# Other than Spahn did any pro athletes fight in a well known battle? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [June 5, 2011, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-than-spahn-did-any-pro-athletes-fight-in-a-well-known-battle/584382 "2011-06-05T08:33:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2011, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-than-spahn-did-any-pro-athletes-fight-in-a-well-known-battle/584382/1 "2011-06-05T08:33:15Z")
I know Spahn was at The Bulge, but did anyone else fight in a well known battle? Well known=Average American HS graduate has passing familarity. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2011, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-than-spahn-did-any-pro-athletes-fight-in-a-well-known-battle/584382/2 "2011-06-05T12:35:44Z")
IRC, Yogi Berra was part of D-Day. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2011, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-than-spahn-did-any-pro-athletes-fight-in-a-well-known-battle/584382/3 "2011-06-05T14:41:03Z")
Bob Feller was in as much action as any other gunner on the battleship USS Alabama. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2011, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-than-spahn-did-any-pro-athletes-fight-in-a-well-known-battle/584382/4 "2011-06-05T14:54:46Z")
[A good article here.](http://www.veteransadvantage.com/cms/content/when-professional-athletes-went-war) > [@](#): > > In the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor, more than 500 major leaguers served during the war, including 29 who would eventually be elected to the Hall of Fame. Five Hall of Famers served during the war in Korea. > … > Of the 638 NFL players who served in World War II, 355 were commissioned as officers, 66 were decorated, and 21 lost their lives. You know of Pat Tillman, I’m sure. Pitcher Hoyt Wilhelm and umpire Nestor Chylak were both wounded at the Bulge, too. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2011, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-than-spahn-did-any-pro-athletes-fight-in-a-well-known-battle/584382/5 "2011-06-05T16:18:38Z")
My understanding is that a major leaguer for one game, Harry O’Neill, died at Iwo Jima, certanly a very famous battle. Cecil Travis fought inthe Bulge and saw a lot fo action in Europe, being awarded the Bronze Star and other citations. His decline after the war is often attributed to his getitng frostbite at the Bulge, though Travis himself always said it was nonsense and that he just wasn’t up to the task of baseball after a long period off. A lot of ballplayers who were drafted spent more of their service playing baseball; I’m endlessly impressed by the ones who didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2011, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-than-spahn-did-any-pro-athletes-fight-in-a-well-known-battle/584382/6 "2011-06-05T16:19:01Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#): > > IRC, Yogi Berra was part of D-Day. Yogi was in the Navy, on one of the boats shelling German positions at Normandy. He’s never claimed to have done anything special or heroic during the war, however. A LOT of famous athletes served in WW2 and the Korean War (Tom Landry and Ted Williams were both military aviators, for instance) in some capacity, but I’m not sure how many fought in specific famous battles. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2011, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-than-spahn-did-any-pro-athletes-fight-in-a-well-known-battle/584382/7 "2011-06-05T16:24:54Z")
To use one famous example, running back Rocky Bleier of the Pittsburgh Steelers dynasty was a Viet Nam veteran who was sent home after being wounded in action… but did the US Army take part in any “famous battles” in Viet Nam? Not really. There were numerous fire fights, but no famous battles to rank with Saratoga or Gettysburg or even San Juan Hill. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2011, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-than-spahn-did-any-pro-athletes-fight-in-a-well-known-battle/584382/8 "2011-06-05T18:08:39Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > To use one famous example, running back Rocky Bleier of the Pittsburgh Steelers dynasty was a Viet Nam veteran who was sent home after being wounded in action… but did the US Army take part in any “famous battles” in Viet Nam? > > Not really. There were numerous fire fights, but no famous battles to rank with Saratoga or Gettysburg or even San Juan Hill. That’s not true. You’re forgetting [the Battle of Ia Drang](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Ia_Drang), immortalized in the book _We Were Soldiers Once… And Young_, and in the movie based on the book. Also, the Army was heavily involved in repulsing the Tet Offensive. [Bob Kalsu](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Kalsu) died in Vietnam, although it wasn’t a famous battle. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2011, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-than-spahn-did-any-pro-athletes-fight-in-a-well-known-battle/584382/9 "2011-06-05T20:24:36Z")
Golfer [Lloyd Mangrum](http://www.worldgolfhalloffame.org/hof/member.php?member=1079) is in the Hall of Fame. Mangrum has two purple hearts from WWII. He was injured in the Invasion of Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge. Mangrum was tremendous golfer in the Hogan/Snead/Nelson era and is often forgotten. It is a shame. ---
**Author:** ![Cumbrian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce7236/32.png) [@Cumbrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cumbrian)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2011, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-than-spahn-did-any-pro-athletes-fight-in-a-well-known-battle/584382/10 "2011-06-06T08:54:10Z")
Not American but Keith Miller, an Australian Test Cricketer, flew bombing raids over Germany for the RAF, attacking various rocket launch sites and other German installations. He had a few narrow escapes (once being ordered to land his plane with a bomb still dangling off the wing after it failed to deploy). When asked in an interview in the 70s about the pressure of playing international cricket, he famously answered “pressure is having a Messerschmitt up your arse, playing cricket is not”. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2011, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-than-spahn-did-any-pro-athletes-fight-in-a-well-known-battle/584382/11 "2011-06-06T11:28:21Z")
Going back a little, Eddie Rickenbacker had been one of the top motorcycle racers in the US (and it was a pretty big-time sport then) before joining the Army for The World War and becoming the US’ best-known fighter ace. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2011, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-than-spahn-did-any-pro-athletes-fight-in-a-well-known-battle/584382/12 "2011-06-06T21:45:41Z")
[Dave Gallaher](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Gallaher) captain of the 1905 All Black team ([The ‘Originals’](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Original_All_Blacks)) served in the Boer War and died at Passchendale in World War One. (Although rugby was an amateur sport a thte time I think he counts). ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2011, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-than-spahn-did-any-pro-athletes-fight-in-a-well-known-battle/584382/13 "2011-06-06T23:53:58Z")
If you count air racing as a sport, Jimmy Doolittle was the best there was at it, before the Tokyo raid.