Bob Barker

Bob Barker
Image Credit: WikiMedia Commons / CC BY-ND 2.0

During his career in the U.S. Navy, Bob Barker flew eight different airplanes. He originally enlisted and then stayed at Drury College in Springfield, Missouri to complete the two years of college he needed to qualify to become a naval aviation cadet. Reporting for duty in June 1943, he was commissioned as an ensign and trained at eight different wartime locations over 18 months.

Carl Reiner

Carl Reiner
Image Credit: WikiMedia Commons / CC BY-ND 2.0

Funny man, actor, director, writer — let’s just say the whole package, Carl Reiner is best known for his show where he was the producer, writer, and actor of “The Dick Van Dyke Show.” During the 1940s, the draft had all-hands-on-deck policy, and Reiner was drafted into the U.S. Army Air Force in 1943 where he rose to the rank of corporal.


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Johnny Cash

Johnny Cash
Image Credit: WikiMedia Commons / CC BY-ND 2.0

Johnny Cash enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1950 and completed his training at Air Force bases in San Antonio, Texas. Cash was assigned to the U.S. Air Force Security Service in Germany as a Morse-code operator when he put together his first band. He served four years and was honorably discharged. Cash’s four daughters were born of his marriage to his first wife, Vivian, a native San Antonian who he met while in Air Force training.

Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel)

Theodor Geisel
Image Credit: WikiMedia Commons / CC BY-ND 2.0

Theodor Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, served in the military during World War II. He volunteered for the U.S. Army, leaving behind his budding career as a children’s author and illustrator. When the war hit, Geisel felt pulled to put his projects for younger readers on the back shelf and work on political cartoons instead. He created satirical cartoons aimed at Adolf Hitler and American isolationists such as Charles Lindbergh who was trying to keep the U.S. out of war. Geisel stated, “While Paris was being occupied by the clanking tanks of the Nazis, and I was listening on my radio, I found that I could no longer keep my mind on drawing pictures of ‘Horton the Elephant.’ I found myself drawing pictures of ‘Lindbergh the Ostrich.’”

Ed McMahon

Ed McMahon
Image Credit: WikiMedia Commons / CC BY-ND 2.0

Ed McMahon’s famous quote “Here’s Johnny!” from the opening of “The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson,” is a line forever etched in our memories. McMahon enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1941 and started flight training in Dallas. He then completed fighter training in Pensacola and obtained his landing qualification. For the next two years, he was a flight instructor until he received his orders to report to the Pacific Fleet. However, his transfer didn’t happen due to the two atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The war had ended, but McMahon continued his service as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. When the Korean War broke out, he was reinstated to active duty and flew a Cessna O-1 Bird Dog, an unarmed spotter plane. His military career spanned 25 years, and McMahon received six air medals and retired in 1966 with the rank of colonel.

Morgan Freeman

Morgan Freeman
Image Credit: WikiMedia Commons / CC BY-ND 2.0

Morgan Freeman has always loved acting but had dreams of becoming a fighter pilot. He even decided to turn down a drama scholarship to join the U.S. Air Force after high school. He ended up spending over three years in the service, but once he was in the cockpit of a fighter plane, he realized it was not what he wanted. Of his experience he told the AARP: “I had a distinct feeling I was sitting in the nose of a bomb. I had this very clear epiphany, ‘You are not in love with this; you are in love with the idea of this.’” He decided to leave the Air Force and pursue acting.

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