Re: Jerry Coleman-120 missions

ron wrote:
Jerry Coleman, second baseman for the New York Yankees, flew 57 missions
as a fighter pilot in WW2. He was drafted the same time as Ted Williams
and flew another 63 in Korea. Was the Air Force that hard up for pilots?
Why were these guys sent to Korea?

There must have been lawyers, teachers, and insurance salesmen who did the same. When you are good at what you do, you do it. It goes with the territory, or it did in those days. Today, of course, people have "other priorities".

Williams & Coleman weren't the only big leaguers in fighter cockpits. Bob Feller, the teenage phenom, lost three years of his baseball career to WW2, but Williams and Coleman are the only big leaguers I know of who served as pilots during both wars. Williams, though, did not see combat during WW2, but was an instructor.

My dad would have loved to have been able to fly a fighter, though all he really wanted to do was play baseball. As it was, he left a hard-won slot on the Chicago White Sox roster when he got the call and served in the Navy athletic program in the Hawaiian Islands, as did DiMaggio in the Army's counterpart program. Nice work if you can get it. And Navy beat Army, by the way, eight games out of twelve.

Fighter pilots know how damned lucky they are and will generally jump at a chance to prove they're also damned good. Pretty much the same as professional athletes. I really don't see any mystery here at all. The Services get a recruiting boost, the players and the teams get a PR boost, and Ted & Jerry get to fly fighters. Who wouldn't go for it?


Jack
.

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