Mel Brooks in World War II

Due to his high scores on his military entrance exam, 18 year-old Melvin Kaminsky-soon-to-be-Brooks was placed in the Army Specialized Training Program at Virginia Military Institute, where he learned combat engineering and other fighting skills. In November 1944, he arrived in France and then Belgium, serving as a forward artillery observer with the 78th Infantry Division. He then transferred to the 1104th Engineer Combat Group and saw combat in the long bloody rout that was the Battle of the Bulge. Legend has it that he serenaded the retreating Germans with a megaphone rendition of “Toot Toot Tootsie…