D-Day 70th Anniversary: James Doohan (1920-2005)

"I'm given' her all she's got, Captain!" were not the words spoken by Lieutenant James Doohan who had a command in 'D' company of the Winnipeg Rifles on storming Juno Beach. The company moved off the beach quickly and cleared a path through the minefield at La Vallette. Then they headed for Graye-sur-Mer and cleared the town of the Germans. They advanced further making good progress.

Doohan was shot in the hand and chest, a silver cigarette case stopped the bullet to the chest, and lost a finger on his right hand.

Those words, or similar, had to wait until after when Doohan, as the actor who played Chief Engineer Montgomery “Scotty” Scott of Star Trek, was called upon to pull the the USS Enterprise out of yet another tight situation. After D-Day Doohan was evacuated to hospital in Basingstoke, as if "beamed up" from further fighting during Operation Overlord.

Read more in James Doohan's 1996 autobiography Beam Me Up, Scotty.