Just a friendly reminder of the November 11 Remembrance Day ceremonies.
Here’s a photo of James Doohan, 22nd Field Battery, 13th Field Regiment RCA of the Canadian 3rd Infantry Division. He was part of the famous D-Day landings of June 1944.
You can read more about here:
https://www.junobeach.org/canada-in-wwii/articles/james-doohan/
I’ve been watching TOS with my wife over the past year slowly as we know there are not that many episodes from this period. Every time I watch, I have my laptop and I do a bit of research on the actors and trivia about the episode.
There are many actual WWII veterans that make appearances in the show. It is interesting to note that with the show being made in the late 1960s, many of the returning veterans of the war at the time were in their 40s/50s which means they were still able to take part in shows like this.
James Doohan was a prime example … a veteran of the front lines of the war and he was still able to build an acting career.
That’s so much fun!
I’m sure you’re aware of Doohan’s WWII injury (missing finger on his right hand). They were pretty good about hiding it in most scenes, but it always shows up on the TOS trivia pages when an episode has a scene that shows it.
Yes I do … and a great bit of history to learn when I first read about it. Funny part was is that it was actually shot off by his own men! who were terribly afraid and on edge during that period.
I have a relative who was a Canadian veteran who landed in Normandy as the second wave of troops in late June / July 1944. That first landing was terrible but equally horrible was what the Canadians went through from June 1944 to about December 1944 as they fought their way into France / Belgium / Germany. These were mostly teens and 20 year olds with a year or less of army training and no combat experience fighting against German veterans that had come back from the Eastern front fighting Russians for the past two / three years. They were kids fighting battle hardened soldiers.
There is a famous battle in Belgium called the ‘Battle of the Scheldt’ where German soldiers couldn’t believe how easily it was to kill newly arrived Canadian soldiers. It was a massacre before Canadians could turn it around … which is why their participation in the war declined as the Allies moved to Germany. The Canadians literally died out to help the Brits and Americans make their way to Germany.
War is terrifying. I think accidents, including friendly fire, are just as much part of the horrors as facing an enemy. It’s sad to think about how young these kids were, and it helps me put the challenges of my life into perspective.
and the greatest lesson I’ve learned about any and all wars and the veterans that were left behind and survived is to always ask ‘why wars were started in the first place’
The biggest humanitarian crime I’ve come to learn is the lessons of the First World War and why that fiasco was even started. The more history you read into that conflict, the more confused and complicated and senseless it becomes.
And those question lead into WWII and the reasons why the second conflict started and how it could have been prevented. Because even as the world watched the fallout and the rise of fascism, no one really did anything to stop it and in many cases, helped to enable it to become the thing that everyone fought against.
The more history you read about every conflict, the more you realize that every conflict is preventable, which leads you to realize that every conflict is senseless.
Which is why I always believe that we have to remember … remember the fallen … but also remember the reason why they fought in the first place … and to remember the reasons and causes so that we never allow this to happen again.
The fact that he was shot multiple times by friendly fire, only lost a finger and was saved by a cigarette case blocking a lethal bullet from hitting his vital organ’s is out of this world.