By Dave Jordan

Only two big league ballplayers were killed in action in World War II, former A’s player Harry O’Neill on Iwo Jima and former Senators outfielder Elmer Gedeon shot down over France.

Gedeon, a native of Cleveland, born in 1917, starred in athletics at West High School in Cleveland, where he led his comrades in football, baseball and track.

Elmer’s uncle, Joe Gedeon, had been a major league infielder and a friend of Swede Risberg of the 1919 Black Sox. Gedeon was made aware of the fix in the World Series, made a number of successful bets on the Reds, and was permanently barred from baseball by Judge Landis in 1921 for his guilty knowledge of the fix.

His nephew Elmer moved on from a successful high school career to the University of Michigan, where he lettered in all three of his sports. A rangy 6 feet 4 inches and 196 pounds, he played both first base and the outfield for the Wolverines baseball team. He earned three letters in football as an end, but he was also used as a punter because, as a teammate said, “he could punt it a mile.” Elmer’s best sport, though, was track and field. He won Big Ten championships twice each in the outdoor 120-yard high hurdles and the indoor 70-yard high hurdles, and he tied the American indoor record and later the world record in the latter event. He paced the Wolverines to Big Ten track titles in 1938 and 1939, and he was named an All-American in the 120-yard high hurdles in 1938.

After graduating from Michigan, Gedeon signed with the Washington Senators in the spring of 1939. After playing 67 games in Orlando, Florida, Elmer was called up to the majors by the Nats in September 1939. He appeared in four games in center field and one in right, and in 15 at bats he had three hits and a run batted in.

After spring training with the Senators in 1940, Gedeon played for the Charlotte Hornets in the Piedmont league, hitting .271 in 131 games and earning another September callup to Washington, even though he did not get into any major league games that month.

Drafted into the Army in January 1941, Elmer Gedeon earned his pilot’s wings and a commission in the Army Air Force in May 1942. In August ’42, he was the navigator in a B-25 that crashed near Raleigh, North Carolina. Despite his own burns and broken ribs, Gedeon crawled back into the wreckage to rescue a badly-injured crewmate. Gedeon spent twelve weeks in the hospital recovering from his burns and injuries and was awarded the Soldier’s Medal for his heroism. “I had my accident,” he told his cousin. “It’s going to be good flying from now on.”

In February 1944, after stating, “I’ll be back in baseball after the war,” Elmer Gedeon was sent to Europe to fly combat missions over Occupied France. On April 20, on his thirteenth mission, Gedeon piloted a B-26 to attack construction works at Bois d’Esquerdes. German anti-aircraft fire intensified and Gedeon’s bomber took a direct hit under the cockpit. The co-pilot was the only member of the crew able to parachute from the doomed plane, which smashed to the ground, killing Gedeon and five others.

Gedeon was described by his fellow crewmen as a super gentleman with a great sense of humor, very popular with officers and enlisted men. His body was returned to the United States and interred at Arlington National Cemetery, and Elmer Gedeon was installed in the University of Michigan Hall of Honor. Like so many others in the war, his was a life of great promise cut off too soon.

Artwork by Ronnie Joynor