The Aerodrome Forum - View Single Post - Notable persons who also served in the Great War

Pete Hill · 19 May 2008, 07:13 AM

Hi Jenny,
thanks for the great list. The Canadian doctor Norman Bethune was a subject of a film I saw some years ago with Donald Sutherland in the title role. It depicted mainly his experiences in China and was simply called 'Bethune' if I recall. I don't think it ever got a cinema release but went straight to video down here.
re: H H Munroe- were they really his last words? That ranks with that Union General in 1864 whose last words were 'Those Rebs couldn't hit an elephant at this dist-..."!!!
You mentioned a few nurses, thank you for that as I work as a nurse in a hospital down here in Australia. Male nurses are still a minority group but we are slowly growing in number.
One more I can add (forgive me if some-one already has)-
James Whale:- (UK) Film director who helmed such films as 'Frankenstein', 'Waterloo Bridge', 'The Man in the iron mask' and 'Showboat'. He served as an officer in the British army with the rank of Second Lieutenant, enlisting in 1915 and seeing considerable action on the Western front. He was captured in August 1917 and spent the remainder of the war in a POW camp. Highly traumatized by his wartime experiences, they were a major factor in his eventual suicide by drowning in his Hollywood home in 1957. The recent film "Gods and Monsters" which starred Ian Mackellen and Brendan Fraser depicted the final months of his life albeit in a semi-fictional sense.
Thanks again Jenny and everyone else who has contributed. If there are any more I would love to know! Pete

19 May 2008, 07:13 AM	#33 (permalink)
Pete Hill Two-seater Pilot Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Murtoa Vic. Australia Posts: 137	Hi Jenny, thanks for the great list. The Canadian doctor Norman Bethune was a subject of a film I saw some years ago with Donald Sutherland in the title role. It depicted mainly his experiences in China and was simply called 'Bethune' if I recall. I don't think it ever got a cinema release but went straight to video down here. re: H H Munroe- were they really his last words? That ranks with that Union General in 1864 whose last words were 'Those Rebs couldn't hit an elephant at this dist-..."!!! You mentioned a few nurses, thank you for that as I work as a nurse in a hospital down here in Australia. Male nurses are still a minority group but we are slowly growing in number. One more I can add (forgive me if some-one already has)- James Whale:- (UK) Film director who helmed such films as 'Frankenstein', 'Waterloo Bridge', 'The Man in the iron mask' and 'Showboat'. He served as an officer in the British army with the rank of Second Lieutenant, enlisting in 1915 and seeing considerable action on the Western front. He was captured in August 1917 and spent the remainder of the war in a POW camp. Highly traumatized by his wartime experiences, they were a major factor in his eventual suicide by drowning in his Hollywood home in 1957. The recent film "Gods and Monsters" which starred Ian Mackellen and Brendan Fraser depicted the final months of his life albeit in a semi-fictional sense. Thanks again Jenny and everyone else who has contributed. If there are any more I would love to know! Pete __________________ "Its all part of the Grand Plan, Blackadder!" "Would that plan, sir, be the one where the war keeps going until everyone gets killed except for Field-Marshall Haig, Lady Haig and their tortoise Alan?"