Captain (Ret'd) James Montgomery Doohan

James Doohan was born in Vancouver in 1920 and served in the 13 Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery during World War II. As a Gun Position Officer landing on D Day, he saw a tank, which was carrying his substantial winnings from across-channel card school, blown to pieces early in the battle. Also early in the continental landings, he was returning from a patrol when he was cut down by a nervous sentry’s hail of Bren gun fire.

After recovering from his wounds, and the loss of his finger he re-roled as an Air Observation Pilot. He is quoted in an interview in the Ottawa Citizen at the time of the 1988 Air OP Pilots Reunion as saying, "You had to be some sort of a fool to volunteer (to be an Air OP Pilot) or have a strong desire to fly." He spoke about practicing low-flying techniques. He once slalomed beneath the wires of nineteen consecutive telephone poles and practiced tight turns around Stonehenge. "It was the greatest physical year of my life. I have never been so close to death." In addition to the aerobatics during training, he nearly crashed his aircraft in Holland while taking "a look" at a German U-boat, earning him the title of "the craziest pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force".

After the war, Doohan spent two years studying acting at New York City's Neighbourhood Playhouse, where he later taught. Returning to Canada in 1953, he worked in 4,000 radio programmes and 400 television shows before moving to Hollywood. There he enjoyed small parts in TV shows such as Peyton Place, The Virginian and The Twilight Zone. But it was with Star Trek, which first aired in 1966, that Jimmy Doohan got his first real taste of stardom. Working alongside fellow Canadian William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley, he benefited from the strong characterization which offset the show's small budget. Avuncular and wise, Scotty appeared a loyal and steadfast officer. His ability to conjure solutions to the Enterprise's regular engineering crises often made him the saviour of his beloved ship. The series lasted two years fewer than the Enterprise's "five-year mission...to boldly go where no man has gone before". But the continuing interest created by constant repeats led, in 1979, to Star Trek: The Motion Picture, a worldwide box-office hit and the first of seven Star Trek movies. Though his other work made little impact, Doohan enjoyed a lucrative old age as the star of many Star Trek conventions. The programme's fans found him an approachable and affable figure who often entertained the crowds with his singing. Star Trek's impact became apparent when he was awarded an honorary doctorate in Engineering from the Milwaukee School of Engineering, after half the students there said that Scotty had inspired them to take up the subject.

In 2000, aged 80, Doohan boldly went into fatherhood for the seventh time when his then 43-year-old wife gave birth to a daughter, Sarah.

Paradoxically, the catchphrase for which Doohan will be best remembered was said to him and not by him. Adopted now as a throw-away line in any desperate situation, "Beam me up, Scotty!" has become a part of the linguistic currency. In the same way, James Doohan's most famous creation is, and will remain, one of TV's favourite characters. He will be remembered by The Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery, as one of our own… Once a Gunner always a Gunner, Stand Easy.

Notes: Majority of the text prepared by Major John R. Grodzinski, CD, MA, Department of History, The Royal Military College of Canada.

Excerpts from Ottawa Citizen as stated.

From Lieutenant Colonel D.L. Fromow, CD, "Canada's Flying Gunners: A History of the Air Observation Post of the Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery," 2002, pp. 45-46.