Surprising things inadvertently discovered

I have lost the trail of how I arrived at this post but it starts with James Doohan (1920-2005), actor by Tom Hawthorn. A remembrance of the Canadian actor James Doohan who played Scotty in the original Star Trek series. In passing, he notes.

As a young man, he led soldiers as part of the D-Day invasion in an attack which he later described as "giving Hitler the finger."

Really? How many times have I watched Star Trek and never noticed he only had four fingers on his right hand? Was I that inattentive? Did he have a prosthesis?

On to Wikipedia.

At the beginning of the Second World War, Doohan joined the Royal Canadian Artillery and was a member of the 14th (Midland) Field Battery, 2nd Canadian Infantry Division. He was commissioned a Lieutenant in the 14th Field Artillery Regiment of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division. He was sent to England in 1940 for training. He first saw combat landing at Juno Beach on D-Day. Shooting two snipers, Doohan led his men to higher ground through a field of anti-tank mines, where they took defensive positions for the night. Crossing between command posts at 11:30 that night, Doohan was hit by six rounds fired from a Bren Gun by a nervous Canadian sentry: four in his leg, one in the chest, and one through his right middle finger. The bullet to his chest was stopped by a silver cigarette case given to him by his brother. His right middle finger had to be amputated, something he would conceal on-screen during most of his career as an actor.

Doohan graduated from Air Observation Pilot Course 40 with eleven other Canadian artillery officers and flew Taylorcraft Auster Mark V aircraft for 666 (AOP) Squadron, RCAF as a Royal Canadian Artillery officer in support of 1st Army Group Royal Artillery. All three Canadian (AOP) RCAF squadrons were manned by artillery officer-pilots and accompanied by non-commissioned RCA and RCAF personnel serving as observers.

What a guy. What a generation.