Incredible D-Day heroics of Star Trek actor 'Scotty' revealed: How Lt. James Doohan led (trunc)

daily mail ^ | 6/6/2019 | MILY CRANE FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

[RummyChick]

Before James Doohan became famous playing 'Scotty' in the original Star Trek, he was a Canadian lieutenant in World War II who heroically took out German snipers during the D-Day invasion.

Doohan, who died back in 2005, had enlisted in the Royal Canadian Army when he was just 19 years old.

He had progressed to the rank of lieutenant with the 14th Field Artillery Regiment of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division by the time Allied troops invaded Normandy on June 6, 1944.

Doohan and his division were tasked with taking Juno Beach on D-Day as other Allied forces, including U.S. and British troops, focused on other nearby landing points.

James Doohan became famous playing 'Scotty' in the original Star Trek +5 Prior to that he was a Canadian lieutenant in World War II +5 Before James Doohan became famous playing 'Scotty' in the original Star Trek, he was a Canadian lieutenant in World War II who heroically took out German snipers during the D-Day invasion

He managed to take out two German snipers when he successfully led his men across the beach without setting off any of the planted mines.

'I don't know if they were killed or wounded but it shut them up,' Doohan told the New York Times back in 1998.

While Doohan wasn't injured during the initial invasion, he was accidentally shot six times by a fellow Canadian serviceman later that evening when he was walking back to his post.

Doohan suffered gunshot wounds to the leg, his hand and chest.

[Army Air Corps]

Ping.

[Red Badger]

From Wiki:

Military service

At the beginning of the Second World War, Doohan joined the Royal Canadian Artillery and was a member of the 14th (Midland) Field Battery, 2nd Canadian Infantry Division.[10] He was commissioned a lieutenant in the 14th Field Artillery Regiment of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division. He was sent to England in 1940 for training. He first saw combat landing at Juno Beach on D-Day. Shooting two snipers, Doohan led his men to higher ground through a field of anti-tank mines, where they took defensive positions for the night. Crossing between command posts at 11:30 that night, Doohan was hit by six rounds fired from a Bren Gun by a nervous Canadian sentry:[2] four in his leg, one in the chest, and one through his right middle finger. The bullet to his chest was stopped by a silver cigarette case given to him by his brother.[7] His right middle finger had to be amputated, something he would conceal on-screen during most of his career as an actor.[11]

Doohan graduated from Air Observation Pilot Course 40 with eleven other Canadian artillery officers[12] and flew Taylorcraft Auster Mark V aircraft for 666 (AOP) Squadron, RCAF as a Royal Canadian Artillery officer in support of 1st Army Group Royal Artillery. All three Canadian (AOP) RCAF squadrons were manned by artillery officer-pilots and accompanied by non-commissioned RCA and RCAF personnel serving as observers.[13][14]

Although he was never actually a member of the Royal Canadian Air Force, Doohan was once labelled the “craziest pilot in the Canadian Air Force”. In the late spring of 1945, on Salisbury Plain north of RAF Andover, he slalomed a plane between telegraph poles “to prove it could be done”—earning himself a serious reprimand. (Various accounts cite the plane as a Hurricane or a jet trainer; however, it was a Mark IV Auster.)[15][16]

[Regulator]

Can anyone imagine a guy like this getting a job in Hollywood now?

[Red Badger]

He’s dead, Jim................

[Liaison]

Adam Driver who played Kylo Ren in Star Wars 7-9.

[Liaison]

RED ALERT!!!

[Bender2]

Charles Durning (February 28, 1923 – December 24, 2012) also went ashore on D-Day and was awarded the Silver Star, Bronze Star, and three Purple Heart Medals for his service in Europe. He was always one of my favorite character actors appearing in in The Sting (1973) as the crooked cop, Lt. Snyder.

Other film credits off the top of my head include Dog Day Afternoon; the Senator in The Final Countdown; the Captain in The Hindenburg; Twilight's Last Gleaming with Burt Lancaster; True Confessions with Robert De Niro and Robert Duvall and playing "Pappy" O'Daniel, a cynical governor of Mississippi i in the Coen Brothers' O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000).

Rest in Peace, Charlie, we honor your service.

https://www.industrycentral.net/sites/default/files/2018-07/Charles_Durning-The_Sting-%281973%29-1140x450.jpg

[cld51860]

He also did the best song in Best Little Whorehouse in Texas: Sidestep. Which would be all too appropriate today.

[RatRipper]

I think he also played the governor of Texas in “Best Little Whorehouse. . .” and did a great job singing the song “Do a Little Sidestep”. . . hilarious!!!!

[BlueLancer]

The Governor - Best Little Whorehouse in Texas

[BlueLancer]

29 seconds ...

[RatRipper]

Ya beat me by less than 30 seconds!! Great song!!

[BlueLancer]

56 seconds ...

[Patriot Babe]

He was one hell of an actor. I understand he never wanted to speak about what happen on Normandy. He took that pain with him him to the grave but God took that pain away when he changed his Earthly home to a Heavenly home.

RIP Mr. Durning, God gained an additional warrior for his Heavenly Army.

[proust]

James Doohan lost a finger as well and they filmed around his hand on Star Trek.

[gaijin]

Great post, great man, but I flatly disbelieve this:

The [Bren gun 7.62 x 51 mm] bullet to his chest was stopped by a silver cigarette case given to him by his brother.

Nah..! Not even three or four such cases stacked up would do that.

But kudos to him, all the same.

[6ppc]

How do you “accidentally” shoot someone six times??? WTF!

[plain talk]

“How do you “accidentally” shoot someone six times??? “

On D day? Easily. The article states :”Crossing between command posts at 11:30 that night ...”

[M Kehoe]

Bttt.

5.56mm