Bob Keeshan was young and did not see combat.

However, unlike Cadet Bonespurs, the Captain enlisted.

...I can just imagine him as the Good(?) Captain's enforcer--his Beria or Himmler, terrorizing innocent young children all across the nation...the Dark Right Hand of the national nightmare that was the Captain Kangaroo show... (and don't even get me started on Buffalo Bob... )

Nikolai Yezhov, “The Dwarf”



In December 1936, Nikolai Yezhov established a new section of the NKVD named the Administration of Special Tasks (AST). It contained about 300 of his own trusted men from the Central Committee of the Communist Party. Yezhov's intention was complete control of the NKVD by using men who could be expected to carry out sensitive assignments without any reservations. The new AST operatives would have no allegiance to any members of the old NKVD and would therefore have no reason not to carry out an assignment against any of one of them. The AST was used to remove all those who had knowledge of the conspiracy to destroy Stalin's rivals. One of the first to be arrested was Genrikh Yagoda, the former head of the NKVD.

https://spartacus-educational.com/RUSyezhov.htm

...that even his fellow Bolshevik gangsters couldn't stomach Yezhov--that he was held in contempt--and, of course, fear--by all of them. Stalin eliminated him the moment his usefulness ended. A great pity there really wasn't a conspiracy against Stalin--if they had eliminated him, and the German generals had eliminated Hitler in the 1938 Oster Plot, maybe the 20th century would have been very different...

If these evil people were frustrated or had had never existed, the circumstances that led to many of my ancestors meeting would never occur, and it is unlikely I would exist. Sad.

You probably know the story about when Beria was summoned to the dacha where Stalin was reported by servants to have died. Beria came in with Molotov, Khrushchev and other big wigs. Upon examining Stalin, rock-still on the floor, Beria exclaimed (paraphrase, couldn’t find reference tonight), “The tyrant is dead. We finally are free.” At which Stalin’s eyes popped open, staring at Beria, who dropped to his knees, begging forgiveness. Stalin lived for another day or two.

His work might have served as inspiration for an up and coming Stasidriver by the name of V. Putin.

“Given a short time with a psycho-politician you can alter forever the loyalty of a soldier in our hands or a statesman or a leader in his own country, or you can destroy his mind.” — Lavrentiy Beria