NHL War Vets

[Rants Mulliniks]

I know Toronto had a lot of players from their organization who left to go to war over the years. I've always wondered how many left from other teams?

Feel free to list the players you can think of that went to war.

Toronto

Syl Apps
Turk Broda
Bingo Kampman
Pete Langele
Conn Smythe
Nick Metz
Don Metz
Garth Boesch

Click to read more...

 

[MXD]

For Montreal

Terry Reardon
Kenny Reardon
Joe Quilty
John Adams
Maybe Joe Benoit

There might have been others.

 

[pnep]

http://www.sihrhockey.org/lest_we_forget.cfm?f=n

 

[Rants Mulliniks]

http://www.sihrhockey.org/lest_we_forget.cfm?f=n

Wow! Excellent find. Never heard of this site. Now I'll have to sort the teams.

 

[Hawksfan2828]

Well a lot did during WWII I would assume WWI as well.

That list is endless..

I would love to know how many former NHL players participated in Vietnam or Korea or any other conflict that wasn't a world war. I would bet that list is non-existent.

I would be interested to know how many Russians served in military conflict... I would think a communist nation wouldn't send their nations best hockey players to war.

 

[David Bruce Banner]

Okay, that sent me off on a Google Search that ended up with me finding out something I had never heard of before.

From Legends of Hockey...

Goaltender Joe Turner was a career minor leaguer whose NHL opportunity was the result of an injury that left the Detroit Red Wings without a netminder. Turner, who was born in Windsor, Ontario, spent three of his first four seasons playing in his hometown then began a nomadic stretch that saw him guard the crease for seven different clubs over the next five campaigns which led to his NHL debut.

Turner was enjoying a stellar year with the Indianapolis Capitols of the American Hockey League in 1941-42 when he got the call from Detroit. His 34 victories with the Capitols led the entire AHL that year but he was unable to post a victory for the Red Wings.

With Red Wing goalie Johnny Mowers hurt, they brought in Turner to face the Toronto Maple Leafs on February 5th, 1942. Turner was only beaten three times during the game and was unbeatable during overtime to preserve the tie for Detroit.

Turner's career appeared to be on an upswing after his very successful 1941-42 campaign, but World War II interrupted his ascent. Turner left his goalie gear behind and served his country starting in 1942. Three years later while serving with the U.S. Marine Corps in Holland Joe Turner was killed in action.

I had never heard of there being any US Marines serving or stationed in Europe in WWII, but after a bit of searching, I came across a couple of mentions that they were there in small numbers, sometimes associated with the OSS (pre-CIA). Nowhere could I find any info on Marines being involved in any action in Holland, though.

So, there must be an interesting story there... how does a Canadian boy end up serving in the US Marines and getting killed in Holland?

Anyone? Anyone? Canadian US Marine in Holland? Anyone? Bueller?

 

[MonzaSpyder]

He was in the US Army and was killed in Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge in the winter of '44.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Turner_(ice_hockey)

To the best of my knowledge, the Marines served only in the Pacific theatre not Europe.

 

[Canadiens1958]

Volunteer

Okay, that sent me off on a Google Search that ended up with me finding out something I had never heard of before.

From Legends of Hockey...


I had never heard of there being any US Marines serving or stationed in Europe in WWII, but after a bit of searching, I came across a couple of mentions that they were there in small numbers, sometimes associated with the OSS (pre-CIA). Nowhere could I find any info on Marines being involved in any action in Holland, though.

So, there must be an interesting story there... how does a Canadian boy end up serving in the US Marines and getting killed in Holland?

Anyone? Anyone? Canadian US Marine in Holland? Anyone? Bueller?

Plenty of non-hockey playing Canadiens volunteered for the US Armed Forces during wars including Viet Nam, some became US Marines, some paid the ultimate price.

 

[jkrx]

Well a lot did during WWII I would assume WWI as well.

That list is endless..

I would love to know how many former NHL players participated in Vietnam or Korea or any other conflict that wasn't a world war. I would bet that list is non-existent.

I would be interested to know how many Russians served in military conflict... I would think a communist nation wouldn't send their nations best hockey players to war.

I would think some players served in Vietnam but maybe not your average NHLer but maybe people below average. The biggest sports star in those wars were probably Bob Kalsu of the Buffalo Bills. He was killed in Veitnam.

Why wouldnt hockey players serve the russian army during WWI or WWII? Both wars was fought before Soviet even had a League. The first time USSR had a team internationally were in 1954.