# Who are the most significant living figures from WWII? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 16, 2013, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-most-significant-living-figures-from-wwii/668980 "2013-09-16T16:11:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-most-significant-living-figures-from-wwii/668980/21 "2013-09-17T19:14:50Z")
Some other living celebrities who are also WWII veterans: Mel Brooks, Dick Van Dyke, James Garner, Hugh Hefner, Hal Holbrook, Russell Johnson, Christopher Lee, Patrick Macnee, Carl Reiner, Mickey Rooney, Joseph Wapner, and Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-most-significant-living-figures-from-wwii/668980/22 "2013-09-17T19:54:36Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Is the criterion people who were significant then, or who are significant now? Then. They might not have been well-known or recognized until later, but ultimately they just have to have had some interesting association with or direct role in WWII. So a singer who was alive then but not necessarily associated with the war effort wouldn’t necessarily count, but Vera Lynn (mentioned above) would. I was about to say that that last remaining [Andrews sister](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrews_Sisters) would count for the same reason, but apparently she died early this year. I missed that… Damn! Really interesting responses so far. WWII cast such a long shadow for such a long time (and arguably still does) that it’s strange to think how quickly the era is starting to pass from human memory, and to see what significant figures from then are still left. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-most-significant-living-figures-from-wwii/668980/23 "2013-09-17T23:40:48Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Some other living celebrities who are also WWII veterans: Mel Brooks, Dick Van Dyke, James Garner, Hugh Hefner, Hal Holbrook, Russell Johnson, Christopher Lee, Patrick Macnee, Carl Reiner, Mickey Rooney, Joseph Wapner, and Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. I’m pretty sure James Garner served in Korea, not WWII. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2013, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-most-significant-living-figures-from-wwii/668980/24 "2013-09-17T23:46:04Z")
> [@Llama\_Llogophile](#): > > Chuck Yeager and Bob Hoover - two people who will probably, against all odds, die of old age. I flew with Bob Hoover once. Damn, what a pilot. He told a hell of a story about his WW II adventures, too. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-most-significant-living-figures-from-wwii/668980/25 "2013-09-18T00:08:34Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Some other living celebrities who are also WWII veterans: Mel Brooks, Dick Van Dyke, James Garner, Hugh Hefner, Hal Holbrook, Russell Johnson, Christopher Lee, Patrick Macnee, Carl Reiner, Mickey Rooney, Joseph Wapner, and Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. Yogi Berra was part of D-Day. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-most-significant-living-figures-from-wwii/668980/26 "2013-09-18T02:30:52Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > I flew with Bob Hoover once. Damn, what a pilot. He told a hell of a story about his WW II adventures, too. OK, you HAVE to tell that story! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-most-significant-living-figures-from-wwii/668980/27 "2013-09-18T02:48:39Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > I’m pretty sure James Garner served in Korea, not WWII. He served in both wars. Granted, his service during WWII was in the Merchant Marine but that’s considered military service during wartime. (He was only sixteen at the time. The other branches required you to be a minimum of seventeen to volunteer.) ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-most-significant-living-figures-from-wwii/668980/28 "2013-09-18T15:32:18Z")
Pete Seeger might count - he was already pretty well known before the war, as one of the Almanac Singers with Woodie Guthrie and crew. Although the Army trained him as a mechanic, he always found himself assigned to entertain his fellow troops instead of fixing airplanes, finding himself being traded from one Pacific base to another for favors, like a prison bitch. When asked what he did in the war, he would always simply answer “I played my banjo”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-most-significant-living-figures-from-wwii/668980.md?page=1)