Steve McQueen – U.S. Marines

Steve McQueen remains etched in our memories as an antihero persona who dominated the box office in the ’60s and ’70s. With his mother’s blessing, McQueen, who wasn’t 18 yet, joined the Marines in 1947. McQueen aced his boot camp at Parris Island, and he soon became a private first-class serving with the armored unit.

McQueen’s rebelliousness saw him demoted to the rank of a private, a total of seven times. He eventually resolved to embrace the Marines’ fully, and one of his greatest moments was saving five fellow Marines from a tank during an Arctic exercise that went wrong.