From the studios of Ave Maria radio in Ann Arbor,
this is veterans radio and now here's your host
Gary Lillard Good morning out there in America
land. Good morning to our troops around the world
We're you know that thin green and blue line
that's protecting us and every other country
in the world and Good morning to my veteran brothers
and sisters and welcome home Good morning to
all our friends down there down under in the
Australian continent in the South American continent
Appreciate your emails keep them coming. I'm
Gary Lilly CB, Chu Lai Vietnam Republic of 1966
and In the booth right now is Dale Throneberry
Good morning, Gary. This is Dale Thrunbury, 195th
Assault Helicopter Company, the Republic of Vietnam.
Boy, you might sound like you're reading official
orders there. I was thinking about a movie I
saw a while back. Anyway, good morning, everybody.
And yes, our greetings to all of our listeners
around the world on the internet. It's very exciting
that we're getting these emails now from all
over the place. And also our air boss today,
Andy Penny. How's it going? Andy Penny. August
10th, 1982. How about that? That's not a date
of service. That's the date of birth. The kid.
The kid. Welcome to Veterans Radio. And later
on, we're going to be going into an interview
with Bob Feller, the legendary Hall of Fame Bob
Feller. It was pre -recorded. He was on a real
tight time schedule the other night. That was
pretty interesting, wasn't it? It was very interesting.
You'll be able to tell he's on a time schedule
as we get up toward the end of it. He's an interesting
guy. And for those of us that are over 55, let's
put it that way, I'm sure that we all remember
what a great pitcher he was during the 30s, 40s,
and 50s. I didn't like him because he was always
beating the Detroit Tigers. Well, that's, you
know. Cleveland Indian pitcher. Boy, did he have
a fastball. 107 miles an hour, he said. Astounding,
isn't it? Astounding. Right now, though, we're
going to get in and talk to Peggy Costello of
Project Salute. Good morning, Peggy. Good morning,
Peggy. Good morning, Gary. And thanks for having
me on today. And let me first thank all the veterans
who are listening for their service to our country.
We really truly appreciate it. Thank you. It's
a privilege to serve this country. Not at the
moment, but afterwards. Tell us what Project
Salute is, please, Peggy. Project Salute is a
project of the University of Detroit Mercy School
of Law. which includes both the Veterans Law
Clinic where we train students to work with veterans,
primarily in the area of veterans benefits, and
also have a mobile law office, actually two,
which we take throughout the state of Michigan
and also throughout certain cities in the United
States to which we've been invited. I can see
that those cities range from Texas to North Carolina,
Alabama, Minnesota. Yes, that's true. Lots in
Florida. We've been to Florida quite a bit. We
like to go there in the winter, of course. Currently,
the mobile law office is in North Carolina this
week and will be in South Carolina in two weeks.
Okay. How can people find the schedule then?
We'll get back to what it is. Sure. On our website,
which is www .law .udmercy .edu, That's www .law
.udmercy .edu. There's a link that you click
to on Project Salute and it will give you the
schedule both in Michigan and around the country
for the next few months. We're always adding
to it though, let me say. Pardon me? We're always
adding to it, so you may find new sites if you
go there a day later than you went last time.
I think I see December on there, so. planning
quite a ways ahead. What do you do for the veterans
and how do they pay for it? Well, first of all,
the veterans that we see don't pay for it because
we primarily service veterans who are low income
if we actually handle their cases. But anyone,
no matter what their income level, can call us
and we can give some direction, we can give referrals
either to veteran service officers to other attorneys
if they've got the resources to pay for attorneys
and they need attorneys for different matters,
or we can simply answer their questions. But
to actually qualify to have their case handled,
they must be relatively low income, which is
200 % of the poverty level, approximately $20
,000 or so for a single person. And what kind
of cases do you represent? In the clinic, we
handle almost exclusively veterans' benefits
matters, people who are at various levels of
trying to obtain either their service -connected
benefits or pension benefits. We have some discharge
upgrades that we handle. And then in some cases,
we do handle ancillary legal matters for people,
for example, a criminal expungement or a minor
misdemeanor matter or... uh... matters with creditors
uh... simple will power of attorney things of
that nature you as an example would not do criminal
defense not unless it was uh... adjusted misdemeanor
matter if it wasn't a misdemeanor matter with
sometimes they were working with the veteran
and other areas then we would go with them for
example you know public uh... intoxication or
some some sort of minor matter that they've gotten
themselves into the week parole violation, perhaps
we could help them with that in many instances.
Veterans are a great need for the benefits. I
know a veteran that lost a toe to frostbite in
Korea, and the VA said, prove it. Well, he took
you know, he showed him that his toe was missing.
They said prove you lost it in Korea Exactly.
And so that's where you guys would step in Yes,
and and again we do the system as you mentioned
is very difficult to navigate We also do a lot
of education for veterans groups Actually go
out and talk to them about what you would have
to show what how you could possibly prove that
you lost that toe in Korea, even if there was
no medical record from your medical you know,
file in Korea. Peggy, thank you very much. We're
out of time, believe it or not. Okay. We'll get
it on the website. Thank you, Peggy. Thanks so
much. Dale, we're going to be welcoming home
some troops. Hopefully that list will start growing
as they start coming back. Each week on Veterans
Radio, we welcome home servicemen and women from
around the country who have served in our military.
We do this to let them know that we honor their
service and commitment. Dateline, Bradenton,
Florida. Dozens of flag bearers stood lining
a quiet residential street in Bradenton last
week. Curious neighbors peered from their windows
and yards as members of the Patriot Guard and
the Christian Motorcyclists Association parked
their motorcycles and took a place alongside
the road. Conversations almost became whispers
as everybody waited. Across the state hours earlier
in West Palm Beach, First Sergeant Aaron Cornelius,
4th Battalion, 64th Armour, had climbed into
a white minivan with his wife for the last leg
of a journey that started months ago. He was
finally coming home. As Sergeant Cornelius's
motorcade grew closer, flags were straightened,
some people stood at attention and saluted alongside
of the road. Sergeant Cornelius unfortunately
would see none of it. In the Dora district of
Iraq, almost a year ago, Sergeant Cornelius was
blinded in an explosion that killed the rest
of his squad. Sergeant Cornelius could not see
his welcome home, but surely he could hear and
feel it. As Sergeant Cornelius exited the minivan,
he was enfolded into the arms of family members
and friends. A line formed in solemnly each rider
welcomed home the man they had come to honor.
Tears flowed as each man walked up and hugged
First Sergeant Aaron Cornelius. It's so good
to be back where people love me and care about
me, said Sergeant Cornelius. Now that I'm back,
it's my turn to go help people. I want to become
a mentor to help the next wounded soldier, he
said. You know the military can be an ornery
place for you, but the camaraderie and closeness
will definitely be missed. Bayline, Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania. A local group of soldiers recently
back from Iraq received a welcome home. The 303rd
Psychological Operations Company based in Oakdale
received a welcome home at Fort Bragg and a larger
festivity at the Soldiers and Sailors Hall in
Pittsburgh. Dayline, Fort Hood, Texas. Fourth
Infantry Division families were reunited with
their soldiers at a special welcome home ceremony
at Cameron Field, Fort Hood, Texas. More than
200 soldiers assigned to the Special Troops Battalion
arrived after 15 months in Iraq. On behalf of
a grateful nation and all of us at Veterans Radio,
we welcome home our troops. And Dale, we were
talking about it the other day about how that
list is going to grow and instead of welcoming
home individuals, we're going to be welcoming
home divisions. And battalions. It's a great
thing. We're so happy to welcome these people
home and they deserve it. We'll be right back.
As a 17 -year -old rookie in 1936, Bob Feller
struck out eight players against the St. Louis
Cardinals in just three innings. In his first
start, he struck out 15 players. And before he
was out of his teens, he struck out 18 Tigers
in one game. And Bob Feller pitched a no -hitter
on his opening day in 1940 hearing the nicknames
of Rapid Robert and Bullet Bob. Then December
7th, 1941 came And Bob Feller volunteered to
be in the Navy. Bob Feller, welcome to Veterans
Radio. You volunteered for the Navy, is that
right, Mr. Feller? I volunteered a couple of
days after Pearl Harbor, and I signed up on the
9th of December and went to War College after
boot camp. I was assigned to the battleship Alabama,
which was completed in the The Navy yard in the
Portsmouth, Virginia sailed out of Hampton Roads.
That was our home base. We spent 11 months taking
supplies to Russia. And then we went out into
the Pacific and spent almost two years out there
getting General MacArthur back to the Philippines
and on to Okinawa. And then I returned, of course,
and played ball for another 10 years with the
Cleveland Indians. And you missed probably the
For four years that were in 1941 you won 25 games
and in 1946 26 games in between other than a
short span in 1945 you and the military you ever
regret enlisting No, I ever had any regrets we
won World War two All -out war it was a war we
had to win and to protect the sovereignty United
States of America I didn't regret at all I was
a I thought I made a very good decision when
I decided to join the Navy. I was in Chicago
the day of Pearl Harbor. I met the General Manager
of the Cleveland Indians to sign my contract
for the next year. I told him that night on December
7th that I was going to join the Navy. And Gene
Cunning, the head of the Navy physical fitness
program, flew out from Washington on Monday and
swarmed in Tuesday morning at the recruiting
office in Chicago. And I went right from there
to Norfolk. for our boot camp and then on to
the War College in Newport, Rhode Island and
back to the Alabama and I had a couple of several
weeks between the college at the War College
and in Alabama standing for Europe and so I played
ball with Norfolk Naval Training Station there
for a few weeks before we took off for our convoy
duty, taking supplies from our management archangel
for 11 months. And I played ball in the South
Pacific, too, on some of the islands in the Pacific,
where they had the CBs had made ball diamonds
out there on some of the islands. And we had
ball games. We played up to the other ships.
And I played catch a board ship quite a bit,
besides giving exercises every day when the conditions
permitted to the crew aboard the Alabama. that
was my job to give exercises twice a day. One
half the ship at one time and half the other
ship another time to keep the officers and the
crew in shape and sometimes we did it and sometimes
we couldn't depending on what the situation was
at the moment. I imagine north of the Arctic
Circle it was a little difficult to play catch.
Speak up. I said I imagine north of the Arctic
Circle it was a little difficult to play baseball.
because i'm not sure we can we're going to ice
for the summer one that we put a softball game
in it right to make their navy base in the right
to make and uh... i didn't play baseball in iceland
but we did play softball a couple times in the
middle of the in the summertime when the the
son was up sender went down and we would be right
all the time we could we're playing up there
and we didn't do that only two or three times
and we want to uh... you know that we didn't
stop there that often It was surprising to me
to learn that the Alabama was assigned to the
British home fleet for some period of time at
the beginning of the war. Well, we were there
with this battleship South Dakota and we had
one of our carriers, a ranger, was with us. And
we had a few destroyers and other ships, capital
ships, the cruisers, heavy and light. Quite a
British -guided carrier. They were the illustrious
and also the... heavy cruiser rodney uh... with
with with us and we had uh... other escorts but
we didn't have to take liberty ships for the
supplies to mermans -caracagio during the winner
of forty three forty four it was very very cold
and we'll get it headed for the uh... about forty
two forty three i should say and we had to be
specific and spent about not quite two years
out there before i came back and uh... I was
the manager of the Great Lakes team of Great
Lakes, Illinois, where we had a very fine Major
League ball club and playing games against all
the Major League clubs and a lot of other clubs
and Air Force bases and other professional teams
and amateur teams. For the entertainment personnel,
they had 110 ,000 satyrs at the Lakes then. Great
Lakes going in training. That's where I took
my basic training was Great Lakes. I was a CB
myself and one of my uncles was a Navy gunner
on one of those Liberty ships so Liberty ships
had they had they had the armed guard aboard
on it had a little had a small gum on the bow
they didn't have a whole lot to protect themselves
with me they had We were supposed to protect
them all I only ever saw one of them get sunk
and we rescued everybody was on that Oh, really?
On that particular ship, it was a torpedo. That
was up in the North Sea, was it? There was a
man in that particular instance. Was that up
in the North Sea, on the Merman's front? It was
up there in North Atlantic, yes. It was up somewhere
off the, between, well, like south of Iceland,
a little bit southeast of Iceland, where it happened.
But we got everybody off before they had to hit
the water. I'm sure they were pleased with that.
That water's cold up there. We played ball in
New Hebrides. We played in the Fiji Islands.
And the CBs, of course, the CBs got started down
there near Ocean View at Little Creek, Little
Creek, Virginia, when they started. They had
their first CB base. Then they started. They
opened up a couple more for training purposes.
One of them was on the west coast, and another
one I think was in Bainbridge, Maryland. But
the CBs did a tremendous job. in the Pacific.
I didn't know anything about what they did in
the lag. They did a tremendous job in the Pacific
on all those islands going in and sea carrying
them and helping build up the bases that we needed
for staging bases to win that war on the Pacific.
The CBs certainly were a very big part of winning
that war. Well, they set quite a standard for
us guys that came along later to follow. Just
one last question about that North Sea. Now,
you were on the Murmansk Run. That weather is
terrible up there. What was your job on Alabama?
Well, I was a gun captain. I was on the anti
-aircraft guns. And we were on the main deck,
on the port side of the main deck, about three
-fourths of the way back to the third turret,
just near the third turret, on a fan tail. it
was cold it was windy and it was wet and uh...
it was uh... quite tough pretty tough doing restarting
four we were sending four -hour watches four
hours of the time with about twenty a month twenty
five men on the gun and uh... at each and all
of them forty millimeter quads which i was on
okay uh... and uh... sometimes we had to secure
the gun the weather was really too tough he couldn't
uh... The waves were too high, it was too wet
and too cold and too much ice. But the destroyers,
of course, it was tough for the destroyers because
they had to chip ice all the time. The battleship
didn't have to chip the ice. And we did have
aircraft cover, of course, and then the German
planes would come out every now and then take
a look and see where we were, what we were doing.
Of course, you'd take a shot at them and hit
one once in a while, but not too often. After
we finished, we got rid of the Von Tirpitz, the
battleship Tirpitz, we call it the Tirpitz. It
was hiding in Fjord in Norway, north of Trondheim,
and the British helped take it with their bombers.
We shelled it and torpedoed it, and that was
the last ship the Germans had. Then they went
to the Pacific. But it was 11 months taking supplies
to Murmansk and Archangel. through the ice and
we had icebreakers and so forth before the big
Russian icebreakers took us right into the ports.
But then the Pacific was all the way across the
equator 28 times in 1944. In our natural operations,
we tried to catch the Jap fleet and went back
to the Pacific. The Japanese had quite a fleet
too. In fact, theirs was a bit larger than ours,
wasn't it, at one point? I didn't get that. I
said the Japanese fleet was a bit larger than
ours at one point, wasn't it? Well, the new battleships,
the ships that were hit at Pearl Harbor under
attack on Pearl Harbor, the battleships, they
were World War I vessels. They were not as good
as the Japanese battleships. But the new battleships,
like the Alabama and the Wisconsin and New Jersey
and the Missouri and the Iowa and South Dakota
and... In Massachusetts, Indiana, and North Carolina,
our new battleships were better than the Japanese,
and that's why we won the war. We had very good
cooperation and very good teamwork, too, from
all the sailors. We had a great admiral out there
in the Pacific, too. It was Admiral Nemitz, who
was based in Honolulu. We had Admiral Michener.
We had good captains aboard our ships. We had
great teamwork, and teamwork won that war. And
your ship was looking, your task force was always
looking for the Japanese. Now you never saw them
in a surface battle, but you had quite a few
encounters being attacked by air. Is that not
right? We had air attacks, and we were involved
in that Mariana, what you call the Mariana, a
Turkey shoot off a side pan in the Philippine
Sea. We shot 474, I believe, Japanese aircraft
down in one day. Our fighters got a lot of them,
and our aircraft batteries got them. That was
what they called the Marianas -Turkey shoot,
and that was the end of the Japanese Naval Air
Force. We sunk a couple of their carriers, maybe
three of them, and other warships, cruisers,
et cetera. I don't think we sunk any battleships.
We might have damaged a couple of them. But that
was what they called, referred to in the Navy
as the Marianas Turkey shoot and that was the
end of the Japanese Naval Air Force. I think
you sunk... The sun went down that day. It was
in June 1944. I think you sunk three carriers
and damaged the fourth one. Well, we did a lot
of damage and that was the end of the Japanese
Naval Air Force. And they knew then, they knew
when the sun went down that night, their officers
knew that the naval war was over and they lost.
Let me ask you this, when you're under air attack
like that, you've got every gun firing, I imagine,
at least on that side of the ship. What was the
noise like, and what was the feeling like, or
were you just too busy to have feelings at that
moment? Well, that's about it. You're just too
busy. There's a lot of noise, of course, and
a lot of firing, and a lot of smoke, and a lot
of tracer bullets flying around. And you always
think that none of those bullets have got your
name on them. They've got the other guy's name
on them. Course, you know, you know reading though
in your own heart. You might find one that has
your name on it If one has your name on it, you're
a hero if it doesn't have you're a survivor.
That's the way it is You just described it quite
well on the way over to Vietnam I was looking
at the rest of my squad and I thought gee I wonder
if any of these guys are gonna get it thought
never occurred that it might be me but the When
you I want to go back to baseball just a moment
When you signed, you were 16 years old. Gordie
Howe, the great hockey player for Detroit, signed
for a team jacket. You got a dollar in an autographed
baseball. You were 16. You could have broken
that contract the next year. I still have the
original contract written on a piece of stationary
from a hotel in Des Moines, Iowa. I'm from near
Des Moines, Van Meter, which is 15 miles west
of Des Moines. And I got a dollar in an autographed
ball by the Cleveland Indians and signed with
Sy Slapnacka. He also signed three players like
Lou Boudreau and Mel Harder and Trostky and Herb
Scorer and. Great names. Most of all the Cleveland
players, he was then became general manager and
he was a man I was looking, seen in Chicago on
the night of December 7th to sign my 42 contract.
I told him I was going to join the Navy. He said,
congratulations. I'm going to go back to Cleveland,
resign. I'm tired of being general manager. He's
there six years. I'm going to go back to scouting
in Cedar Rapids, so I did that and went back
to scouting in Cedar Rapids. It was a different
era then, and people had different values. Well,
the values were completely different. We had
a lot better leadership than we have today. In
fact, we don't have any leadership today that
I care for at all. We could spend a lot of time
talking about that. Except Bob, the head of the
Pentagon now. Bob Gates, he's a very good leader,
but he's about the only one I know of in Washington
at the moment that I trust. Had you broken that
contract, you could have gotten, according to
some sources, $100 ,000. Well, obviously, illegally,
like most, a lot of players are signed that way.
And those minor league teams had territorial
rights to sign all the free agents in their area,
but all the major league scouts were cheating
and using false names. Saturday to sign the players
would I've as many to stay with the Cleveland
ball club They changed that rule a few months
a few weeks later in the winter of 1937 and the
major league meeting thing There is no more territorial
rights for minor league ball clubs to sign players
and sell them to the big league clubs who finance
them And you never looked back after you got
the dollar when some sources said you could have
got $100 ,000 the next year. Well, that was the
American way of doing things. It was opportunity.
I had the opportunity to make good, which luckily
I was able to do. I had a lot of help, of course,
from my parents and the coaches and the teammates.
I was lucky enough to have a good career. I'm
very happy today being here in Arizona with the
Cleveland Baseball Club working out in a beautiful
complex here in Goodyear, Arizona, right near
Phoenix. I understand you threw out the first
pitch for their new ballpark. I was one of the
first pitchers. There's a couple other people
threw in the mayor and one of the sponsors threw
out the first pitch. I threw out the last first
pitch in uniform, of course, the Cleveland Indian
uniform. That's great. It's a big honor and I
do appreciate it. They're doing a good job for
us here in Goodyear, and we're drawing quite
well, and we've got a state -of -the -art facility.
I'll be here until April 1st with my wife Anne.
Go back to Cleveland after April 1st when training
closes up. We're coming up on the first break,
Bob, and I just want to mention one thing before
we come up on the break. Your dad is the guy
that got you pitching, you know, tossing the
ball back and forth, and he built a ball diamond
that with the stands... Yes, my father built
the ball and I've been on the farm and I'm on
the Oakview team. We were there four years. Of
course, I played four years of American Legion
ball. I played on the Samurai Pro High School,
summer vacation Bible school. I've been playing
ball ever since I was nine years old. Okay, real
good. Well, we're coming on the break and we'll
be right back right after this. And you're listening
to Veterans Radio. The Medal of Honor is the
highest award for valor in combat given a member
of the Armed Forces of the United States. There
had been over 3 ,400 recipients of the nation's
highest award. This is one of them. Captain Edward
Alworth led his men across the river by swimming
it. Details? While his company was crossing a
French river and canal at a bridge at during
World War I, the bridge was destroyed by shell
fire. At Alworth's command became separated,
part of it being on the east bank of the canal.
and the remainder on the west bank. Seeing his
advance units making slow headway up the steep
slope ahead, he mounted the canal bank and called
for his men to follow. Plunging in, he swam across
the canal under fire from the enemy, followed
by his men. Inspiring his men, he led them up
the slope, joining his hard -pressed platoons
in front. By his personal leadership, he forced
the enemy back for more than a kilometer, overcoming
machine gun nests and capturing 100 prisoners.
whose number exceeded that of the men in his
command. The exceptional courage and leadership
displayed by Alworth made possible the reestablishment
of a bridgehead over the canal and the successful
advance of other troops. The Medal of Honor series
is a production of Veterans Radio. And we're
back on Veterans Radio. We're talking to Bob
Feller, Hall of Fame baseball player known as
Rapid Robert and Bullet Bob for his 100 mile
an hour plus fastball. You were clocked right
after the war when they finally had radar. How
fast was your fastball, Bob? Well, they clocked
me. It was a fully electric cell device from
the Aberdeen Ordnance Plant Aberdeen, Maryland.
They called it the Proving Grounds, Military
Proving Grounds. They tracked it in 1946 in Washington,
D .C. With that equipment, it was 100 to 7 .9.
You couldn't maintain that during a game. Maybe
you could maintain 103 or 105 on a good day.
It would be a little better occasionally. But
I had a good curve ball. But the fast ball has
to have some movement on it. It doesn't have
movement on it no matter how hard you throw it.
It's not going to fool the hitter yet to have
some movement on the ball. And did yours move?
Everybody in America is all about speed. And
speed, of course, is important. And control has
to have a big, control is a big factor also.
And that was one thing that you were known as
for getting a little wild every now and then.
Do you think that helped you with the strikeouts?
I mean, who? Almost all fastball pitchers have
a little wildness. Have you have a big wind up
and you have a lot of motion and you have a lot
of leg action. You can't be a dart thrower out
there when you're throwing real hard using an
awful lot of body strength to propel the baseball.
Most fastball pitchers walk quite a few hitters
and they foul off a lot of them. I was right
amongst them and throwing and walking a lot of
hitters when I first came up. Then after I gained
my control, it was much easier and made the game
much easier for me. I imagine as a batter I wouldn't
want to dig in too much. Those were the days
before they had helmets and of course the batters
were a little bit apprehensive and maybe a little
bit afraid of some of the wildest of some of
the pitchers. Well, with good cause. If you don't
have a helmet on, you're going to be a little
loose up there at the plate. You got some wild
guy out here on the mound. But it did help, probably
indirectly. I remember one Detroit Tiger game
when they were playing against Noel and Ryan.
Gates Brown was a great hitter, became a batting
coach afterwards. uh... he got up against ryan
and he struck out and as he was walking past
jim bunning or not jim bunning jim northrup who
was going up next northrup asked him how's he
throwing and gator said don't go up there you
were compared well those are jokes but you were
compared to nolan ralph those rainy day stories
everywhere and they may be true and they may
not be but i think it's possible and there's
a lot of funny things happening in the game baseball
baseball is a game of inches is your fair, foul,
or ball, or strike, et cetera, et cetera. And
almost all sports are gains of inches, and there's
a lot of luck involved in professional sports,
as well as amateur. If you're lucky, in a lot
of cases, you're going to have a better career.
Some days you're lucky, and some days you're
not. And you're going to have good days, and
you're going to have bad days, and you have to
be able to accept that. And to give the other
fellows some credit. Give the other fellows some
credit also. They're all pros. Some players played
against you and also played against Ryan. Have
you ever heard any of them make any comparisons?
They what? Some batters batted against you and
they also batted against Nolan Ryan. Have you
ever heard of any of them making a comparison?
I don't. I would not know of any hero that ever
hit against me in my prime and ever hit against
Nolan Ryan. I don't think that's possible and
I'm not going to buy that at all. I don't think
that's true. Never said that. I don't think it
was new when our career started and ended. You
won, not won, your ship was awarded Battlestars
and as you would get them too. How proud of you?
Have I already asked you that about the... Well,
I'm satisfied with my decision I made on December
7th to join the Navy. I planned on joining the
Navy back in 1939. I knew we were going to be
in the war, it's a matter of when. And I told,
I was told, I came in as a Chief Cadet Officer
and went right on into Norfolk. I was always
the chief from the day one when I swore in. And
that was what Jane Toney, the director of the
athletic department of the Navy, gave me because
of my enlistment. And I was in the Navy four
years and two days as far as, even though I say
in active duty. for two and a half months just
when the war was over and in late August 1945
went back to Cleveland and continued my career
and then and I had my best year like in my career
and the next near 1946 was my best year. Just
out of curiosity what did a chief petty officer
make in those days? Do you recall? I think we
got about 80 some dollars a month and then of
course C -Pay and combat duty he probably got
probably about double in the 160s perhaps. for
months, but nobody thought about that. We had
unrelenting resolve that we were going to have
to win the war. Right. I mean, that's about what
I was making. It was a war that had to be won,
otherwise it was Hitler and the Axis would have
dominated the world. It was a war that we had,
not only in the military, but at home, in the
factories and on the farms. all over the United
States we had on rounding result. We're going
to win it and they helped. Cooperation and everybody
had, we had good leadership in the military as
well as politically and in every way we had great
leadership in those days. That's why we won the
war. And the people tend to think, OK, we saved
the United States. I mean, it was truly saving
the world. There's a lot of countries that are
free today because of what you guys did in World
War II. Actually, the United States won that
war for the rest of the world. If it hadn't been
for the United States, that war would have been
lost, and we all know that. I have several Australian
friends who are Vietnam veterans who say the
same thing that you just said. The well we were
I was in Vietnam in 1969 with General Creighton
Abrams and then also with General William our
borough head is a green breeze I spent several
months over there building a fire bases in the
pacification centers and flying the unit helicopters
all over the Country all the way from Da Nang
down to the men to the Minkong Delta I was there
that I saw was going on over there and it was
when Johnson with President Johnson was there
and back to mirror was head of their defense
department We could have won that war if they
had let them. They just wouldn't do it. They
wouldn't generally do what they wanted to do,
because you know what's more, and the two bombed
the supply ships up in Hanoi. If they had bombed
the supply ships, they could have won that war,
but they wouldn't let them do it. It's hard to
win a war when you're afraid somebody's going
to get mad at you for it. I had their hands tied
behind their back. That was a problem. One of
the partners here on Veterans Radio is Dale Throneberry,
who was a helicopter pilot at the same time that
you were there. Dale, would you like to say hi
to Bob Feller? Hi, Mr. Feller. It's a pleasure
to talk to you. Well, everybody knew that that
was a war. They didn't want to win if they were
afraid of the Chinese or whatever. I don't know
what they were afraid of, but it was a lot of
bad judgment. Washington is the one that caused
it to lose that war. If we lost it, which I think
we did. We had over 50 ,000 men over there dead.
What a waste. What a waste to not be able to
win. Mr. Feller, this is Dale Thromberg and one
of the other sponsors or the other speakers on
Veterans Radio. And I wanted to ask you about
some of the other ball players that were with
you during World War II that you can remember.
We're old enough in here to remember you. and
Ted Williams and some of the other players. And
I was wondering if you could tell us about some
of the other ballplayers that were in World War
II. Well, there were a lot of ballplayers. There
were a lot of minor leaguers as well as major
leaguers. And there were about two or three major
leaguers that got killed in World War II in the
combat. Ted Williams did not get into combat
in World War II. He and his squadron, with John
Glenn, got to Honolulu. The war was over. They
never were in combat. They got into combat in
Korea, where Ted did two 39 missions. And Lew
Bursi was in combat in Europe, and so was many,
many others. And Courtney Warren spawned, and
other lesser -known names were in the Battle
of the Bulge, or in Italy, or in France, and
on the beaches over there when they invaded.
And in the Navy, of course, in the Pacific. uh...
elmer gideon got killed in the war he was from
cleveland ohio he was playing for washington
d .c. uh... barry o 'neill was carry o 'neill
paid for ball and war got killed we're coming
up to a break our last break i'm not going to
go through any more break i'm all through with
you uh... could you hang on then for just a few
minutes i'm not going to go any longer Bob Feller,
Hall of Fame pitcher, thank you very much for
being on Veterans Radio. We're back on Veterans
Radio. Dale Throneberry and I were still laughing
over Bob Feller's farewell speech. Well, we told
you he was on a time schedule. We just didn't
know it ended that quickly. It's a funny thing
because that is typical of a lot of farmers.
abrupt but you know they're outspoken and they
have just a way of talking that makes me laugh.
I was doing an appraisal for a farmer many years
ago back when prices were cheaper and he asked
me what I thought it was worth and I said about
a thousand dollars an acre and he had an 80 on
one side of the road and a 30 on acre parcel
on the other side of the road and he said well
just last spring a builder came up and he Told
me that he'd paid me $2 ,000 an acre for that
30 across the road And I asked why didn't you
take it and he thought for a second. He said
son. That was the day that two fools met Yeah,
you know, it was interesting listening to Bob
Feller I think I told you the other day that
When I heard her first heard his voice I said
I recognize that voice and I had heard it when
I was a kid I guess he'd done an interview or
something in and on a sports program and it you
know, he just He just says exactly what he thinks.
I think what's interesting is a couple of things
that we were talking about earlier is his dad
had built the ball field for him and had charged
admission actually for people to come and watch
these teams during the Depression. And I was
wondering, we didn't get a chance to ask the
question, if the baseball diamond from Field
of Dreams, which was built over on the east side
of Iowa, was motivated by Bob Feller's dad on
the west side of the state. Well that's a great
thought because he had bleachers there and charged
35 cents admission for those games and had as
many as a thousand people show up. That was before
his pro career. I think that 35 cents was probably
more than it costs to get into a Yankee game.
probably, and if you think a thousand people
out in farmland in those days, a lot of them
traveled from a great distance. I think it's
one of the things we want to point out, especially
to our listeners, to motivate you to go back
and talk to any World War II veterans that you
may know of and get their thoughts down, because
There was so many questions after listening to
his interview that I thought, I mean, his physical
trainer in the Navy was Gene Tunney, who was,
I believe, a heavyweight champion of the world.
Didn't he fight Jack Dempsey or something? Some
famous bout that I remember hearing. I remember
him as a champion boxer, and I can't remember
the details. There was something about either
Dempsey won or Tunney won or something, and the
guy goes... Tony is your Dempsey's down Dempsey's
I remember hearing the radio broadcast of that
But you know to find out these things the other
question I had since you're in the Navy I wanted
to know what exactly is a fantail. Do you know
the fantail? Yeah, what is that back end of the
ship? Well, I thought that was the stern. Well,
yeah, but the fantail I think is the part that
hangs over I was a seabee, I never stepped foot
on a ship. You know, on the back end of a ship,
there's part of it that hangs over, I believe
that's the fan tale. Okay, well again, encouraging
people to go out there and get these stories
down. The other thing we talked about, can you
imagine... in one of those inter service games
Bob Feller pitching against you at 107 miles
an hour which today is unheard of and we get
all excited here in the Detroit area when one
of our pitchers hit a hundred miles an hour one
time in a game right and he said well yeah I
could you know 107 unusual but normally 103 to
105 yeah without a helmet you couldn't maintain
107 you could only pitch 103 to 105 the And he
was known for being wild and as he said all fastball
pitchers are I read his autobiography or a a
biography Learned from talking to him. You can't
believe everything you read that he was pitching
against the Boston Red Sox and Had no hitter
going and Walked three guys in the bottom of
the or the bottom of the ninth and Next guy up
was Ted Williams. He let the ball go fastball
Williams hit it. He said he didn't even look
back. He just started walking off the mound.
He knew they'd lost four to three. Can you imagine
watching those players go up against each other?
I mean, it's what myths and urban legends are
made of, as you pointed out. Right. Well, the
thing of it is... The teams are not that these
guys aren't great athletes, but they're watered
down quite a bit compared to those days when
When you got on a major league team, you were
really really good. We only had 16 teams First
of all, I mean even I had a cousin that played
a marvelous Marv for those of you out there and
that followed the Mets and the Yankees unfortunately,
but here's a guy who set the record for home
runs in Colorado in a minor leagues and he batted
maybe two thirty or something like that he was
only known for the beer as he did for miller
light in the early seventies but he'd i keep
telling people he made it and i can you imagine
just making it to the major leagues for those
of us who are frustrated baseball players made
the guy that they called sausage are no we wanted
to talk to just briefly before we run out of
time here about other people that in this Greatest
generation that participated during World War
two were not only ballplayers I remember seeing
a picture. I think it was of the DiMaggio brothers
Joe and Dom in the Navy uniforms and some and
you know, even though Ted Williams didn't get
into action we knew about him and I know that
there were many many more that we that we well
Charles Dern and who was the actor the actor
little heavy -weight actor the He was on the
program called evening shade is where? Three
Purple Hearts, a Silver Star, and one of the
Purple Hearts, I remember reading the story.
It was near the end of the war when the Germans
were using old men and young kids. They said
it was about a 14 -year -old kid, is what it
looked like, coming at him with a bayonet, and
he couldn't shoot the guy because it was just
a kid. And he ended up getting a bayonet through
the shoulder because he was trying to just fight
him off rather than kill him. Lee Marvin. was
a driver of one of those tracked amphibious vehicles
in the Marines. He was in the first wave at,
I believe, Tarawa. I might be wrong about that
battle, but he was in the first wave of one of
those major battles. Clark Gable, a gunner on
a ball turret on a B -17. We mentioned Jimmy
Stewart, who flew bombers over Europe and also
ended up staying in the Air Force in the reserves.
uh... ended up in a brigadier general in the
air force and then uh... i've got the i can't
remember the name of the movie you mentioned
it before we're gonna played himself flying all
these big giant super bombers sack which stood
for strategic air command it was uh... it was
almost autobiographical We have to point out
to our audience, we understand that almost the
entire population was involved in World War II,
unlike the conflicts that followed. So we're
not trying to degrade anybody that's out there
that's playing ball or anything today, because
we know that if there were another national emergency
that probably everybody would step up to the
plate, just as they always did. Every generation
is the greatest generation, I think. I agree
with you on that. I've got one last little anecdote
that I read about with the actor Glenn Ford.
It was in the Battle of Iwo Jima, and the rifleman
that was telling the story, and they were under
intense Japanese fire. He was hiding behind a
rock, and a guy hit the ground next to him with
a Thompson submachine gun, rolled over to reload
it, and he looked him in the face, and it was
Glenn Ford. And he said, I thought all you Hollywood
guys were back selling war bonds. And Ford said,
yeah, right. Reloaded his Thompson, jumped up,
and that was the last he saw him running off.
So these guys, a lot of them were in the thick
of it. Do you have anything that you want to
cover? We just wanted to ask people to help us
out. You know, Veterans Radio, we're trying to
do a little fundraising here. So if you go to
our website, veteransradio .net, click on Founders.
We're trying to buy some equipment. We want to
buy some recording equipment and some editing
equipment to upgrade the quality of our program.
So we need your help. So if we get that opportunity,
we would appreciate you doing that. You, too,
can be a sponsor of Veterans Radio. That's right.
You, too. You can become a member of the Veterans
Radio Network. That's what we're working on next.
And look forward to next week's program. Who
do we have? Not sure yet. Not sure yet. Thank
you, Andy. You're dismissed. The opinions or
views expressed on this program are not necessarily
of Veterans Radio or the station. Veterans Radio
is a production of Veterans Radio LLC.