5. Yogi Berra
A famed New York Yankees catcher, Yogi Berra most notably became a sports icon through playing in 14 World Series matches and acting as a big league manager. He also inspired the name for the famous picnic-stealing animated bear, “Yogi Bear.”
But before his Hollywood fame, Berra led a life of military service. He was a veteran of the D-Day invasion, where he and his fellow sailors had control of a small Navy support craft, shooting rockets at German defenses on Omaha Beach. Even though the all-star baseball player happened to get grazed by a German bullet during the Marseilles invasion, Berra didn’t accept the Purple Heart for his duties, hoping to keep his mother from worrying about him stateside.
And believe it or not, Berra wasn’t the only future ball player in the war. He was among many other greats, like Ted Williams, Bob Feller, Joe DiMaggio, Stan Musial and Jackie Robinson, who were all veterans of WWII themselves.