Leonard Nimoy—the famed actor synonymous with Star Trek’s iconic Mr. Spock—died on Feb. 27. He leaves behind two children, a storied career and one of the most recognizable characters in pop culture. He’s also a reminder of a different era in America—the years after World War II when the military was more connected to the public, and when it wasn’t so strange for an actor to be a soldier at the same time. In the early ’50s, Nimoy was just another hungry actor with parents who worried he’d never have a real job. So he did what a lot of...