The Washington Nationals celebrated the return of baseball to the nation’s capital on March 29 by working with Arlington National Cemetery to acknowledge those who have served the nation and impacted America’s national pastime.
The Nationals provided official MLB baseballs to ANC, where they were placed on six historic graves, including those of two baseball athletes who played professionally in D.C.
The baseballs were placed on the graves of Luzerne “Lu” Blue, a Major Leaguer whose baseball career was interrupted when he was drafted in 1918; Abner Doubleday, an early adopter of baseball who is often mistakenly credited with inventing the sport; William Eckert, MLB commissioner and lieutenant general in the U.S. Air Force; Elmer Gedeon, a Washington Senator player who was drafted and died in WWII; Spottswood “Spot” Poles, a Negro Leagues known for his speed and batting average, who served in the famed Harlem Hellfighters and Ernest Judson Wilson, a Negro Leagues player who competed with the Homestead Grays in D.C. and served in WWI, and has been inducted in the Nationals Park Ring of Honor.
In a video highlighting the servicemen and their contributions, ANC historian Kevin Hymel said Gedeon played only five games with the Washington Senators before being drafted into the Army in 1941.
“He earned his wings with the Army Air Corps,” he said. “He crashed his plane in North Carolina, escaped the wreckage but went back in to retrieve a crew member. For that, he was given the Soldiers Medal.”
In February of 1944, Gedeon, then a lieutenant, headed off for Europe.
“Before he left, he said `I’ll be back in baseball when this war is over,’” Hymel said.
On April 20, 1944, Gedeon was piloting a B-26 bomber during a night mission to knock out a German installation in France.
“It was his thirteenth mission of the war, but instead he never made it to target,” continued Hymel.
Instead, German antiaircraft fire tore into Gedeon’s plane, which nose-dived and crashed into the French countryside, killing him and nearly every member of his crew. Gedeon was later interred at a British cemetery. Following the war, he was buried in Section 34 of ANC.
The Nationals previously visited Arlington National Cemetery to pay respects to the Ring of Honor inductee Ernest Wilson in February.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.