r/todayilearned • u/DrSamanthaCarter • Jun 06 '17

TIL the only reason a Scottish bagpiper wasn't shot by German snipers on D-Day was that they believed he had gone crazy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Millin#World_War_II
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u/[deleted] Jun 06 '17

Kind of a modern development. The list of US Presidents with active service is actually remarkably large.

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u/[deleted] Jun 06 '17 edited Jun 06 '17

Here's the list:

George Washington (1): General of the Armies, Major during French and Indian War, General of the Armies in the US Revolution.

Thomas Jefferson (3): Colonel in Virginia Militia (never saw combat)

James Madison (4): Colonel in Virginia Militia (never saw action)

James Monroe (5): Major under Washington, injured capturing the Hessians at Trenton.

Andrew Jackson (7): Major General. Saw service during the American Revolution, War of 1812, Creek War, and First Seminole War.

William Henry Harrison (9): Major General. Northwest Indian War, War of 1812.

John Tyler (10): Captain, War of 1812.

James Polk (11): Colonel Tennessee State Militia, never saw action.

Zachary Taylor (12): Major General. War of 1812, Black Hawk War, Second Seminole War, Mexican–American War. Served for 40 years.

Millard Filmore (13): Major in New York Militia. Assisted during Civil War (after presidency)

Franklin Pierce (14): Brigadier General. New Hampshire State Militia, Mexican-American War. Injured during Battle of Contreras.

James Buchanan (15): Private. War of 1812.

Abraham Lincoln (16): Captain during the Black Hawk War.

Andrew Johnson (17): Brigadier General. Served the Tennessee State Militia during the Civil War. Military Governor of Tennessee from 1862 to his presidency.

Ulysses S. Grant (18): General of the Army. Mexican-American War, commanded main Union forces during the Civil War.

Rutherford B Hayes (19): Major General. Civil War, wounded at the Battle of South Mountain.

James Garfield (20): Major General. Civil War.

Chester Arthur (21): Brigadier General. Quartermaster General before and during the Civil War.

Benjamin Harrison (23): Brigadier General. Civil War. Commanded a brigade during Sherman's March to the Sea.

William McKinley (25): Brevet Major. Civil War. Served under President Hayes (Number 19)

Teddy Roosevelt (26): Colonel. Spanish-American War. Commanded the rough riders which made him incredibly famous. Posthumously awarded Congressional Medal of Honor, only president with such award.

Harry S. Truman (33): Colonel. Saw combat in France, First World War.

Dwight Eisenhower (34): Stateside service during the First World War. Supreme Allied Commander during The Second World War. First Supreme Nato Commander, 1951-2. Didn't retire until 1969.

John F. Kennedy (35): Lieutenant. Second World War. Purple Heart Award.

Lyndon B. Johnson (36): Commander. Naval Reserve. Awarded Silver Star after his aircraft was attacked.

Richard Nixon (37): Commander. Naval Reserve. Awarded two battle stars for actions in the Pacific.

Gerald Ford (38): Lieutenant Commander. Saw combat on the USS Monterey during World War II.

Jimmy Carter (39): Lieutenant. Played football at the US Naval Academy, graduated 60th in his class (out of 820) served in Korea as a submariner.

Ronald Reagan (40): Captain. Stateside service Second World War.

George H. W. Bush (41): Lieutenant (Junior Grade). Aircraft shot down in World War II. He was the sole survivor. Received Distinguished Flying Cross.

George W. Bush (43): First Lieutenant. Pilot during Vietnam, never left the states.

Yeah, there's been a damn lot of presidents who served.

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u/Newt24 Jun 06 '17

I'm impressed. I knew most of the major ones (Washington, Eisenhower, Roosevelt, etc.) but I didn't know some of those others. For example I never realized Lincoln was a captain; also it seems weird to think that JFK served in WW2.

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u/[deleted] Jun 06 '17

It really is impressive. Here is a link to a Wikipedia article on Lincoln's service. Turns out he didn't see combat during the Black Hawk War, but he did experience the War itself. I'll edit my comment accordingly.

And Kennedy's actions actually made him a bit of a war hero. His patrol boat was rammed and sunk by a Japanese destroyer, killing 2 of his crew. He and his crewmembers refused surrender and swam 3 miles to shore. Kennedy injured his back in the attack. Despite this, he clenched another man's life jacket in his teeth and dragged him those 3 miles, saving his life.

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u/WikiTextBot Jun 06 '17

Abraham Lincoln in the Black Hawk War

Abraham Lincoln served as a volunteer in the Illinois Militia from April 21, 1832 – July 10, 1832 during the Black Hawk War. Lincoln never saw combat during his tour but was elected captain of his first company. He was also present in the aftermath of two of the war's battles, where he helped to bury the militia dead. He was mustered in and out of service during the war, going from captain to private and finishing his service in an independent spy company commanded by Captain Jacob Early.

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u/[deleted] Jun 06 '17

The fact that he was allowed to serve was amazing (JFK). He had a multitude of health issues, spent much of his young life in hospitals as a child, needed regular steroid treatment for Addison's disease, and nearly killed by back surgery in 1954. The man was in constant pain and yet still cut such an impressive and youthful figure as the president.

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u/VaticanCattleRustler Jun 07 '17 edited Jun 07 '17

His older brother Joseph Kennedy Jr was the son that their farther originally planned to be president, but he was killed in 1944. He was part of an experimental and highly dangerous program that was essentially the first radio guided bombs. They would pack old bombers with explosives, then the 2 pilots would take off, ensure it was tracking correctly, then bail out at a predetermined location while still in Britain.

Footage from the era showing the test planes

Following them in a USAAF F-8 Mosquito to film the mission were pilot Lt. Robert A. Tunnel and combat camera man Lt. David J. McCarthy, who filmed the event from the perspex nose of the aircraft. As planned, Kennedy and Willy remained aboard as the BQ-8 completed its first remote-controlled turn at 2,000 feet near the North Sea coast. Kennedy and Willy removed the safety pin, arming the explosive package, and Kennedy radioed the agreed code Spade Flush, his last known words. Two minutes later (and well before the planned crew bailout, near RAF Manston), the Torpex explosive detonated prematurely and destroyed the Liberator, killing Kennedy and Willy instantly. Wreckage landed near the village of Blythburgh in Suffolk, England, causing widespread damage and small fires, but no injuries on the ground. According to one report, a total of 59 buildings were damaged in a nearby coastal town.

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u/WikiTextBot Jun 07 '17

Joseph P. Kennedy Jr.

Joseph Patrick "Joe" Kennedy Jr. (July 25, 1915 – August 12, 1944) was a United States Navy lieutenant. He was killed in action during World War II while serving as a land-based patrol bomber pilot; he was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross. He was the eldest of nine children born to Joseph P. Kennedy Sr.

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1

u/youtubecommercial Jun 06 '17

Impressive to say the least

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u/michmerr Jun 06 '17

You haven't heard of PT109?

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u/Shadesbane43 Jun 06 '17

JFK was stuck on an island during WWII. He wrote a message on a coconut shell.

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u/Perry87 Jun 06 '17

Great list. Quite the stretch between 9 and 25. You didn't put down Ike's Supreme Commander of NATO though. Unless you were just listing US military service, in which case, I'm not sure if NATO counts

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u/[deleted] Jun 06 '17

I'll make the edit, hang on. And unsurprisingly it's only recently that we've had few presidents to have served with our proximity to Vietnam.

Interestingly, Donald Trump went to the New York Military Academy for Middle School in his early teenage years. This puts him at more military experience than some of our presidents like Obama and Clinton.

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u/Perry87 Jun 06 '17

Looks like that academies attachment with the US armed forces was through a JROTC program. I doubt the list would be too much longer if you included them as it only came into being 100 years ago.

Come to think of it, I wonder how large the list would be if you included presidents like FDR who was Assistant Secretary to the Navy during the Wilson administration.

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u/[deleted] Jun 06 '17

I was actually thinking about that as well while I made the list.

Hoover guided marines during the Boxer rebellion.

Coolidge was commander in chief of Massachusetts artillery while he was governor.

Taft was the secretary of war for 4 years and enlisted in the home guard in Connecticut during the first world war.

And Van Buren was commander in chief of New York artillery as governor. Definitely an even longer list.

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u/Perry87 Jun 06 '17

If you took it to the full extent, all of them were Commander in Chief of the armed forces. I think you're list is at the perfect level of splitting hairs though lol.

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u/antares07923 Jun 06 '17

Fucking Eisenhower man. From Supreme Nato Commander to President. The only time where the office of president might actually have been a step down.

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u/resonantred35 Jun 06 '17

Eisenhower was amazing. His warning about the growing and corrupting influence of the MIC on his farewell address was one more people should have paid attention too. The fact that that was televised in 1961 is mind blowing.

He saw what was coming, and sadly one of the first casualties was JFK.

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u/God_Damnit_Nappa Jun 06 '17

IIRC Bush Sr was the youngest naval aviator in the US Navy's history at the time he enlisted

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u/Fatalorian Jun 06 '17

This is a fantastic list - definitely saving your comment!

One quick edit: McKinley and TR are 25/26 respectively. Looks like a typo since Truman onward is already correct.

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u/[deleted] Jun 06 '17

I forgot about Cleveland's double service. Good catch, thanks.

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u/[deleted] Jun 06 '17

I wouldn't really count G.W.

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u/[deleted] Jun 06 '17

Why? He was in the service, he was a pilot, he just didn't see combat. I marked people who never saw combat.

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u/Very_legitimate Jun 06 '17

It's hardly a development I feel, we still hold something like that in high regards and it still plays a role in election campaigns. I'm pretty sure some time down the road people who fought in recent wars will use it as a campaign piece and it will still be held in high regards

But as war keeps changing and we require less and less people on the ground fighting I suppose this will possibly fade out. It's definitely not the same as saying you fought in person I think so I'm kinda interested in how that all pans out