American Valor Quarterly Issue 11 - Fall 2014 | Page 29

We
Needed
to

Step

UP

From Bob Feller

Bob Feller was one of the strongest supporters
of the American Veterans Center and World
War II Veterans Committee, participating each
year in the National Memorial Day Parade
and the AVC’s Annual Veterans Conference.
Already a star pitcher, Feller volunteered for
service in the U.S. Navy two days after the
attack on Pearl Harbor, becoming the first
professional athlete to enlist following the U.S.
entry into World War II.
The following remarks were pulled from a
speech Bob delivered to the assembled military
academy and ROTC students, as well as
fellow veterans, at the 2005 Annual Veterans
Conference, and were originally printed in
the Winter, 2005 edition of World War II
Chronicles, the predecessor to American Valor
Quarterly.

I

want to say that I am honored
to be with all of you World War
II veterans today, and to
congratulate you for your service.
Also, I am happy to see so many young
people here. If you asked a lot of
schoolteachers and parents today what
is the most important event in the last
century for this or any other country,
few will mention World War II. That
is what you call the dumbing-down of
America. The Allied victory in World
War II is what has allowed us to enjoy
the freedoms we know today.
On December 7, 1941, I was driving
from my home in Iowa to Chicago
where I was to sign a new contract with
FALL 2014

the Cleveland Indians. I was crossing
the Mississippi River at Davenport
when I heard about the attack on
Pearl Harbor over the radio. At that
moment, I made up my mind what I
was going to do.
I had known Gene Tunney pretty
well before. Gene had previously
been the world heavyweight boxing
champion, and was now the head of
the Navy’s physical fitness program.
When it was becoming obvious that
we would eventually enter into the
war, I told him that I would enlist in
the Navy and enter into his program.
So the first thing I did after arriving
in Chicago was to call Gene Tunney,
who said he would fly out right away
to swear me into the Navy. I entered
into the service at 8:00 on the morning
of December 9, 1941, in the Navy
recruiting office in Chicago.
I didn’t have to go. My father was
dying of cancer and I was my family’s
sole means of support. But I thought
that any red-blooded American would
do what needed to be done. We were
losing big; we were getting the hell
kicked out of us in Europe, and were
hurt pretty bad over in Pearl Harbor.
We needed to step up.
After a short time of working for
Tunney in his physical fitness program,
I realized that I wanted more action. It
may seem hard to imagine, but that’s

the way young people thought in those
days. There was a world war, and
most able-bodied men wanted to be
in the fighting so they could feel they
were doing their part. I attended War
College in Newport, Rhode Island,
volunteered for gunnery school, and
was