1945.

 

During WWI he served in the Royal Army Medical Corps in a makeshift lab in Boulogne, France as a bacteriologist, studying wound infections.

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