When a time honored security safeguard went south.
This was serious stuff. In 1948, U.S. Army veteran and West Point graduate David Daniel “Mickey” Marcus was advising Israeli forces during the fight for independence. One evening, Marcus was challenged by a guard. When the sentry did not hear an appropriate response, he fired. Marcus didn’t speak Hebrew, so he gave a response in English. The sentry didn’t understand. The shot was fatal. The incident is featured in a film on Marcus’s role in the war, Cast a Giant Shadow (1966).
In the chaos of battle, without time to formally issue sign and countersign, soldiers could get very inventive-asking questions an enemy wouldn’t know or words that were too difficult to pronounce by foreign language speakers.
This ranks as the most ridiculous exchange we ever found.
Who is David Niven? David Niven for decades was one of the most recognizable and bankable actors in both the British film industry and Hollywood. Like many male British actors of his generation, Niven served in the military. Niven left the military to pursue a career in films. When World War II broke out he was one of the few British actors who managed to return to England and see active service including time in combat zones. Niven served in a special forces unit.