American Valor Quarterly Issue 11 - Fall 2014 | Page 40

Bert Shepard: Being able to fly over
to Parndorf, Austria and visit with him
was the greatest thing that could ever
happen to me.
I’m getting a little old and I might
kick the bucket one of these days and I
was anxious to see him. A great thrill
and when I got ready to leave, he put
his arms around me and squeezed real
hard, and I had the feeling those were
the same arms that picked me out
of that cockpit and I broke down
something awful. I didn’t expect to,
but by God I did.

the war.
Buddy Lewis of the Washington
Senators was coming into Chicago in
1945 toward the end of the season. He
had just gotten out of the Air Force,
and he was facing Earl Caldwell of the
White Sox. Caldwell threw two pitches
to Buddy Lewis who was an All-Star
Senator before the war. Bill McGowan
was working behind home plate and

Gene Pell: That’s a wonderful
tale.

Gene Pell: Good for you.
Bill Gilbert: Gene, there is one
short story that shows you how
America felt towards these men and
the other athletes like them, and
indeed about all returning GI’s after
40

McGowan took his mask off and
stepped out from behind the catcher
and said, “Earl, this is Buddy Lewis.
He’s been gone from baseball for four
years, since before Pearl Harbor. He
flew the hump over the Himalayas
over 300 times and there is no way
you’re going to throw a strike.”

Gene Pell: Tommy, you described
what it was like when you were last at
bat before going off, what was it like
when you were first at bat coming
back?

Buck O’Neil: Well, there is still
segregation in the Seabees. We were
in an all-black battalion, but all the
officers, they were white. I know
we went to take some ammunition
to a destroyer, we are down here
in this elevator. We were sending
ammunition up and they started
blowing taps. The ensign on the
deck said, “attention, niggers.”

Then they called the captain and
he cussed him out. And one thing
about it, when he realized it, he started
thinking about it, he started crying.
He was from Alabama. He started
crying. I said, “Don’t cry. Don’t do it
no more.”

Earl Caldwell stepped off the mound
and said, “Bill what’s going on there?
Both those pitches were right down
Broadway.”

Buddy walked on four pitches. That’s
how all of America felt about these
men and their colleagues when they
came home.

Buck, when you were in the
Pacific with the Seabees, you had left
a situation where you were playing
in the Negro leagues. You couldn’t
play in the majors, the barrier hadn’t
been broken yet. What was it like for
you in the Seabees, in that regard?

I went up that ladder and I said,
“Do you know what you are saying?
I am a Navy man, I just happen to
be black. I’m fighting for the same
thing you are.”

one of the great authoritarian umpires
called both pitches balls.

Tommy Henrich: I don’t even
remember. I really don’t. All I really
know is that I had a bad year