Elmer Gedeon - A Memorial Day Tribute

 As a sports guy, and a veteran, and a patriot, I felt inclined on this Memorial Day to write a story about an athlete who made the ultimate sacrifice.  Most know the story of Pat Tillman and his sacrifice but I wanted to write about someone most of us know nothing about.  I am thankful for the sacrifice of all the men who died in the service of our great country and I expect this will be an annual salute. God bless America!

Elmer Gedeon was was born in Cleveland, Ohio on April 15, 1917. He was the nephew of former major league infielder Joe Gedeon and himself, a baseball, football and track star at the University of Michigan.. A world record-setting high hurder, he was a two-time Big 10 champion in the 120-yard and 70-yard high hurdles. Gedeon was aiming for the Olympics in track and field but the 1940 Summer Games, planned for Tokyo, were canceled because of the war.  So Gedeon chose to pursue a career in baseball, signing with the Washington Senators in 1939 as an outfielder. and was aiming for the Olympics in track and field. But the 1940 Summer Games, planned for Tokyo, were canceled because of the war. So Gedeon chose to pursue a career in baseball, signing with the Washington Senators in 1939 as an outfielder. In 1940, he was with the Senators for spring training but spent the season with the Charlotte Hornets of the Piedmont League where he hit .271 in 131 games with 11 home runs.  Gedeon served as assistant football coach at Michigan during the fall, and received his summons for military service in January 1941. He went to spring training with Charlotte but joined the Army in March, taking induction at Fort Thomas, Kentucky.

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Around Memorial Day, 1941, Gedeon transferred to the Army Air Corps. IMay 1942, he earned his pilot's wings and a commission as a second lieutenant at Williams Field near Phoenix, and  trained with the 21st Bomb Group at MacDill Field in Tampa. Flight training was always a hazardous time and almost claimed the 25-year-old’s life on August 9, 1942. Gedeon was the navigator in a North American B-25 Mitchell medium-sized bomber that crashed on take off and burst into flames at Raleigh, North Carolina. Despite suffering three broken ribs, he managed to free himself and crawl from the wreckage, then realized a crewmate – Corporal  John Barrat was still inside. Corporal Barrat would have been burned to death had it not been for the unselfish action of Lieutenant Gedeon, who, in addition to his other injuries, received severe burns on his back, right arm and right leg. The heroism displayed by Lieutenant Gedeon on this occasion reflects great credit upon himself and the military service."

 

In July 1943, Gedeon began training on Martin B-26 Marauders at Ardmore Army Air Field in Oklahoma. The B-26 was a sleek, twin-engined bomber that had earned the nickname "The Widowmaker" - due to early models' high rate of accidents during takeoff. By the following month he was flying combat simulations and high altitude bombing practice in preparation for overseas duty with the 394th Bomb Group.

In February 1944, Captain Gedeon arrived at Boreham Airfield in England with the 586th Bomb Squadron of the 394th Bomb Group. “Gedeon was the Operations Officer for the 586th,” recalls James Taaffe, his co-pilot at the time. “He had a delightful sense of humor and was a super gentleman.”

On April 20, 1944, just five days after celebrating his 27th birthday, Gedeon piloted one of 30 Marauders that left Boreham to bomb German construction works at Bois d’Esquerdes. It was the group’s thirteenth mission. Their destination was a construction site in the woods outside Esquerdes, France, near the northern coast. The target was a launch site for the V-1 rocket, the first of Adolf Hitler’s terror weapons that he used against England. The mission was part of Operation Crossbow, a concerted effort to attack the V-1 bases.

At about 7:30 p.m., after Gedeon’s plane had dropped its bombs — most were later determined to have missed the target — antiaircraft fire ripped through its undercarriage. The B-26 burst into flames. Taaffe was the only crew member able to escape the flame-engulfed airplane. As he descended by parachute and captivity at the hands of the Germans, he watched the bomber smash into the ground, carrying Gedeon and five others to their death. "We got caught in searchlights and took a direct hit under the cockpit,” said Taaffe. “I watched Gedeon lean forward against the controls as the plane went into a nose dive and the cockpit filled with flames.”

Gedeon was reported missing in action, and it was not until May 1945 that his father, Andrew A Gedeon, received word from his son's commanding officer that Elmer's grave had been located in a small British army cemetery in St Pol, France.

On May 30, 1946, a memorial service was held before the Charlotte Hornet's game, to remember Elmer Gedeon and also Forrest "Lefty" Brewer, both killed in WWII.

Elmer Gedeon's body was later returned to the United States and rests at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. He was inducted in the University of Michigan Hall of Honor for track and baseball in 1983.

Thank God for brave heroes like Elmer Gedeon. America is the land of the free because of the brave. Happy Memorial Day!