Warthog flying over Egypt
Athletes in the Military
Elmer Gedeon played five games for the Washington Senators before becoming a bomber pilot for the Army Air Force. In 1944, Gedeon is killed during a bombing mission against a German V-1 site in France, becoming one of two professional baseball players killed during World War II.
Click here for other baseball players who served in the military
And here for football players who served
Men of Valor
On Oct. 5, 1918, Sgt. Michael B. Ellis single-handedly attacked a German machine gun nest near Exermount, France, killing two enemy soldiers and capturing 17. He then moved on to capture 27 more enemy troops and six machine guns. Two captured officers coughed up the locations of four additional machine gun positions, and the “Sgt. York of St. Louis” took them as well. In addition to numerous valor medals from foreign countries, Ellis was awarded the Medal of Honor.