When Virginia Baseball Went to War

Editor’s Note: Enjoy this look back in our archives! This feature was first published in our April 1997 issue.

One of the reasons that Bedford is home to the nascent D-Day Memorial is that on June 6, 1944, Company A of the 116th Infantry lost 19 men from the area at Omaha Beach. There’s another, lesser-known aspect of the tragedy. The 116th Infantry’s baseball team — with a strong Southwest Virginia flavor — had recently proved itself the best in Europe. 

During the early months of 1942, young soldiers all across the Unit­ed States were hastily preparing for assignment overseas. In Octo­ber, as part of that mobilization, the 116th Infantry Regiment — part of the 29th In­fantry Division, and consisting primarily of men from a Virginia National Guard unit — shipped out to the small garrison town of Tidworth, in southern England.

The men of the 116th found themselves in a relatively remote area that offered lit­tle to occupy spare time. But a group of 18 of the men turned to baseball, putting to­gether a makeshift field.

The National Pastime in a way person­ified what these men were fighting for, and with skills developed on the sandlots of America, they assembled a team that soon began to defeat all opposition.

Second baseman Robert Keller of Hagerstown, Md., who had spent three prewar years with the Washington Sena­tors’ organization, remembers the less­-than-ideal facilities. 

“We practiced on a makeshift diamond at a nearby dog track,” he explains. “We would practice almost every day but we never had other teams to play against.”

The talented line-up also included fleet­-footed outfielder Frank Draper, a former Bedford high school athlete, who played with the Hampton Looms team before en­tering military service, and Pride Wingfield, an outfielder from Bedford – who played for Piedmont Label and returned to the U.S. be­fore both the ETO World Series and that fateful day in 1944. He was later assigned to another Infantry Division in Europe.

“Growing up in Bedford there wasn’t much going on for young people,” says Draper’s brother David. “From a very ear­ly age Frank was always playing ball and he became well known locally during his high school days.”

Elmer Wright was also from Bedford, and the son of the town’s deputy sheriff. The tall right-handed pitcher had played in the St. Louis Browns’ farm system and was a former football and baseball star at Bedford High. 

The team’s catcher was a scrappy Robert Marsico, born and raised in Roanoke. He helped build the Blue Hills golf course before joining the Piedmont Label Company and moving to Bedford.

The pitching staff included Virginia na­tives Carl Grimes from Coeburn, and Maurice Williams from Fairfax, in addi­tion to Douglas Gillette, a fiery minor lea­guer from Massachusetts.

In the infield was Carl “Chubby” Prof­fitt, a semi-pro first baseman from Char­lottesville, and Louis Alberigo, a minor league third baseman from Rhode Island. The team was coached by Roanoke native James Mabes. For the entire summer of 1943, the team worked out on their makeshift dia­mond. Then, in September, ambitious plans were announced to determine the European Theater baseball champions.

The ETO World Series was born.

Twenty teams were invited to the fom­day affair staged at the Eighth Air Force Headquarters in London. On hand were the best military teams from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. Most had played each other during the summer season. The 116th Infantry -—the Yankees — were a dark horse at best.

But it was their superb pitching, com­bined with timely offensive and defensive skills, that guided them through the pre­liminary rounds and secured a place in the finals against the formidable, professional­-laden Fighter Command Thunderbolts.

Playing in dismal weather conditions, the gutsy Yankees, led by the pitching of Elmer Wright, and with the hearts of the crowd behind them, stormed to a 6-3 win and the ETO World Series title. Colonel Canham, the regiment’s com­manding officer, was so impressed with the performance that he sent each player a thank you letter and gave each seven days leave. Elmer Wright was moved to contact the St. Louis Browns’ organization and advise them of the team’s and his own success. Browns’ Vice President William 0. De­Witt, replied: “We are mighty glad to know that you won the championship. I am glad to know that your curve ball and your control are better, and I think you will be ready for some high-class baseball when you get back.”

Against all odds, the Yankees had clawed and battled their way to victory. But the odds they would soon face at Normandy were far longer and far more omi­nous.

Shortly after 6:30 a.m., on June 6, 1944, the largest-ever seaborne invasion began. The 116th Infantry were among the first troops to go ashore at Omaha Beach. Un­beknown to the Allies, German reinforce­ments had moved into the area and com­manded the bluff which, rising to a height of 170 feet, dominated the landing beaches.

Disembarking troops were immediately pinned down in a hail of deadly accurate gunfire. Losses quickly mounted as incom­ing landing craft unloaded further troops into the carnage and disainy. Plans were made to evacuate the beach, but before they could be put into effect, small groups of men, through determination and bnne force, struggled forward to the enemy posi­tions. By afternoon the battle had miracu­lously swung in the Americans’ favor.

An estimated 3,000 lives were lost on “Bloody Omaha” that day. Louis Alberi­go, the promising third baseman from Cranston, R.l., was among the early fatali­ties.

Catcher Robert (Tony) Marsico suf­fered serious wounds that were to prevent him from playing baseball again. First baseman Carl Proffitt, who received the Distinguished Service Cross for gallantry, was also wounded in action. They were Frank Draper of Bedford was an outfielder. He was killed on D-Day. both hospitalized in England, and later evacuated home.

It was not until July 16 that the anxious citizens of Bedford, who had 35 of their menfolk serving with Company A of the 116th Infantry, got word of the casualties suffered on D-Day. The shocking news, received at the Western Union telegraph booth at Green’s Drug Store, was that 19 men — an immeasurable loss for a commu­nity of 3,400 — had been killed that day, in­cluding Elmer Wright and Frank Draper.

“The last time we saw Frank was Sep­tember 1942,” explains his brother David. “My mother, Frank’s girlfriend and myself went to Camp Blanding, Florida, to see him before he shipped out. He left our mo­tel that evening, as jovial as always, and didn’t return.”

Draper’s body was brought home a few years Iater.

“Frank and the other boys left together from Bedford train station in 1941,” says David Draper. “Years later, his remains re­turned to the same station.”

Three members of the 116th Infantry Yankees lost their lives at Normandy. Two were seriously wounded and none ever re­turned to professional baseball. It was a tragic loss, but perhaps through their base­ball heroics they had held onto a little piece of home for as long as they could.