MEL BROOKS' MILITARY SERVICE HELPED LAUNCH AN UNMATCHED COMEDIC CAREER
The word legendary gets tossed around sometimes, but when you’ve had a career spanning over seven decades, are 98 years old with new projects still in the works, have completed the EGOT, and have influenced an entire industry—it’s a fitting title. You can’t mention comedy without thinking of Mel Brooks, however, he also served as a Soldier during World War II, defusing landmines and fighting back against anti-semitism.
Did Mel Brooks Serve in the Military?
Before the world would know him as Mel Brooks, Melvin Kaminsky was a teenager growing up in a rough part of Brooklyn, enlisting to be a Soldier in the Army. While he initially believed he would be serving stateside, studying as an engineer, the demands of World War II had other plans.
Enlistment, Deployment, and Battling Anti-Semitism
When Kaminsky enlisted at 17, the future Young Frankenstein director believed he would be involved in engineering, and he was right. What he got wrong was the capacity in which he would be using his skills while in the Army.
Once he got in the Army, Mel would end up training at the elite Virginia Military Institute program, due to his high level of intelligence.
While he honed his engineering skills, World War II continued, and the program ended up being cut short because more warfighters were needed. So, Kaminsky was sent to basic and then deployed to Europe instead.
Brooks would eventually join the 1104th Engineer Combat Group, but when he first arrived across the Atlantic, he was a forward artillery observer.
However, serving as a Soldier against the Nazis didn’t mean Brooks received an automatic pass on a social level.
Being of Jewish descent, Brooks endured anti-Semitic treatment throughout his time as a Soldier.
Some of this treatment would help shape his comedy later on, as Brooks has spoken about coding jokes with Jewish flair as well as speaking out against the anti-Semitism he faced as well as current examples throughout his life.
“I was in the Army. ‘Jewboy! Out of my way, out of my face, Jewboy,’” said Brooks.
On at least one occasion, Brooks would find himself in the stockade after hitting an anti-Semite heckler in the head with equipment.
“I took his helmet off. I said, ‘I don't want to hurt your helmet 'cause it's G.I. issue.’ And I smashed him in the head with my mess kit,” said Brooks.
Mel Brooks Saved Lives with the 1104th Engineer Combat Group
Essentially, Brooks was tasked with combing an area and finding mines as a part of the 1104th Engineer Combat Group. Defusing land mines saved lives and to deactivate the explosives, first someone needed to locate the threat.
“You would have to probe the earth lightly with your bayonet, and if you heard, ‘Tink! Tink! Tink!’ you knew there was something dangerous underneath. You had to be careful," said Brooks.
When lethal devices were found, the crew removed dirt from the area and worked to disarm the device.
All of this was done as carefully as they could and many times with part of the crew taking whatever cover they could find just in case.
From Bouncing Betties, to S-mines, to booby traps and more, there were plenty of different variables to consider and devices to find, each with their own hurdles to clear.
The search never ceased either, with Brooks even noting that engineers in the 1104th would check the chains of toilets just in case they were rigged.
Brooks served in the Battle of the Bulge and experienced terrible conditions. Since they were searching for traps, the 1104th often went first into artillery fire and all the other madness WWII had to offer.
While operating in Europe, the group constructed the first bridge over the Roer River and built similar structures over the Rhine and Weser rivers and the Lippe and Aur-Oker canals.
Furthermore, the group was tasked with clearing roads for advancing troops while taking out enemy infrastructure, such as pillboxes, and conducting recon along the way.
“War isn’t hell. War is loud. Much too noisy. All those shells and bombs going off all around you. Never mind death. A man could lose his hearing,” said Brooks.
Brooks didn’t liberate any concentration camps directly but came in contact with prisoners, an event he would mention helped shape his mindset and appreciation of being an American.
Mel Brooks reached the rank of Corporal in his relatively brief, yet impactful, military service.
However, even after his honorable discharge, he stayed in Europe to help with the Allied occupation efforts, doing what he did best: making people laugh.
Brooks would return to the U.S. in April 1946, but not before hosting talent shows and performing jokes for a continent that had been through so much destruction and chaos for years.
When You’re Mel Brooks, It’s Good to Be a Comedy King
When Brooks returned from WWII, his mother helped him get a clerk job at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, but it didn't last long.
Brooks was born to entertain, and even before he became a household name, he headed to the Catskills to earn his stripes as a musician.
At first, Brooks started playing drums and the piano at resorts, but he got his break as a comic when the scheduled performer was too ill to perform.
After acting and working on the radio, Brooks set his sights on pitching jokes to his idol, comedic icon Sid Caesar.
Eventually, his hard work paid off, and by the age of 24, Brooks was a full-time comedy writer and began working with the legendary Your Show of Shows writing team, which would shape the rest of his illustrious career.
The awards, accolades, and success would continue to pour in over the years, with Brooks producing, writing, acting, and doing anything else you can think of when it comes to comedy.
Iconic films such as Blazing Saddles, Spaceballs, Dracula: Dead and Loving It, and many, many more, all came to be under his guidance. All while Brooks would influence the industry as a whole.
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