James Doohan’s first day of combat came during the invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944. He almost didn’t make it to his second, all because of a friendly fire incident.
Doohan, who played chief engineer Lt. Cmdr. Montgomery Scott (“Scotty”) on the 1960s television classic “Star Trek,” served as a lieutenant in the Canadian army during World War II. On D-Day, he survived a turbulent landing at Juno Beach, and as the troops advanced inland, he shot and killed two German snipers.
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Approximately 160,000 Allied troops landed on the Normandy coast for Operation Overlord. Needless to say, it was a dangerous, nerve-racking experience. Doohan was looking for a way to relax after they established defensive positions for the night.
He sought to calm his nerves by smoking a cigarette. Doohan was returning to his command post, only to have a trigger-happy Canadian sentry mistake him for the enemy.
Doohan was shot six times. A gift from his brother likely saved his life.
A Rough Landing at Normandy
After Canada declared war on Germany in September 1939, Doohan enlisted in the Royal Canadian Artillery, became an officer, and was put in charge of a battery of field guns.
As they prepared to invade Normandy, inclement weather made the seas especially hostile to any vessels. That included the LCT (landing craft tank) on which Doohan and others waited to make their way across the beach. With the landing delayed, they became increasingly nervous.
“We were more afraid of drowning than [we were of] the Germans,” Doohan recalled to The Associated Press.
They were in immediate peril once they finally reached solid ground, including from anti-tank and anti-personnel mines. Doohan and his men in the 22nd Battery thankfully avoided setting them off and prepared to go forward near Courseulles-dur-Mer, France.
By midday, they had established a secure position. As night fell, the Germans didn’t pose the only risk. Friendly fire incidents were not uncommon during WWII, as Doohan was about to find out.
A Good-Luck Charm Saved Him
Making a terrible mistake, the sentry fired his Bren light machine gun at Doohan repeatedly.
The future actor was hit six times, including four times in the leg. Another bullet struck him in his right middle finger, which later had to be amputated. (Doohan tried to keep the missing digit concealed during most of his postwar acting work.)
Doohan survived those wounds, which did not damage any major organs or arteries. However, the sentry also struck the Canadian lieutenant in the chest. That blow might have proved fatal, if the bullet had not struck Doohan’s cigarette case in his shirt pocket. Doohan’s brother gave him the case as a good-luck gift before he headed overseas.
After recovering from his injuries, Doohan piloted Taylorcraft Auster Mark V aircraft on air observation runs. He never saw combat again, though.
“I was 24,… and if the Germans had been marginally better shots, I wouldn’t have seen 25,” Doohan said.
The Military Connections to ‘Star Trek’
Doohan was not the only person involved with the original “Star Trek” to serve in the military. The show’s creator, Gene Roddenberry, and actor DeForest Kelley (“Bones”) served in the U.S. Army Air Forces during WWII, and Leonard Nimoy (“Spock”) was in the Army Reserve in the 1950s.
After the war, Doohan became a successful voice actor in Canada before joining the crew of the Starship Enterprise. The science fiction series ran on television from 1966 to 1969, but its popularity has endured because of the numerous movies, along with live-action and animated TV shows, that followed.
Along the way, “Star Trek” developed a devoted military following and made “Beam me up, Scotty” a popular cultural phrase.
Once the series ended, Doohan struggled to find other acting jobs. Too many casting agents saw him only as Scotty. After he complained to his dentist once about the lack of work, he received a reality check.
“Jimmy, you’re going to be Scotty long after you’re dead,” the dentist told Doohan. “If I were you, I’d go with the flow.”
He wasn’t wrong, and Doohan took his advice. Having given all he’s got, Doohan died on July 20, 2005, at the age of 85. He was cremated, and some of his ashes were smuggled onto the International Space Station.
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