Some Surviving Mystery Guests ...

I don't what I read now. Maybe it was a widow alive at the time of the war.

 

1969, Lansing Michigan newspaper:

Marie S. Keil last Civil War Widow [in Michigan] - Newspapers.com

"Last Civil War Widow Dies....Funeral services were held today for a woman believed to have been Michigan's last Civil War widow. Buried today in Woodmere Cemetery was Marie S. Keil, who was 97 when she died Sunday in a nursing home"

 

The show may have been a standout even back then:

So, what was the secret to What's My Line's success. Here's the answer according to the Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows: 1946-Present

That little game, by itself, hardly warranted an 18-year run, when other panel shows of the early 1950s came and went every month. But What's My Line was something special, both for the witty and engaging panel, and for a certain élan which few other shows have ever captured. There were no flashy celebrities-of-the-moment or empty-headed pretty faces on this panel: they were obviously very intelligent people all, out to have some genteel fun with an amusing parlour game.

What's My Line? was hosted by John Daly, a journalist and radio and television personality. It was known for its manners and the formal attire of its host and panelists. When the show began, the women wore street dresses and the men wore business suits. From 1953 on, however, the female panelists wore fancy gowns, jewels and sometimes gloves. The men wore black suits and bow ties. Host John Daly referred to the panelists as "Miss Kilgallen," "Mr. Cerf" and "Miss Francis. The sign of his desk read "Mr. Daly".

(excerpted from TV BANTER . . . with Joanne Madden: Dorothy Kilgallen of What's My Line?: Why was her death linked to the JFK assassination?)
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The fifties used to be called the golden age of America.

 

I'll have to check that one out. I remember reading a story about how after returning to the states and wearing those Lt's bars, he was stopped by some MP's and questioned about how someone so young (He did have a baby face) could have been a Commissioned Officer who had all those decorations. if I remember correctly, they kept him in custody until he could prove he was the real deal.