🇨🇦 Before he became the man who could save the USS Enterprise, James Doohan survived Juno Beach—and six bullets.
The last one should have killed him.
On June 6, 1944, 24-year-old Lieutenant Doohan landed in Normandy with the 13th Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery. Under fire, he advanced inland in support of the Royal Winnipeg Rifles, crossed mined ground, and killed two German snipers.
He survived the Germans.
Then, late that night, a nervous Canadian sentry mistook him for the enemy and opened fire with a Bren gun.
Four bullets struck Doohan’s leg. A fifth tore through his right middle finger. The sixth hit him in the chest—directly over his heart.
A silver cigarette case given to him by his brother stopped it!
Doohan lost the finger but survived. After recovering, he remained in uniform and trained as an artillery observation pilot.
Twenty-two years later, he became Montgomery “Scotty” Scott, chief engineer of the USS Enterprise. On screen, he carefully concealed his missing finger—and millions of viewers never knew that the man keeping the starship alive had nearly died on D-Day.
Before he wore the uniform of Starfleet, James Doohan wore Canadian khaki.
And that was no television story.
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