Dodgers and Others in War

NOTE: I had a request to use this as a topic, so the research is on.

Vietnam

Going to go backward though, and start with a guy who was discussed on here before. Roy Gleason. Gleason was a fleet-footed switch-hitting outfielder. Gleason had signed with the Dodgers in 1961. He started out at Reno, a class C team in 1962. He hit .234 with 22 long balls and 76 RBI’s. In 1963 he moved up to Class A Salem in the NW League. He hit .254 with 16 and 60. He was called up to the Dodgers in September and got into 8 games, mostly as a pinch-runner. He ended up with 3 runs scored, and he got a hit in his only at-bat, a double against the Phillies. It would turn out to be the only hit he would ever get in the majors and he finished his time in the majors with a 1.000 BA. In 64, 65, and 66, he bounced around the Dodgers minor league system not getting above AA. His BA was not impressive, but he had double-digit HR every year.

In 1967, Gleason was drafted into the Army. I was in the Army at that time, stationed in Korea. I had taken basic training at Ft. Bliss in Texas. One of the guys in our battalion was Johnny Crawford, the co-star of The Rifleman series. Over the years, pro athletes and film stars usually seemed to get soft duty. But Gleason took basic at Ft. Lewis, Wash, and then was sent to advanced infantry training at Ft. Polk Louisiana. He was then assigned to the 39th infantry regiment, then to the 9th infantry regiment. They were stationed at an old French fort called Ft. Courage, near Saigon by the South China Sea.

Gleason had many close calls with death as the fort was under mortar attack often. Once 5 men were killed and the attack took off the leg of his company commander. In March of 1968, his platoon came under heavy fire crossing a rice paddy. Two were hit and Gleason carried them to safety even with heavy fire continuing. As a result of that action, he was meritoriously promoted to Sergeant in June becoming the Platoon Sergeant.

Shortly after his promotion, on July 24, 1968, he was walking point and his platoon walked into an ambush. Almost immediately he was wounded in the wrist and lower leg. He fashioned a tourniquet, he returned fire. Many of his buddies were wounded and killed that day. Eventually, helicopters came in and they were evacuated. That ended his tour in Nam.

He returned to baseball in 1969, but his wounds kept him from returning to the majors and he was out of baseball by 1970 at the age of 27. He went on to do some movie work, including starring in Branded with Chuck Connors and doing a Batman episode. He wrote about his baseball and Viet Nam experiences in his biography, Lost in the Sun. I have the book and recommend you read it if you get the chance.

Donny Tidwell

I must admit, I had never even heard of this kid. I found him while reading about Gleason. Tidwell was selected in the 42nd round of the 1966 first-year player draft. Tidwell was sent to Ogden where his manager was Tommy Lasorda. His roommate was Justin Dedeaux, son of legendary USC baseball coach, Rod Dedeaux. Some of his teammates included Billy Russell and Charlie Hough. He posted a record of 4-3, in 19 games and started 12. After the season, feeling a sense of duty, he enlisted in the Army. He had been in Viet Nam only 2 months and 12 days when he was killed on April 12, 1968, at the age of 21. In 2018 when his high school in Diana Texas named the field in his honor, Lasorda sent his family a message. The gist of which was he could not think of that 1966 Ogden team without thinking about the young pitcher who had major league dreams.

Korea

The list of Dodgers who served during the Korean conflict is 12 players long. The biggest star to serve was Don Newcombe. All his service was stateside. John Roseboro missed the 1954 season due to military service. Also, missing time were Danny McDevitt, Norm Sherry, Roger Craig, Jim Baxes, and Darryl Spencer. None were in combat.

WWII

The list of Dodgers in WWII is long, Rex Barney, Boyd Bartley, Jack Bolling, Bobby Bragan, Al Campanis, Hugh Casey, Claude Corbitt, Cliff Dapper, Dutch Dietz, John Douglas, Red Durrett, Herman Franks, Larry French, Roland Gladu, Ray Hathaway, Chris Haughey, Ed Head, Billy Herman, Gene Hermanski, Kirbe Higbe, Gil Hodges, Chet Kehn, Cookie Lavagetto, Vic Lombardi, Cal McLish, Gene Mauch, Rube Melton, Eddie Miksis, Mickey Owen, Don Padgett, Pee Wee Reese, Pete Reiser, Lew Riggs, Johnny Rizzo, Jackie Robinson, Stan Rojek, Bill Sayles, and Duke Snider. Also, GM Larry McPhail left the team to join the Army. When he got out of the Army he was a Colonel. He moved on to run the Yankees.

Reese served in the Navy and was in the Pacific. Hodges, was in the Marine Corps and was an anti-aircraft gunner in the 16th anti-aircraft artillery battalion and served on Tinian and Okinawa. He was awarded the Bronze Star with a V device for heroism under fire. Reiser played baseball for an Army team. Snider and Owen went into the Navy just prior to the end of the war. Herman missed two seasons to the war, Hermanski spent time in the Navy’s aviator training program. Franks was also in the Pacific and attained the rank of Lt JG in the Navy. Lavagetto lost 4 full seasons to the war, serving in the Navy. McLish was in the Army and served in Europe. Higbe joined the Army and saw combat in Europe, his outfit was then sent to the Philippine’s but Japan had surrendered.

Barney served in the Army in Europe and was wounded twice receiving 2 purple hearts and a bronze star. Bragan spent two years in the Army stateside. Campanis was in the Navy rising to the rank of Chief Petty officer. Casey also served in the Navy for two years.

Some non Dodgers that served and are well known, DiMaggio was in the Navy, but he mostly played baseball. Yogi Berra was a gunners mate in the Navy and participated in the Normandy landings where he was wounded. Warren Spahn the great Braves pitcher, joined the Army and was a combat engineer. He was at the Battle of the Bulge and Ludendorff Bridge, earned a battlefield commission and a purple heart.

Ted Williams

Teddy Ballgame, the Splendid Splinter. Williams was one of the best there ever was. But when the war started, he was playing for the Red Sox. He was drafted in 1942 and classified 1-A. A friend suggested that he get in touch with the Advisor to the Governor’s selective service board. Simply because he was the sole support of his mother. Williams was reclassified 3-A ten days later. But the reaction of the public was negative. So in May of 1942, he joined the Navy Reserve. He went on active duty in 1943 and was commissioned as an officer in the Marine Corps as a Naval Aviator.

Williams played ball and trained new pilots. He was in Pearl Harbor awaiting orders to be a replacement pilot when the war ended. Williams returned in 1946. Williams was recalled to service in 1952. He was not exactly happy about it, but he passed his physical and began refresher training and qualification. Williams flew fighters in Korea. He had more than 30 missions.

Moe Berg

Moe Berg is probably one of the more interesting ballplayers who ever lived. Berg was an average catcher who had degrees from Princeton University and Columbia Law School. He was known as a brainy guy and appeared on radio quiz shows. Berg had gone to Japan with barnstorming teams a couple of times, and after stayed to tour the country and go to China. On his second trip in 1934, he was with a group that included Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. When the team arrived in Japan he gave a welcome speech in Japanese and was invited to address the legislature.

Berg had brought a 16mm Bell and Howell camera with him. He had contracted with Movietone News to film the sights from his trip. On the 29th of November, while the rest of the team was playing a game, he went to St Luke’s Hospital in Tsukiji, ostensively to see Ambassador Joseph Grew’s daughter. Instead, Berg went up on the hospital roof, one of the tallest buildings in Tokyo, he filmed the city and the harbor, giving US intelligence services their only view of the city. After the games, he found out he had been released by the Indians and continued to tour going to the Philippines, Korea, and Moscow in the Soviet Union.

When WWII broke out after the Pearl Harbor bombing, Berg accepted a position with the OSS, Office of Strategic Services. He was assigned to the Balkans desk and monitored the situation in Yugoslavia. He prepared Yugoslavian agents for the dangerous drops into Yugoslavia to collect intelligence. In 1943 he was assigned to Project Larson which was a plan to kidnap Italian rocket and missile specialists and bring them to the US.

The US was interested in a couple of German Physicists, Werner Heisenberg and Carl Frederich von Weizsacker. When the OSS learned Heisenberg was speaking in Zurich they sent Berg to attend the lecture. If he felt the Germans were close to the bomb, he would shoot Heisenberg. Berg determined they were not close and he remained in Zurich where he became close friends with physicist, Paul Scherrer. After the war, Berg resigned from the OSS. In 1951 he begged the CIA to send him to the new nation of Israel. This is something a Jew must do he said. They did not send him, but in 1952 he was hired again to use his old contacts and gather information on the Russian bomb projects. He was paid 10,000 plus expenses, and the CIA received nothing for their money. His handler called him flaky.

For the next 20 years of his life, Berg had no job and lived with his relatives. He got a handful of HOF votes. He passed away on May 29th, 1972 after a fall at home. His final words were, how did the Mets do today? They had won. He was cremated and his ashes scattered on Mount Scopus in Jerusalem. Quite a life, quite a character. Berg never married,

WWI

Three who were members of the Dodger organization, and all Hall of Famers, served in WWI. Burleigh Grimes, the last of the spitball pitchers spent some time in the Army in 1918. Casey Stengel, the ole professor, was in the Navy for a time at the end of the war. Branch Rickey, the architect of the minor league system and later president of the Dodgers served in France with the army as an officer. He commanded a chemical training unit that included Ty Cobb and Christy Mathewson. He was in the 1st Gas Regiment during the war and spent 4 months as a member of the Chemical Warfare Service.

Well, there are the Dodgers and a couple of others who have served in a time of war. There were 8 major league players who died during WWI, 3 were killed in action. There were more than 40 minor and semi-pro players also who died or were killed. In WWII, 3 died during the war, two were killed in action, one, Lt Harry M. O’Neill, a former catcher for the A’s. He was killed on Iwo Jima by a sniper. He had previously been wounded on Saipan. He along with Elmer Gedeon were the only MLB players killed in action in WWII. But the toll did not stop just with those two. There were well over 100 young ballplayers who died during the war, minor league, semi-pro, and college players who were either killed in training accidents, died from illness, or were KIA in combat. Most of those names we will never know. But you can see a list of them on baseballsgreatestsacrifice.com. Not only did US baseball have losses, the Japanese leagues had a lot of players killed also. In the Korean war, only one MLB player was listed. Major Robert Neighbors, an Air Force pilot was shot down and missing in action. His body was never recovered. Considered KIA. 16 minor or semi-pro players were KIA or MIA. Considering the fact that none have ever come home, you could think they were all KIA. 14 in Viet Nam. 5 in the middle east wars. So, baseball has made its sacrifices to war. Other players came home with scars other than wounds. Some dealt with so-called shell shock, which we now call PTSD. Others from the effects of chemicals and wounds. Christy Mathewson was accidentally gassed during a training exercise and developed tuberculosis. It eventually killed him in 1925. Grover Cleveland Alexander was exposed to mustard gas and had a grenade explode near him which led to the onset of epilepsy. He also suffered from PTSD. The epilepsy was sometimes mistaken for drunkenness, which added to his drinking problems. He continued to pitch and pitch well but finally left the game in 1930. He lived to be 63 years old despite all his physical and mental problems.

Well, there it is. About as good as I can do. Some of the players’ military records are a little hard to find, or there is very little information on them. As a vet myself, I respect all of them for their service to their country. Some were patriots, some were drafted and went reluctantly. But they served.