after being drafted by the army in 1941. the following year he began his journalism career as a reporter for the official army newspaper "stars and stripes" he fearly didn't go. in an interview with greta van susteren in 2003, he explained why. >> i had a professor in college who pass a passivist. he convinced me that i might have been a passivist. i almost registered as a conscientious on objector. one of the most embarrassing episodes in my life. i didn't realize how wrong i had been. >> rooney witnessed and reported on some of the most pivotal events in the second world war including normandy invasion on d day and the horrors of hitler's final solution when he watched u.s. forces liberate the concentration camp. >> it was emotionally debilitating. there are scenes embedded in my brain that i don't ever get over of dead people.