Notable persons who also served in the Great War

[Gregvan]

Hi Retread,

Yes, how could I have forgotten James Norman Hall (a fellow Iowan) and Nordhoff? I guess I've spent so much study on Hall the pilot I nearly forgot he was a famous writer!

Hemingway, Nordhoff and Hall weren't the only writers to come out of WWI, of course. They were legion; the Americans in particular forming that whole "lost generation" thing. John Dos Passos and E.E. Cummings both served in the Norton-Harjes Ambulance Corps. F. Scott Fitzgerald enlisted but never got overseas. William Faulkner reportedly went through Canada to join the RFC/RAF, but I don't think he got very far and never went overseas (I seem to recall he may have exaggerated his service??).

Of course, on the German side there were such writers as Erich Maria Remarque and Ernst Jünger, among others.

[Der Grüne Flieger]

A man much better known for his role in WW2 also served in WW1, Winston Churchill. He served in the Admiralty then the Office of Munitions. Had the ear of the PM and helped in many behind the scenes roles.

I've just finished reading his book about WW1, very interesting.

Phil

[sobrien]

Don't forget Elliot Springs, although his name does come up on the forum now and then, and of course, Arch Whitehouse, who some may malign, but he introduced many boys to aerial adventure.

sean

[Pete Hill]

Thanks everyone for your contributions. Keep them coming, they are fascinating and there were some un-expected surprises amongst the famous names.
Heres some more:-

Otto Dix (Germany) - Modernist (Expressionist) painter who achieved great success during the 1920s and 30s, producing powerful works that commented on the war and life in modern Germany. The 23-year old Dix joined up in 1914 and first served in the Field Artillery and was then assigned to a Machine-Gun unit, taking part in the Battle of the Somme in 1916 where he was seriously wounded. He also served on the Eastern Front in 1917 until the Russian surrender and then returned to the West where he took part in the March Offensive in 1918. Dix earned the Iron cross and reached the rank of vice-Sgt Major.

Max Beckmann (Germany)- Modernist (Expressionist) painter of the 1920s and 30s. In 1914, he volunteered as a Medical volunteer and served in Field hospitals and Forward Aid posts until he suffered shell-shock and a nervous breakdown in 1915 and was discharged.

Franz Marc (Germany) - Modernist (Expressionist) painter and one of the pioneers of the new style of painting in the decade before the war. Mobilised in 1914, Marc served in the German Infantry. In 1916, his name was one on a list of notable German artists & writers who were deemed eligible to be withdrawn from Military service on the grounds they were too important to Germany's culture to be lost. Before the discharge orders reached the front, Marc was killed by shrapnel from an exploding artillery shell during the Battle of Verdun in 1916.

Herbert Read (UK) - Art critic, writer & poet who was an early champion of Modern art in Britain and a highly influential critic and collector. Joined the Green Howards regiment and served on the Western front, receiving the Military Cross and a DSO for bravery and reached the rank of Captain.

Henry Moore -(UK)- Famous British modernist sculptor of the 20th Century. He turned 18 in 1917 and was called up into the Infantry and he served on the Western front in the Prince-of-Wales Civil Service Rifles. During the Battle of Cambrai, he was injured in a Gas attack. Following his recovery in hospital, he served out the remainder of the war as a PT instructor. Moore later said that he suffered no real mental trauma as a result of his war experiences, saying that "the war passed in a romantic haze of trying to be a hero."

E M Forster (UK) - British writer of the Edwardian period, best-known for his novels 'A Passage to India', 'A Room with a view' & 'Howards End'. Although a conscientious objector, Forster worked as a volunteer orderly in Red Cross military hospitals in Egypt 1916-17.

Air Vice-Marshall Sir Keith Park (New Zealand) - Commander of RAF Fighter Command's No 11 Group, the most heavily engaged Group during the Battle of Britain July-October 1940 and later commanded the air defences on Malta. In 1914, he joined the New Zealand army artillery and landed at Gallipoli in April 1915, soon earning the rank of Lieutenant. During the campaign he made the un-usual decision to transfer to the British Army and he survived the entire disaster to be evacuated in January 1916. Later he commanded a battery at the Somme and was wounded in October 1916. After his recovery, he joined the RFC and in 1917 he joined no 48 Squadron based near Arras, flying Bristol F2Bs. On August 17th, he earned the Military Cross for shooting down one enemy plane for certain, getting two more probables and damaging a fourth in a single sortie. By war's end, he had risen to the rank of Major and was commander of his unit. Park was credited with five enemy planes destroyed for certain with 14 probables. One of his victims was Leutnant Franz Pernet, stepson of General Ludendorff.

Air-Marshall William 'Sholto' Douglas (UK) - Commander of RAF Fighter-Command, following the removal of Hugh Dowding in November 1940. In 1942, he was replaced and then commanded British air-forces in the Middle East and later he led Coastal Command 1944-45. In 1914, Douglas joined the Field Artillery and transferred to the RFC the following year. He flew with No 2 Squadron as an Observor and then trained as a pilot and eventually became a Major and commander of no 84 Squadron, earning the MC and DFC by the end of the war.

Air-Marshall Trafford Leigh-Mallory (UK) - Commander of RAF Fighter Command No 12 Group during the Battle of Britain and later overall commander of fighters in 1942 and then of Allied air-forces supporting the D-Day landings before his death in an accidental air-crash in August 1944. At the beginning of WW1, he joined the infantry and saw action as a Lieutenant with the South Lancashires. He was wounded at the Second Battle of Ypres in 1915 and after his recovery, he transferred to the RFC. Leigh-Mallory flew with three squadrons, No 7, No 5 and No 8, the last one as squadron-leader. At the Battle of Cambrai in 1917, he flew recconaissance and Army co-operation missions and earned the DSO by the end of the war. He was noted as an efficient and energetic leader but not a popular one with his men who thought him aloof and sometimes pompous.

Air-Marshall Arthur Tedder (UK) -High-ranking commander in the RAF during WW2, eventually becoming Deputy Supreme Commander of Allied forces under Eisenhower. Was highly critical of the performance of General Montgomery during the Normandy battle. In WW1, he was prevented from seeing combat with the infantry by a knee injury and instead joined the RFC, flying with No 25, No 70 & No 67 Squadrons 1916-18, flying Sopwith Strutters and Camels.

Field-Marshall Bernard Law Montgomery (UK) -Most famous British General of WW2, 'Monty' commanded British forces in North Africa, Sicily, Normandy and North-West Europe. At the outbreak of WW1, he was a junior officer serving in the Royal Warwickshires and fought at the Battle of Mons in August 1914 where half his Battalion were made casualties. Badly wounded in the lungs by a sniper at Meteren in October of that year, he nearly died but eventually recovered. He served as a senior staff officer for the rest of the war involved in training of the new British armies and in the planning of major offensives. He ended the Great War as a Lieutenant-Colonel.

Field-Marshall Archibald Wavell (UK) -British General, notable for great successes against the Italian armies in North Africa in 1940. Later became Viceroy of India. In WW1, he fought as an Infantry officer at the Second Battle of Ypres in 1915 (where he lost an eye), was Liason to the Russian Army in 1916 and then served as a staff officer in Palestine in 1918.

Anthony Eden (UK) - Prime Minister of Great Britain 1955-57 and Foreign Secretary during WW2. He served with the Kings Royal Rifle Corps during WW1 as a Captain and later rose to become the youngest Brigade-Major in the British Army. His younger brother Nicholas was killed at the Battle of Jutland in 1916. After the war he met Adolf Hitler in the early 1930s and both men observed that they had been present on opposite sides at the First Battle of Ypres in 1914.

George Mallory (UK) - Famous Mountaineer who made three attempts to climb Mount Everest in the early 1920s and vanished on the third expedition in 1924. (His body was finally discovered near the summit in 1999). Mallory joined the Royal Garrison Artillery as a 2nd Lieutenant in 1915 and participated in the preliminary bombardment at the Somme the following year. He remained on the Western front for the remainder of the war. Good friends with Robert Graves, he was Best-Man at the latter's wedding in 1918.

Field-Marshall Albert Kesselring (Germany) - Air and Ground commander who led one of the Luftwaffe's Air fleets during the Battle of Britain and later commanded ground forces in Italy, most famously at Monte Cassino in 1944. In the Great War, he was a junior officer in both the 1st and 3rd Bavarian Foot Artillery on the Western Front and he also served as a Staff officer in the East.

General Carl Andrew Spaatz (USA) - Commanded US 8th Air-Force in WW2 and later in 1947 became the first Chief-of-Staff of the United States air-force. In the Great War, Spaatz entered the conflict in 1917 as commander of the 31st Aero Squadron of the AEF. He spent most of the war with the US Aviation training school at Issoudon but he saw three weeks of action late in the war with the 13th Aero Squadron, flying SPADs and personally shooting down 3 enemy planes.

John Alcock (UK) and Arthur Brown (Scotland)- Flew the first non-stop TransAtlantic Flight in a Vickers Vimy from NewFoundland to Ireland in 1919. Alcock was a pilot in the RFC during WW1 and was shot down whilst flying on a bombing mission in the Middle East, ending up in a Turkish POW camp. Brown was also in the RFC and he was shot down over the Western Front, becoming a prisoner in a German POW camp. If any forum readers have more details, I would love to know.

Ross Macpherson-Smith & Keith Macpherson-Smith (Australia). Brothers who flew the first flight from England to Australia in 1919 in a Vickers Vimy. In WW1, Ross served with the Australian Light-Horse and fought at Gallipoli in 1915. In 1917 he joined the AFC and flew over the Western Front and the following year flew Bristol F2Bs in Palestine. He was credited with the destruction of 11 enemy aircraft. His brother Keith flew with the RFC but I don't know any details. Can any forum members help me?

More to come, I hope. Regards Pete

[FliegerJG1]

George Grosz--German artist and one of the founders of the Dada school of art. He was well known for his works of political and social satire. George Grosz is also the father of aviation historian, Peter Grosz.

Fritz Kreisler--Austrian concert violinist (1875-1962). His unit was called up at the beginning of hostilities and he served as an officer in the Austrian Army on the Eastern Front. He was injured in the shoulder and thigh during an attack by Cossacks and lost consciousness. His unit moved on and left him behind but his orderly returned to find him and get him to a field hospital. He survived his wounds and was later honorably discharged as unfit for further duty. Later he wrote "Four Weeks In the Trenches," a memoir of his wartime service.

FliegerJG1

[David_Layton]

Frederich Hayek b 1899, d 1992, served int he Austro Hungarian Army. Winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1974. Influential economist and proponent of free markets over government controls. Professor at the University of Chicago. Lead the move away from Keynsian economics and towards the global economy.

[Kilian]

James Fitzmaurice (Ireland)
Participant in the Transatlantic Crossing in the "Bremen" 1928. In WWI served in France and was wounded. January 1917 promoted to Corporal. November 1917 to 2nd Lieutenant. June 1 1918 he came to the pilot training school in Reading. After he finished the training he should go to France but the armistice prevented a flying career in WWI.

Kurt Tank (Germany)
German aircraft engineer and pilot. Volunteered and served on the Eastern Front at the age of 17 and later became an officer. 1918 he was Leutnant.

Hasso von Manteuffel (Germany)
German Tank General in WWII of the 7th Army. After the war politician in the FDP Party.From 1953 to 1957 he had a seat in the German Bundestag. Is said to have coined the term "Bundeswehr" for the German Army after WWII. 1968 visited the Pentagon and White House. End of the 1960s worked as counselor for US Military war movies. In WWI served in Husar Regiment No.3, 1916 promoted to Leutnant.

[wingedwarrior]

Hi all,

Here is a website that describes other famous people who served in WWI:

http://militaryhistory.suite101.com/..._the_great_war

Regards,

[NeilE]

Harold MacMillian - British Prime Minister 1957-1963

Macmillan served with distinction as a captain in the Grenadier Guards during the war and was wounded on three occasions. During the Battle of the Somme, he spent an entire day wounded and lying in a slit trench with a bullet in his pelvis, reading the Classical Greek playwright Aeschylus in his original language. Macmillan lost so many of his fellow students during the war that afterwards he refused to return to Oxford, saying the university would never be the same. He joined Macmillan Publishers as a junior partner in 1920, remaining with the company until his appointment to ministerial office in 1940.

cheers

neil

[vb136]

Joseph Kessel, born in 1898, served as observer/gunner in escadrille 39. He became a writer post-war.