Carl Reiner
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.
Johnny Cash
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, 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.’”