OK, here goes. It took me about 20 min. to come up with my list, and about 2 hours to cross check it .By this I mean:
1. Who was the Canadian Communist who graduated in 1917, and did blood banking the Spanish Civil War, and then died in China? I can't remember his name? And what about that physicist who should have gotten a Nobel---Lise something or other. Etc.
2. Didn't Lee Strasberg serve in WW1? No, he was 17. Too young. Etc.
3. Paul Ehrlich was too old, died in 1915, and Karl Landsteiner spent the war in a lab working on successful blood typing and transfusions. Bad for the allies.
4. FYI F. Scott Fitzgerald was fired up to go overseas, but was stationed in Montgomery, Alabama, met Zelda Sayer, and American literature was changed forever.(Personal Note: Having been educated and lived in the American deep South, I have seen enough Fitzgerald-type characters to last a lifetime. The man knew of what he wrote, and I prefer Hemingway.) Fitzgerald was never stationed in Canada. Faulkner was in Canada, and never made it overseas.
5. Since G.W. Pabst made that film Kameradschaft, surely he was in the military? Nope, he made films for the duration.
6. How does one categorize this list? By type of service? By gender? Nationality? Continent?
7. Would it not be worthwhile to list those who did not serve, such as Franz Kafka, and why? Or Nikita Khruschev? Or Pasternak? J.J.R. Macleod? Anyone know what Bert Collip (sp?)did?
Yikes!!!! Here goes. Please forgive any repetition. And poor spelling.
8. After you compile the lists you might consider playing WW1 6 degrees of separation.
AMERICANS
1. And the "Got in by the Skin of His Teeth" award goes to the future Admiral Hyman Rickover who entered service at Annapolis in 1918, and served 63 years. It was the longest US naval commission ever. Yeah Ricky!
2. Chester Nimitz, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Omar Bradley, "Doug Out Doug" MacArthur. George C. Patton, George C. Marshal, Clair L. Chennault, and my favorite WW2 general Joseph W. Stillwell. Alan Seegar poet, and Pete's uncle. Served in French Foreign Leigon. KIA
3. Amelia Earhardt, Nurses' aid and VAD in Toronto.
4.. Joseph von Sternberg, US Army signal Corps.
5. Ludwig Bemmelmans, journalist, author, and creator of Madeline. (Yes, I know that Madeline is a girl thing.)
Canadians
1. Norman Bethune, same med school class as Fred Banting, and 4 years ahead of
Billy Bishop in High School 2. John McCrae, artillery officer, pathologist, surgeon, med school professor, poet, writer, Renaissance man.
Brits.
1. Vera Britton, Edith Clavel, Florence Farmbourgh. All were nurses in different theatres. Britton and Farmbourgh wrote about their experiences. About Clavel: the Germans had every right to do what the did, but it was a really stupid move. Much better to have used her skills.
2. Wilfred Owen poet, painter and poet Isaac Rosenberg, Edward Thomas poet, reviewer, editor. Thomas joined the Artist's Rifles. Poet Rupert Brook. None survived.
3. B. Liddel Hart. Military journalist, writer.
4. Siegfreid Sassoon. Poet, writer. Survived with shell shock.
5. The future Duke of Windsor.
6. Max Horton, submarine commander. The Germans called the Baltic, the Horton Sea.
7.. H. H. Munroe, AKA Saki. Journalist, short story writer. I adore his work. Always have since high school. Last words were "Put that bloody cigarette out." Killed by sniper. Another good reason not to smoke.
Aussies
1. Sister Eiizabeth(?) Kenney, Nurse. Inventor of Kenney Packs.
French.
1. Marie and Irene Curie, set up mobile x-ray machines.
2. Alfred Dreyfus, Lieutenant colonel, commanded ammunition column.
Austria -Hungary
1. Imre Nagy, POW in Russia ,escaped. Hungarian PM. Hanged by Russians 1958. Probably was not part of firing squad that killed the Romanovs at Ekaterinberg.
2. Bela Kun, muckraker, bad economist, commintern op. Commissar.
3. Egon Schiele, artist. (One of my favorites.) Died of influenza, Halloween 1918. His 6 months pregnant wife Edith died as well.
4. Oskar Kokoschka, artist, poet, playwright.
5. Fritz Lang. Director.
6. Kurt Schuschnigg. Future Chancellor.
7. Lise Meitner, nurse, physicist.
8. Mina Patcher, nurse. Editor "In Memory's Kitchen" Died in Theresienstadt of starvation .
9. Michael Curtiz, Infantry. Director Casablanca.
10. The future German Professor Sokol at Stanford. U-boat commander. I have to check with my dad about spelling, and first name.
Germans
1. Edith Stein, nurse, worked typhus ward, military hospital, and OR. Member of Prussian Society for Women's Sufferage. Catholic convert. Murdered, Auschwitz.
2. Rabbi Leo Baeck, German Army Chaplin.
3. Berthold Brecht, med student. Worked in Army Hospital, 1918.
4. Gerhard Domagk. Med school drop out. Wounded 1914. Worked in cholera hospital, Russia. Went back to med school after war. Nobel Prize in 1939 for sulfa drugs. Hitler would not let him accept it.
5. Heinz Guderian, future general.
6. Lothar von Arnauld de la Periere,top German U-boat Ace.
7. Martin Niemoller, u-boat ace, future pastor, resistance fighter.
Russian
1. Admiral Kolchuk. Polar Explorer. The Russian answer to Peary, Cooke(sp.?), Scott, Shackelton, Nansen, and Amundsen. Black sea fleet. Specialized in sinking Turkish colliers. Made the Turks very unhappy. White Russian leader. Good at sea, not so good on land. Headed Omsk government. Executed 1920. I understand that the Russians have made a film of life that will be released this year.
2. The future Dr. Altschul (sp?). Russian midshipman, highest enlisted rank in Russian Navy. Fled to France. Joined French navy as a midshipman, lowest officer rank. Met wealthy American and fell in love. Yes, it was a genuine love match. She sent him to med school, and he became head of the internal medicine department at UCSF. Taught, and mentored many US physicians, among them Michael Shimkin, White Russian refugee.
Turkey
And speaking of Turks, Kemal Pasha, future Kemal Ataturk.
Hope this helps. What is the project? Darn, I forgot the future Marshal Pilsudski of Poland. If you need more, I will consult with my father. Unlike me, he really does know everything. Jenny. PS, please post this for all to see if I accidentally sent it as a personal e-mail. Thanks .It is after midnight, and I am turning into a pumpkin.