Most will have already heard of the sad passing of Canadian-born actor James Doohan, famous for being Chief Engineer Scott (Scotty) of the Starship Enterprise. As a huge fan of Star Trek, and Scotty in particular, I wanted to add my own words of sorrow and condolences on this sad day.
What many may not know, and would surely find interesting, is that Doohan was in the Canadian army prior to his acting career, and was one of our brave soldiers on Juno beach on D-Day:
At 19, James escaped the turmoil at home by joining the Canadian army, becoming a lieutenant in artillery. He was among the Canadian forces that landed on Juno Beach on D-Day. "The sea was rough," he recalled. "We were more afraid of drowning than the Germans."
The Canadians crossed a minefield laid for tanks; the soldiers weren't heavy enough to detonate the bombs. At 11:30 that night, he was machine-gunned, taking six hits: one that took off his middle right finger (he managed to hide the missing finger on screen), four in his leg and one in the chest. The chest bullet was stopped by his silver cigarette case. (from the CNN story linked to above)
What a great Canadian!
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
Scotty beams up...
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3 comments:
As sorry as I am to hear of his passing, this story is fantastic.
Thank you :)
Wow. I didn;t know Scotty was a hero in real life too. Amazing. thanks LKO
I rarely give a care to celebrities - they get too much attention already - but I grew up on that show, and thought it to be visionary.
He was quite the person, and had a huge talent for voices.
He fathered a child when he was 80. I'm sure his daughter must be devasted.
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