Famous Word War II Veterans (other than those famous for military service)
Charles Durning
James Doohan
Kurt Vonnegut
JFK
Yogi Berra
Leon Askin
Character actor most famous for playing General Burkhalter on Hogan’s Heroes, though he was also on every other sitcom. IRL he was a Vienna born Jewish cabaret performer in the '30s who fled the Nazis and joined the U.S. army, where he became a Sgt. by the end of the war. (In spite of his obesity he lived into his late 90s and his last decade was among the busiest in his life.)
From what I’ve heard, it depends on how loosely you define the terms.
The German attack was a surprise against an undermanned section of the American front (which was the whole point of the German plan). Brooks was not stationed in that area at the time of the attack. Once the Germans broke through the American line, reinforcements were rushed in to contain the Germans and beat them back. Brooks’ unit was one of these sent in as reinforcements. But by the time his unit arrived at the region, the Germans were already falling back in defeat and his unit never saw any significant combat in the battle.
So give Brooks credit (on a trivia note, he was still using the name Kaminsky at this point) - he served in the European combat theatre during the war and is indisputably a WWII veteran. But while he was in the vicinity of the Battle of the Bulge, he wasn’t really in it.
