Ted Williams in the Korean War
In 1942, with dozens of major league ballplayers heading off to war in Europe or the Pacific, Ted Williams applied for and received a 1A Draft Deferment because he was the sole provider for his mother. He was widely criticized by the press, who took out their feelings on Williams by snubbing him as American League MVP in 1942, even though he led the league in batting average, home runs, and RBI, taking the first of his two Triple Crowns. They voted Joe Gordon of the New York Yankees the honor, thus cementing a running feud that Ted Williams would carry on with the print media for the rest of his career in Boston. The bad publicity even cost Williams a four thousand dollar endorsement contract he held with Quaker Oats, causing an even larger rift between him and “the knights of the keyboards”, as he called the reporters. Fans heckled him constantly, but Williams was only doing what he felt was right.
After the 1942 season ended, Ted enlisted in the Navy reserves voluntarily. He was called up in November, but never was called to active duty. For the next three years he studied and learned how to fly. He became so skilled at this that in flight training school he set records for various maneuvers, including hits, barrel rolls and zooms. Renowned for his eyesight he set a mark that still stands for gunnery students based on reflexes, coordination and visual reaction time. He rose to the rank of captain, and at the end of the three years he went back to the Red Sox.
In 1952, at the age of thirty three, Ted Williams was called to duty from the inactive reserves and sent to the Korean War. As a member of the first Marine Air Wing, Williams landed in Korea in February of 1953. At the same time, John Glenn also turned up there, and the two became good friends. The man who would go on to become the first American to orbit the earth and the Splendid Splinter were paired together on missions, with Williams as Glenn’s wingman, flying F-9 Panther jets.
Ted Williams flew thirty nine mission in the Korean War, over half of them with Glenn. The future astronaut remembers Ted as a very capable pilot, one who got out of more than his share of tight spots. “Once, he was on fire and had to belly land the plane back in.” Glenn recalled. “He slid it in on the belly. It came up the runway about 1,500 feet before he was able to jump out and run off the wingtip.” The plane burst into flames moments later.
Hall of Famer George Kell asked Williams about the incident when he returned to baseball. Kell chided Ted, saying Ted must have run from the fiery jet “Like you were trying to beat out a base hit.”
“Faster than that!” Williams replied.
On another flight, Glenn recounted that Williams’ wingtip fuel tank was hit. Glenn had the utmost respect for Ted’s flying ability and realized that while other major leaguers called back into active duty were given non-combat jobs, Williams was on the front line. Ted, for his part, didn’t seek any accolades. He claimed that of the seventy five fighter pilots in the two squadrons he was with, almost all of them did a better job than he did in the Korean War. But he also added that he really enjoyed flying. “It was the second best thing that I ever did. If I hadn’t had baseball to go back to, I might have gone on as a Marine pilot.”
Williams did go back to baseball in 1954, after having earned an Air Medal and two Gold Stars for his efforts in the Korean War. He passed away in 2002 and his old flying comrade, John Glenn, offered this praise. “There was no one more dedicated to his country or prouder to serve his country than Ted Williams.”
