Boston Red Sox: Remembering Ted Williams on Veteran’s Day
Boston Red Sox Legend Ted Williams An American Hero
As a current U.S. Navy Sailor stationed in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii at VP-9, it is important for me to reflect on those who have come before me to serve this great nation. Tying my love for Boston sports and the United States together, is Boston Red Sox legend Ted Williams.
He joined the team in 1939, and instantly became one of the games best hitters. In 1941, Teddy Ballgame posted a .406 batting average. He’s the last player to bat over .400 in a single season. The next year, Williams won his first Triple Crown.
Then, in 1943, Ted Williams interrupted his baseball career to serve in the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps during World War II. Williams was talented as a pilot, and so enjoyed it that he had to be ordered by the Navy to leave training to personally accept his American League 1942 Triple Crown.
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Ted Williams’ Red Sox teammate Johnny Pesky, who went into the same aviation training program, said this about Williams: “He mastered intricate problems in fifteen minutes which took the average cadet an hour, and half of the other cadets there were college grads.”
World War II Service
Williams completed pre-flight training in Athens, GA, his primary training at NAS Bunker Hill in Indiana, and his advanced flight training at NAS Pensacola. He received his gold Naval Aviator Wings and his commission as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps on May 2, 1944. Williams served as a flight instructor at Pensacola teaching young pilots to fly the F4U Corsair. He was in Pearl Harbor awaiting orders to join the Fleet in the when the war ended. He finished the war in Hawaii and then he was released from active duty on January 12, 1946.
Korean War Service
Ted Williams returned to baseball in 1946, and won his first American League MVP Award. However, parts of 1952 and 1953 saw Williams return to service as a USMC combat aviator in the Korean War. After eight weeks of refresher flight training and qualification in the F9F Panther at the MCAS Cherry Point, North Carolina, Williams was assigned to VMF-311, MAG 33, based at the K-3 airfield in South Korea.
Williams flew 39 combat missions in Korea, earning the Air Medal with two gold stars in lieu of second and third awards, before being withdrawn from flight status in June 1953 after a hospitalization for pneumonia. This resulted in an ear infection that disqualified him from flight status.
Williams likely would have approached or exceeded Babe Ruth‘s home run record if he had not served in the military, and might have set the record for career RBIs as well, exceeding Hank Aaron‘s total. While the absences in the Marine Corps took almost five years out of his baseball career, he never publicly complained about the time devoted to service in the Marine Corps.
His biographer, Leigh Montville, argued that Williams was not happy about being pressed into service in South Korea, but he did what he thought was his patriotic duty.
Ted Williams was one of many Major Leaguer’s to disrupt their playing careers for their military duties. He is however, one of the most notable. On this day, and every day, Americans should remember the sacrifice made by the country’s proud veterans.
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Whether they were drafted, joined voluntarily or otherwise ended up in service, each member of the military past and present has made sacrifices that many are not fully able to understand. Happy Veteran’s Day to every U.S. veteran and their families!