Admittedly, I've never understood the allure of Star Trek. I've never seen a single episode of the original series or the spin-offs and I've only caught one or two of the flicks. I just don't dig it.
Earlier today, we learned that James Doohan passed away. Despite my disinterest in everything Star Trek, I knew who Scotty was and appreciated the fact he, like Captain Kirk, was Canadian. Plucked straight from his BBC obituary, here are some very interesting facts about Doohan that you may not have known.
As a captain in the Royal Canadian Artillery Regiment, he lost a finger on the first morning of the D-Day landings in Normandy.
He then saw a tank, which was carrying his substantial winnings from a cross-Channel card school, blown to pieces before his eyes.
Besides this, his aerobatic exploits, which included nearly crashing his aircraft in Holland while taking "a look" at a German U-boat, earned him the title of "the craziest pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force".
The craziest pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force will be missed.
