What actor never talked about his service during World War 2?

David Niven was notoriously tight lipped about his service during WWII. In large part this can be explained by Niven’s entrenched views of social class and military decorum.

In the most British sense of the phrase possible, Niven was “an officer and a gentlemen.” At the time, this was a particular class and profession where the silver spoon you were born with in your mouth required a stiff upper lip just to hold it in place. And it was just not a done thing for such a man to brag about his accomplishments.

Niven, born in an upperclass family, attended Sandhurst from 1928 to 1930.

He graduated Sandurst and was commissioned in the peace-time British Army in 1930.

Unfortunately, he was particularly ill-suited to peace-time service. He ultimately resigned his commission in 1933, bored and with no belief he would advance any further than Lieutenant.

He ended up sailing off, quite literally AWOL and having skipped out on house arrest for a minor act of insubordination, to America to find his fortune there, resigning his commission somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic.

Remarkably, though, given the circumstances, he quickly succeeded, becoming a major star by the time WWII came around in 1939.

But when the War started, he knew he couldn’t just sit it out. Unlike most every British actor then in Hollywood, he dropped everything and returned home taking his commission back up.

While his service was varied, Niven ultimately wanted to see combat. He eventually rose to Lieutenant Colonel serving in GHQ Liaison Regiment, a special reconnaissance unit that saw combat in Normandy and throughout Western Europe until the end of the War.

After the War he almost never talked about his service.