To mark the Army’s 249th birthday, a list of celebrity veterans’ jobs and accomplishments around the world.
June 14 is the birthday of the U.S. Army. According to the U.S. Army Center of Military History’s website – at history.army.mil – it was on June 14, 1775, that “the Continental Congress authorized enlistment of expert riflemen to serve the United Colonies for one year.”
The most famous Army veteran may be Elvis Presley (truck driver in Germany), but other famous figures served in a variety of roles and locations.
Gene Wilder, actor: paramedic in the Department of Psychiatry and Neurology at Valley Forge Army Hospital in Pennsylvania.
Mr. T, actor/professional wrestler: Military Police Corps.
Jackie Robinson, Major League Baseball player: athletics coach at Camp Breckinridge in Kentucky.
Clint Eastwood, actor/director: swimming instructor at Fort Ord in California.
Ice-T, actor/rapper: squad leader at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii.
James Earl Jones, actor: established a cold-weather-training command at Camp Hale in Colorado.
Tony Bennett, singer: In 1945, his 63rd Infantry Division liberated a concentration camp in Germany near Dachau.
- Honor & Remembrance