American Valor Quarterly Issue 11 - Fall 2014 | Page 3

The American Veterans Center

Fall 2014 | Issue 11

www.americanveteranscenter.org

World War II Veterans Committee
www.wwiivets.com

National Vietnam Veterans Committee
www.vietnamvetscommittee.org

In This Issue...

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Baseball Goes
To War: The National

Pastime in WWII
By James C. Roberts

From the frozen tundra of Iceland to
the jungles of the South Pacific; from
the deserts of North Africa to the Nazi
stadium in Nuremberg, American
Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines
played baseball whenever, and wherever,
they could.

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FROM THE
BATTLEFIELD TO
THE BALLPARK

From Lou Brissie

Delaying professional baseball to fight
for his country, Lou Brissie’s baseball
career was almost over before it began
when an artillery shell exploded and
shattered his left shin. But after two
years and 23 surgeries, Brissie pitched
several seasons for the Philadelphia A’s,
making the All-Star game in 1949.

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THE HIGHLIGHT
OF MY LIFE
From Jerry Coleman

The only major league baseball player
to see combat during WWII and the
Korean War, Jerry Coleman returned
to the major leagues and played in six
World Series alongside Joe DiMaggio,
Yogi Berra, and Mickey Mantle. After
his playing career was over, Coleman
distinguished himself further as the
broadcast voice of the San Diego
Padres.

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The National

29

WE NEEDED
TO STEP UP

31

BASEBALL WAS
MY LIVING

From Bob Feller

Chief of an anti-aircraft gun crew
for the Navy during WWII, Bob
Feller helped take out some of the last
battleships in the German Navy and
over 470 enemy planes in the Japanese
Air Force. Feller shared his story at
the American Veterans Center Annual
Conference & Honors.

From Yogi Berra

Before Yogi Berra established himself
as one of the greatest catchers ever to
play baseball, leading the Yankees to 10
World Series titles, he put his baseball
career on hold to serve his country
during the historic D-Day invasion of
Normandy.

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Baseball Heroes
of World War II

Adapted from
November the AVC’s Veter ans
Day 2000 Panel Discussion

Nearly 14 years ago, the American
Veterans Center hosted a special
“Baseball Heroes of WWII”
panel discussion following the
groundbreaking of the National World
War II Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Panel guests included Bob Feller,
Bert Shepard, Buck O’Neil, Tommy
Henrich, and Warren Spahn.

Pastime
and a World War
This special issue of American Valor
Quarterly has literally been years in the
making. The American Veterans Center
& World War II Veterans Committee
has had a long relationship with Major
League Baseball players who served
during the Second World War – a time
when Americans of all backgrounds and
professions came together to quite literally
save the world.
Over the years, the AVC & WWIIVC has
hosted many of these players at its Annual
Veterans Conference and the National
Memorial Day Parade, interviewed them
for the Veterans Chronicles radio series &
Oral History project, and told their stories
in this magazine. Following the 2010
“Baseball Heroes of WWII” program at
Nationals Park in Washington, the AVC
worked with several of these players to
get their stories on paper, to eventually be
shared in American Valor Quarterly. While
several of these “Baseball Heroes” have
since passed, we are honored to help tell
their stories of service.

A PART OF HISTORY
From Monte Irvin

Playing alongside Hank
Thompson and Willie Mays, Monte
Irvin was a part of professional
baseball’s first all-black outfield. Irvin
served with bravery and dedication for
his country as an Army soldier during
WWII and as a baseball player helping
to break through the league’s color
barrier.

FALL 2014

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