Lou Brissie, Bob Feller, Jerry Coleman, Monte Irvin on World War II and baseball

Stan Musial, Jerry Coleman, and Frankie Frisch in 1951 in Germany for a coaches and officials clinic at Europeon Command. photo by Stars & Stripes

• Brissie, Feller, Coleman and Irvin spoke at the American Veterans Center's annual conference in Washington on November 7th.

(Stars & Stripes): "Each said they hoped fans would remember them for their military service as much as they recalled their baseball heroics.

• Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Feller signed up for the military one day after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, without consulting the Cleveland Indians. He said it was the right thing to do.

• "This country needs more young people to be leaders today," he said....

Monte Irvin, one of the first Negro League stars to play in the major leagues, echoed both of those sentiments, eliciting more laughter from Feller.

• Irvin said he still wishes his Army unit had seen the kind of combat Feller did in World War II, even if it might have cost him more of his baseball career.

• Irvin’s unit secured parts of France after D-Day but was kept away from the heaviest fighting on the front lines because of commanders’ bias against the black soldiers.

Despite the discrimination, he said, he looks back fondly on his time in the Army.

"I’ve always been grateful to be in this wonderful country for the chance to serve," he said.

• Lou Brissie was a college student and a much-heralded prospect when he decided to enlist in the Army in 1942.

• Two years later, he was seriously injured while fighting in Italy and nearly had his leg amputated.

It took 23 surgeries and three years of rehab, but Brissie overcame the wounds and made his debut with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1947. Complications from his war injuries cut short his career, but Brissie said he has no regrets."...

• via Lucianne.com

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