Dalton Trumbo's book about a mutilated survivor of The Great War was published the Friday before the German invasion of Poland, making it, essentially, the last book about WW1 published before WW2.
During the 1950s Trumbo was blacklisted, having been accused of communistic leanings by the House Unamerican Activities Committee, vigorously led by Richard Nixon. In 1971, when Johnny Got His Gun came out as a very affecting movie, Trumbo said in an interview that back in 1951 Richard Nixon was part of a committee that threw him out of his job, and now he was going to join several committees aimed at throwing Nixon out of his. (Didn't succeed, unfortunately.)
Trumbo himself appears briefly as the general who authorizes a flag of truce to permit a German soldier to be properly buried.