Ernest Hemingway
Hemingway wanted to enlist in the Army during World War I, but his vision was too poor. The future Pulitzer and Nobel Prize winner was, however, accepted as a volunteer ambulance driver for the Red Cross and sailed for Europe in May 1918. Hemingway ended up in Italy, where he drove ambulances and gave out candy and cigarettes to Italian soldiers on the front lines. A few weeks after his arrival in Italy, a mortar shell exploded near the eighteen-year-old Hemingway, gravely wounding him. Many of his stories were based on his experiences in World War I, the Spanish Civil War, and World War II.
Gene Hackman
Gene Hackman enlisted in the United States Marine Corps at the age of sixteen. He would later say while he was an actor, “I have trouble with direction, because I have trouble with authority. I was not a good Marine.” Hackman’s first duty assignment was in China, where he moonlighted as a disc jockey and newscaster on his unit’s radio station. A few times he left his post without permission—earning him three demotions. So, yes, Hackman was probably “not a good Marine.”
Mel Brooks
Funny man Mel Brooks served our country during World War II. He was drafted before he had the chance to finish his degree. Known then as Melvin Kaminsky, he joined the Army Corps of Engineers. He was a Corporal in the 1104 Engineer Combat Battalion. As a combat engineer his job was a dangerous and important one; duties included deactivating enemy land mines. When Mel saw combat in the Battle of the Bulge, it is said that the Nazis were blasting Axis propaganda over the airways. True to form, legend has it that Mel responded by blasting his rendition of Al Jolson’s “Toot Toot Tootsie.”