| Welcome to The Trench Line. The forum for World War One re-enactors and those with an interest in the military history of the Great War of 1914 - 1918. We hope you enjoy your visit. You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free. Join our community! If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features: |
| Famous WW1 veterans | |
|---|---|
| Topic Started: Sep 25 2005, 03:00 PM (1,011 Views) | |
| soldat | Sep 25 2005, 03:00 PM Post #1 |
Administrator
  ![]](http://209.85.117.195/static/1/pip_r.png)
|
This should be an interesting little tread. Name a famous person who served in the Great War. Any profession other than professional soldier. I can think of four right off hand. I'll start it off. Actor Leslie Howard. Best known to Americans as Ashley Wilkes in the movie Gone With The Wind He was a British officer on the Western Front. He was returned home from the Somme with severe shell-shock. He took up acting as part of his recovery therapy. He was killed in 1943 when his plane was shot down by the Luftwaffe over the Bay of Biscay  Beck 
|
| "You will be home before the leaves fall" The Kaiser. August 1914 Über Trinkmeister Die ApfelKorn Gruppe (Kinder des Korn) | |
 |
 
|
| QMSwalrus | Sep 25 2005, 09:53 PM Post #2 |
Feldwebelleutnant
|
OK then, staying with actors: Ronald Coleman (Prisoner of Zenda, amongst others) - in 1914, I believe he was a shipping clerk Served in 14th Bn London Regiment TF (London Scottish) - (I/14, I think) Wounded in both legs by shrapnel/shell fragments he crawled off the battlefield backwards (so he claimed) so that, if he was killed, he would not be found apparently running away (I must say, that's not a feat I would like to try in a kilt) Coleman was invalided out of the Army due to these wounds. Tom 
|
|
The truth is out there - The lies are in your head (Terry Pratchett - "Hogfather") | |
|
|
|
| soldat | Sep 26 2005, 04:06 PM Post #3 |
|
Administrator
|
How about a writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. He joined the U.S. Army in 1917 and was commissioned a second lieutenant of infantry. He was assigned to Camp Sheridon, Alabama in 1918. The war ended before he was sent overseas and was discharged in 1919. Convinced he would die in the war he wrote "The Romantic Egotist" during this period.  Beck |
| "You will be home before the leaves fall" The Kaiser. August 1914 Über Trinkmeister Die ApfelKorn Gruppe (Kinder des Korn) | |
|
|
|
| maxstiebritz | Sep 26 2005, 10:34 PM Post #4 |
Locutus of Stiebritz
|
Opa how about this guy:  Ernest Hemingway, An American Red Cross driver. |
|
Stiebritz "One of Thirty" 8K/IR459 I am Locutus of Stiebritz. We are Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile. | |
|
|
|
| Tuckahoe Doughboy | Sep 27 2005, 10:43 AM Post #5 |
Second Lieutenant
|
Here are a few others... Irving Berlin, Joseph "Buster" Keaton, and J R R Tolkien. |
|
Vincent Petty "I pressed forward with the others to watch the United States physically entering the War, so god-like, so magnificent, so splendidly unimpaired in comparison with the tired nerve-racked men of the British Army. So these were our deliverers at last." British Nurse Vera Brittain 318th Infantry, 80th Division AEF | |
|
|
|
| jk816 | Sep 27 2005, 11:30 AM Post #6 |
|
Offizierstellvertreter
|
Sgt Joyce Kilmer, Poet, 165th Infantry, KIA near the Ourq River, 1918. Jim |
|
|
|
| DoughboyAEF | Sep 29 2005, 11:44 AM Post #7 |
|
Unteroffizier
|
An Interesting story from a Truman Letter mentions that on Nov. 1 a German plane landed behind the lines in a feld nearby, the German pilot surrendered and said that the war would be over in 10 days, to the day he died he wondered how that pilot knew that, as a side note Truman started the war as a Sgt. in a reserve unit, it was only after war was declared that he was commissioned when his unit was federalized into the 129th Field Artillery, he later stated that he had no desire to be anything but a Sergt. |
|
"Now he's off to France the foe to meet. Jimmy thought he'd like to take a chance, See if he could make the Kaiser dance"- K-K-Katy. "We'll be over, we're coming over, And we won't come back till it's over Over there."- Over There. | |
|
|
|
| QMSwalrus | Oct 1 2005, 11:14 AM Post #8 |
|
Feldwebelleutnant
|
Another two actors for you: South African born Basil Rathbone, who served as a subaltern in the Liverpool Regiment (more specifically 2nd Bn Liverpool Scottish) and was awarded the Military Cross which was gazetted in November 1918. The citation reads: Lt Phillip St john Basil Rathbone, L'pool Regt. For conspicuous daring and resource on patrol. On one occasion, while inside the hostile wire, he came face to face with one of the enemy, whom he shot. This raised the alarm, and an intense fire was opened, but he crept through the entanglements with his three men and got safely back. The result of his patrolling was a thorough knowledge of the locality and strength of all enemy posts in the vecinity.  Rathbone (wearing an MC ribbon) in "The Dawn patrol". The second actor is Canadian Raymond Massey. At the outbreat of the Great War, Massey joined the Canadial Field Artillery served in France and was wounded, he also served in Russia. His first appearance was in a stage production in Siberia, during its occupation by American Forces in 1918. Some sources state that this was in a minstral show  Raymond Massey |
|
The truth is out there - The lies are in your head (Terry Pratchett - "Hogfather") | |
|
|
|
| Beck | Oct 3 2005, 08:25 AM Post #9 |
Private
|
 Nigel Bruce Best known for his role as Dr. Watson Born in Mexico to British parents and said to be related to Robert the Bruce. He served in the British Army. He received a leg injury and was in a wheelchair for 3 years. I'm not sure if the injury was combat related or not. |
|
|
|
| soldat | Oct 3 2005, 07:36 PM Post #10 |
|
Administrator
|
Time for a German Bruno Richard Hauptmann His infamous claim to fame, he was was convicted and executed for the kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh, Jr. (Lindbergh Baby) Hauptmann was born in Kamenz, Saxony Germany in 1899. He entered the German Army at age 17 and served one and a half years as a machine gunner on the Western Front. Hauptmann was wounded (gas) in 1918 and discharged. Also, he lost two brothers during the war. He would immigrate to the United States in the early 1920's after being convicted of some small crimes in Germany |
| "You will be home before the leaves fall" The Kaiser. August 1914 Über Trinkmeister Die ApfelKorn Gruppe (Kinder des Korn) | |
|
|
|
| QMSwalrus | Oct 4 2005, 05:07 AM Post #11 |
|
Feldwebelleutnant
|
While we're on the subject of infamous Germans, there are the two most infamous ones: Herman Goering Hermann Goering was born in Rosenheim, Bavaria, in 1893. His father was a professional soldier who rose to be the first governor of German West Africa (modern-day Namibia, where one of the main streets in the capital is still Goringstrasse). Young Hermann grew up in friends' homes and in military schools while his parents were abroad. (Historians and amateur psycho-analysts have had a field day attributing Göring's adult evil to his childhood without parental love. Of course, Winston Churchill's youth was about the same.) Without question, Göring was an undisciplined and reckless youth, but he fit into the rigid structure of military life. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in 1912, and was assigned to Alsace where he formed a cyclist corps. By 1915, he was hospitalized for rheumatism; a visit by his friend Bruno Loerzer (a future 41-victory ace) persuaded him to join the air corps. He essentially deserted his infantry unit, and assumed the role of Loerzer's observer. He and Loerzer both won the Iron Cross, First Class, for their reconnaissance work. He flew with Loerzer until the spring of 1916, when he went to pilot training school at Courtrai. Göring claimed he already knew how to fly and "borrowed" a Rumpler that he flew to the front. In short order, he was assigned to a fighter staffel near Verdun. Staffel 5 Göring's unit was Staffel 5, flying Fokkers (E.IIIs?) with his friend Bruno Loerzer. By the end of 1916, he was credited with three French airplanes and with saving Bruno's life. When Loerzer's machine gun wouldn't fire, two Nieuports pounced on him. Goering saw this and drove off both Frenchmen, destroying one of their aircraft. In mid-February, 1917, he got separated from his flight one day and went after a twin-engine biplane. After he knocked out one of its engines, a flight of Spads showed up and attacked. He fought them for fifteen minutes as he flew all-out for the German lines. The Spads shot up him and his aircraft quite badly, but he managed to land near a field hospital, where prompt treatment probably saved his life. (What a shame, one cannot help but observe. How much agony would the world have been spared if Göring and a certain German corporal had been killed in World War One?) But he did survive, and returned to action in a couple months. In May, Loerzer reciprocated and saved Goering one day when his propeller was shot away; Loerzer covered him until he could land at an advance airfield. By the end of May, Göring had accumulated seven aerial victories. Jasta 27 In June, 1917, Göring was given command of Jagdstaffel 27, a unit made of new graduates of flying school. Within a few days of joining Jasta 27, Goering was leading a flight of ten planes over Arras when they encountered a group of British Nieuports. Göring dived after one Nieuport and soon found himself in trouble as the Nieuport began to shoot him up. But he got in a lucky burst and Englishman went down on the German side. A week later Göring scored his tenth kill when he met some FE's and Camels above Cambrai. After destroying an FE, another flight of Sopwiths came on and shot down one of his Albatroses. Göring knocked down another one of the Camels before even more arrived, at which point he led his Albatroses home. By the end of 1917, he had sixteen claims. 1918 Göring started the year on a near-disastrous note, when the gunner in a British F.E.2b riddled his fuel tank and sent him spinning earthwards. Some other Albatroses from his squadron saved him again. He had another close encounter in February when Lt. W.B. Craig, a five-victory Sopwith pilot, shot up Göring's Albatros. Once again, luck rather than skill seemed to be with Göring, and he shot down Craig. By June he had run his score to 21, and won the Ordre pour le Mérite. Richthofen Group Göring was appointed head of the Richthofen Group in July, much to the annoyance of many aces in that group with 40+ kills. But Göring turned out to be a good group leader and the complaints faded away and morale improved. He shot down one more Spad for his 22nd and final victory. The respected historian and author, Norma Franks, noted that many of Goring's kills seem to have occurred over British lines, a rather suspicious circumstance. When the war ended, J.G. Richthofen was ordered to Darmstadt. When the group arrived there, the city was in the hands of revolutionaries, who captured some of the planes' weapons. Goering faced down the rebels, threatening to bomb and strafe the town if the arms were not returned. The revolutionaries complied. (From First World War.com)  And surely the most infamous of all Adolf Hitler Hitler saw active service in France and Belgium as a messenger for the 16th Bavarian reserve infantry regiment, which exposed him to enemy fire. He also drew some cartoons and instructional drawings for the army newspaper. He was twice cited for bravery in action, receiving the Iron Cross, Second Class, in December 1915 and the Iron Cross, First Class in August 1918, an honour rarely given to a lance corporal (he was not a German citizen at the time and so could not be promoted beyond corporal). During October 1916 in northern France Hitler was wounded in the leg, returning to the front in March 1917. Hitler was considered a "correct" soldier but was reportedly unpopular with his comrades because of an uncritical attitude towards officers. "Respect the superior, don't contradict anybody, obey blindly," he said, describing his attitude while on trial for his Beer Hall Putsch in 1924. One comrade later remarked, "we all grumbled on him and found it intolerable that we had a white raven among us." (Haiden, 1936) On October 15, 1918, shortly before the end of war, Hitler was admitted to a field hospital, temporarily blinded by a poison gas attack. Research by Bernhard Horstmann indicates the blindness may have been the result of a hysterical reaction to Germany's defeat. Hitler later said it was during this experience that he became convinced the purpose of his life was to save Germany. Meanwhile he was treated by a military physician and specialist in psychiatry who reportedly diagnosed the corporal as "incompetent to command people" and "dangerously psychotic." His commander at the time said, "I will never promote this hysteric!" (cited from Haiden, 1937). However, historian Sebastian Haffner, referring to Hitler's experience at the front, suggests he did have at least some understanding of the military. (From Wikipedia)  |
|
The truth is out there - The lies are in your head (Terry Pratchett - "Hogfather") | |
|
|
|
| soldat | Oct 4 2005, 10:18 PM Post #12 |
|
Administrator
|
OK....we need a good german....well in this case an Austrian Fritz Lang Austrian-American film director, 1890-1976 Lang studied architecture for a while, but at the age of 20 he left home to travel around the world supporting himself selling his drawing, postcards, and painting. At the start of the war, Lang was living in Paris. He returned to his native Vienna and was conscripted into the Austrian Army. Wounded four times, he was discharged as a lieutenant and began writing screenplays while convalescing for a year in a Vienna hospital Today, Lang is most remembered for his silent film Metropolis and later the movie"M". "M" was the first German sound film and the first major role for the actor Peter Lorre. 
|
| "You will be home before the leaves fall" The Kaiser. August 1914 Über Trinkmeister Die ApfelKorn Gruppe (Kinder des Korn) | |
|
|
|
| QMSwalrus | Oct 7 2005, 02:24 AM Post #13 |
|
Feldwebelleutnant
|
Eric Partridge Eric Partridge (February 6, 1894-1979) was a lexicographer born on the North Island of New Zealand. After moving to Australia in 1905, he studied at the University of Queensland, and served in the Australian infantry during the First World War. He then studied at the University of Oxford, and lectured at the Universities of Manchester and London. In 1927 he founded the Scholartis Press, which he managed until it closed in 1931. In 1932 he became a full-time writer, and almost daily occupied the same desk (K1) in the Reading Room of the British Museum for the next fifty years. He wrote over forty books on the English language, including works on etymology and several on slang. (from: Biography.ms) 
|
|
The truth is out there - The lies are in your head (Terry Pratchett - "Hogfather") | |
|
|
|
| soldat | Oct 11 2005, 09:13 PM Post #14 |
|
Administrator
|
Maurice Chevalier 1888-1972 Chevalier joined the French Army in 1913. A year later the First World War broke out. He was wounded (in back) in the frst weeks of combat, taken prisoner and spent two years in Alten Grabow prison camp in Germany. During his captivity in Germany, Chevalier learnt to speak English. He was releasted in 1916 thanks to his girlfriend's far-reaching network of contacts, he returned quickly to the Parisian theater. In 1917, he became the star of a new music hall, the Casino de Paris, playing to audiences of British and American soldiers. From the Americans, he discovered jazz and ragtime. Chevalier won the Croix de Guerre for his military service. 
|
| "You will be home before the leaves fall" The Kaiser. August 1914 Über Trinkmeister Die ApfelKorn Gruppe (Kinder des Korn) | |
|
|
|
| QMSwalrus | Oct 12 2005, 05:31 AM Post #15 |
|
Feldwebelleutnant
|
André Maginot André Maginot was born in Paris in 1877, but he would always be a man of Lorraine, site of his family home at Revigny-sur- L'Ornain. In 1897 he received a Doctorate of Law degree and entered Civil Service, where he would stay for the rest of his life. Maginot served in 26 cabinets from 1920 until his death in 1932. He was a war hero and, after the war, a hero to the owntrodden veteran. In an era of "feeble politicians and a general lowering of moral standards, Maginot stepped forward. To a few, he was war hero and politician, but to most he would be remembered for France's Eastern foritifications. In 1910, Maginot was elected to the Chamber of Deputies. For six months, (1913/1914), he was Under-Secretary of State for War. When war broke out, he chose to serve in the Army, and was posted to the Lorraine front. In September 1914, he was promoted to Sergeant for his "coolness and courage." In November 1914, as Verdun was being invested, General Serrail showed Maginot a written authorization to evacuate Verdun. He asked Maginot, the Under- Secretary of War, not the Sergeant, what he would do. Maginot tore the authorization to pieces. On 9 November 1914, his knee was shattered in the battle. He would receive the Medaille Militaire, for valor. He would walk with a limp for the rest of his life. Maginot returned to parliament after the war. He was bothered by the weakness of the French government and felt the Versailles Treaty left France lacking security. When he discovered his home at Revigny-sur-L'Ornain had been bombarded and burned, he swore Lorraine would never be invaded again. In the years to come, he would use his position to push for a defense system in the East. In 1924, Maginot was replaced at defense by Paul Painlevé. In 1926, he and Painlevé pushed for funds to build experimental sectors of the new defenses. Work on these sites began in 1928. In 1929, Maginot returned to the War Ministry. He was certain that the Versailles Treaty would ultimately fail to protect France. He was further disturbed that the Rhineland evacuation had been moved up from 1935 to 1930. He became more and more distrustful of Germany and saw fixed defenses as the only answer to the growing menace. Maginot was disturbed to find, upon his return, that little had been done on the experimental sectors. He now devoted his dynamic energy to making sure the defenses would be built. He was up against strong odds. France's Socialists called for universal disarmament; the Communists were fiercely anti-military. And the majority of the people did not want to think about war. ...Maginot became a "one man lobbying committee," ... to drum up support. To the right, he pushed patriotism, to the left - employment. At the December 10 budget debate he said: "We could hardly dream of building a kind of Great Wall of France, which would in any case be far too costly. Instead we have forseen powerful but flexible means of organizing defense, based on the dual principle of taking full advantage of the terrain and establishing a continuous line of fire everywhere." He pointed out the absolute need to complete the work by 1935, when the number of young men eligible for military service would fall to its lowest. André Maginot was taken ill in December 1931. On January 7, 1932, he died of typhoid fever. He was greatly mourned nationwide, as a man of the people. (extracted and edited from: "André Maginot - a History") 
|
|
The truth is out there - The lies are in your head (Terry Pratchett - "Hogfather") | |
|
|
|
| maxstiebritz | Oct 17 2005, 03:34 PM Post #16 |
|
Locutus of Stiebritz
|
 Harry Truman Harry Truman re-enlisted in the Missouri National Guard in 1917, at age of 33. He was elected an officer and shipped to the front in 1918. Truman was on horseback when, on 29 August, his artillery battery came under German fire. The horse was hit by shrapnel and fell into a shell hole, trapping Truman underneath. He had to be pulled from beneath the horse. About this time, several of the men broke and ran. Truman rallied the remainder "with some salty language he had learned while working on the Sante Fe railroad. The troops were so shocked to hear such language from Truman that they swung into action immediately." :lol: |
|
Stiebritz "One of Thirty" 8K/IR459 I am Locutus of Stiebritz. We are Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile. | |
|
|
|
| maxstiebritz | Oct 17 2005, 03:52 PM Post #17 |
|
Locutus of Stiebritz
|
 Siegfried Sassoon On the outbreak of the First World War Sassoon enlisted as a cavalry trooper in the Sussex Yeomanry. In May 1915 Sassoon became an officer in the Royal Fusiliers, and was posted to the Western Front in France. Considered to be recklessly brave, he soon obtained the nickname 'Mad Jack'. In June 1916 he was awarded the Military Cross for bringing a wounded man back to the British lines while under heavy fire. While in France he met the poets Robert Graves and Wilfred Owen. After being wounded in April 1917, Sassoon was sent back to England. Sassoon had grown increasingly angry about the tactics being employed by the British Army and in July 1917 published a Soldier's Declaration, which announced that "I am making this statement as an act of willful defiance of military authority, because I believe that the war is being deliberately prolonged by those who have the power to end it." Sassoon's hostility to war was also reflected in his poetry. During the war Sassoon developed a harshly satirical style that he used to attack the incompetence and inhumanity of senior military officers. These poems caused great controversy when they were published in The Old Huntsman (1917) and Counter-Attack (1918). |
|
Stiebritz "One of Thirty" 8K/IR459 I am Locutus of Stiebritz. We are Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile. | |
|
|
|
| maxstiebritz | Oct 17 2005, 03:57 PM Post #18 |
|
Locutus of Stiebritz
|
 Walt Disney During the fall of 1918, Disney attempted to enlist for military service. Rejected because he was under age, only sixteen years old at the time. Instead, Walt joined the Red Cross and was sent overseas to France, where he spent a year driving an ambulance and chauffeuring Red Cross officials. His ambulance was covered from stem to stern, not with stock camouflage, but with Disney cartoons. |
|
Stiebritz "One of Thirty" 8K/IR459 I am Locutus of Stiebritz. We are Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile. | |
|
|
|
| Tuckahoe Doughboy | Oct 17 2005, 04:05 PM Post #19 |
|
Second Lieutenant
|
When I took British Lit, Sassoon tended to be held up as an anti-war poet and his poems were taught as such. However, personally especially as I read his poems and learned more about Sassoon as a man my impression was not so much that he was opposed to the war, as much as he was opposed to the British leaderships execution of the war and what he saw as their general incompetence. My impression is that he felt that if victory was to be had, that there had to be a change in the leadership and execution of the war. |
|
Vincent Petty "I pressed forward with the others to watch the United States physically entering the War, so god-like, so magnificent, so splendidly unimpaired in comparison with the tired nerve-racked men of the British Army. So these were our deliverers at last." British Nurse Vera Brittain 318th Infantry, 80th Division AEF | |
|
|
|
| soldat | Oct 17 2005, 07:07 PM Post #20 |
|
Administrator
|
 Bruce Catton 1899-1978 Civil War Historian He served in the U.S. Navy in WW1. It has also been reported he disliked reenactors. |
| "You will be home before the leaves fall" The Kaiser. August 1914 Über Trinkmeister Die ApfelKorn Gruppe (Kinder des Korn) | |
|
|
|
| Go to Next Page | |
| « Previous Topic · Veterans/Ancestors · Next Topic » |
2:44 AM Nov 25
