Captain Elmer John Gedeon, US Army Air Force (April 15, 1917-April 20, 1944)
A standout athlete at the University of Michigan, Elmer Gedeon wanted to play pro baseball. On September 18, 1939, 17 days after the start of World War II, Gedeon got his wish as a member of the Washington Senators.
An outfielder, Gedeon’s Major League career lasted five games. The highlight came on September 19, his first start. Against the Cleveland Indians in Washington, Gedeon singled three times, walking once and scoring his only run in a 10-9 slugfest.
Spending 1940 with the Charlotte Hornets of the Piedmont League, a Washington affiliate, and as an assistant football coach at his alma mater, Gedeon was drafted in January 1941 and joined the Army that April.
First in the cavalry, according to Baseball’s Greatest Sacrifices, Gedeon transferred into the Army Air Force on October 22, 1941. Assigned to the 315th Bomb Squadron, 21st Bomb Group at Tampa’s MacDill, he trained there and in Arizona earning his wings.
Gedeon survived two plane crashes over the next couple years. One in Michigan cracked ribs and burned his body. By 1944, now part of the 586th Bomb Squadron stationed in England, now Captain Gedeon was part of a unit destroying bridges in France from the air.
His last mission came on April 20, over St. Pol, Gedeon’s B-26B encountered heavy flak. The plane dropped their bomb load on a construction site before being shot down and crashing into flames. All six soldiers, including Gedeon, died in the crash. This was his 13th combat mission.
After being found in a British cemetery in France in 1945, Gedeon now rests at Arlington National Cemetery.
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