Elmer Gedeon

Who was Elmer Gedeon?

Elmer John Gedeon is one of only two Major League Baseball players killed in action during World War II. The other was Harry O'Neill. Gedeon was also a multi-sport star in college at the University of Michigan. He flew several missions in the European Theater of Operations as an officer of the United States Army Air Forces before his final, fatal military operation.

At Michigan, Gedeon became an All-American in track and field, and earned varsity letters in both American football and baseball. He tied a world record in the high hurdles in 1938. After graduating, Gedeon had a stint in Major League Baseball as an outfielder for the Washington Senators. Gedeon spent most of the 1939 and 1940 baseball seasons in the minor leagues, but he was called up to the Senators in September 1939.

Gedeon's baseball career was cut short when he was drafted by the United States Army in early 1941. He trained as a bomber pilot, and was decorated for bravery after his plane crashed on a training flight in 1942. He later served in combat, and was shot down and killed while piloting a B-26 bomber on a mission over France in April 1944.