march 1944, in one single raid on berlin, 660 american bombers dropped 1600 tons of

bombs. in the pacific, a simultaneous drive toward tokyo by general mccar thur's army moved forward. in may of that year pesky finished flight training. he was now commissioned. earning his wings proved harder than fielding a grounder. >> my flying wasn't the best. i scared a few people. >> particularly his teammate and fell row aviator, ted williams. >> he thought i was terrible. for such a good ballplayer, you're the worst player i ever saw. >> johnny pesky flew an airplane like he had steel arms. >> yeah, that's right. >> one of the shortcoming, navigation. >> i would fly but i didn't know where the hell i was going. i think i'm an ace and i'm doing the rollovers and the slow rolls

and then i go back and i have no idea where i'm at. i kind of panic is what i did. so i land my aircraft in this field. i felt like a god damn fool. a farmer comes over and said what's the matter, sonny, are you lost? i said yes, where's airport. he said well the airport is there. i thanked him. ooh i'm going down the field, i'm halfway down there, there's a big tree and all i did was pull back on my stick, i go and there's the airport right there. i didn't tell ted about it for four or five days. >> in the late spring of '44, martin, barra were all in southern england. >> when you got to england did you know you were going to make the normandy landing? >> no. we found out when we got there. they took us for training and everything and said we're going to get ready for an invasion. >> did you have a chance to play

any baseball over there? >> no. we didn't play at all over there. >> all training? >> all training. ♪ >> what impressed us more than anything else is all of the equipment, the ammunition, you know, the trucks and the tanks and the gasoline, all stacked up and alongside the road. >> we knew that, you know, the invasion was near. >> monte, did you see a lot of sign of the damage done? >> we did, yeah. they plastered plymouth. we didn't get a chance to go up to london because they were bombing it constantly and sending over buzz bombs over there. >> the way we were training we knew we were going into battle. we knew that. >> as monte and yogi prepared for the invasion of normandy, morrie martin fell sailed into the english channel. >> the water was so rough we couldn't land. we finally went in and when we let the large doors down, we

stepped out in water waist deep open had to wade on in. >> martin went ashore at omaha beach, one of 175,000 men who landed on d-day, 6 june 1944. >> artillery, it was going off. my cousin came in, i think it was two hours after i did, hen was killed right there on the beach, my cousin. >> did you have a sense when that landing is under way what a mo men us to event you're engaged in. >> i never saw so many planes in my life, colonel. i tell you, it was like a black cloud. >> seaman first class yogi barra was on board a rocket boat at utah beach. >> we used to call ourself the suicide squad. .230 caliber. >> we didn't get there until the first of august.

and we went -- we landed on omaha beach and i never will forget this. there was a big streamer, a tall streamer across the entrance and the sign said through these portals america's finest soldiers have tread. >> there was a bridge before we got in there on the river. we had to capture that and hold it. in fact we had to retake the bridge twice. they took it from us and we took it again. very costly. >> 8,000 miles from france the japanese held islands of guam were under attack and bob feller on the uss alabama was there. >> our target area was on the west side of the island of saipan and leveled it. >> after the landing, the alabama turned to the task of

defeating the japanese counter stroke. japanese chief of staff eastwarded the mobile fleet nine air r carriers, five battle ships and 14 cruisers to repel the invasion. in the skies over the islands, some one,000 american aps japanese planes engaged in the greatest dog fight ever. ♪ >> i did the job of a gun raid chief. i pulled the trigger as my shipmate put the ammunition many. did you hit anything? i sure hope we did. you never knew who hit what. all we wanted was to see the airplane splash. >> it's one of the great victories of world war ii. >> didn't work out too well for the japanese. when the day was over, the jab knees naval air force didn't exist any longer. >> roosevelt's decision to keep

baseball going benefitted more than those working for victory on the home front. >> the war broadcast on the radio were so important to the men and women overseas, it gave them hope and humanity. >> it was very important to have that feeling that something good was happening back home and we could follow it wherever we would go. >> we got some game. we always got the scores >> listening was good but playing it was even better. >> baseball was played on all five continue then involved in the war. they were about to give that up. it brought them a piece of home. >> the military also put on games to entertain the troops and raise money through war bond sales. >> the national pasttime gets on the bandwagon. a glittering diamond festival is put on by the major leagues. $800 million is the contribution of the baseball fan to the bond drive. >> when i was in the navy in norfolk, v-v we had a good baseball team up there and brought up to play a game

against the red sox in fenway park. the price of admission was a $25 bond. and incidentally we beat the red sox. >> johnny, was baseball an important moral factor for americans? >> they said it was. we had some teams in the forward areas, guam and places like that. they had some good team and probably had better play u players back home. >> baseball became a way to settle age old rivalries, the series played in hawaii in the summer of '44. >> a world prask world series. said where are our best baseball players? and the yeoman said we got a few, got a couple in austria and australia and he says to the yeoman, bring them in. within 48 hours we had john my wise, schoolboy roll, john my

vand mere, they flew me and phil in from australia. we slaughtered the army. beat them badly. when "war stories" returns, jerry coleman starts flying dangerous [music]

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i was 19, my gunner was 18. if the japanese knew what we are up against with, they would never have surrender. jerry coleman arrived in august of '44. he was assigned to a marine attack squad ran known as the turtles. >> who wants to go to war as a turtle. we were stationed a green island and then we went into the philippines. >> what was your first aircraft. >> we as dive bomber known as a scud bomber. >> what kind of bombs are you

dropping. >> thousand-pound bombs. i wanted to sank carrier. that was my goal zblou flew how many combat missions. >> 57. i hated the sector search, nothing around but water and you had to fly a couple of feet off the water. i hated that. i really did. ♪ >> as coleman battled the japanese from the sky, bob feller continued to face them on the philippine sea. >> when you're in these engagements with did you have a sense of being a part of something absolutely extraordinary? >> not really. when you're that age in your tos, you think you're immortal. of course we were aware we would be hurt. we had to bury men at sea. that's how war is. >> you road out a couple of really big typhoons as well? >> we had 180-mile-per-hour sustained winds. >> there are no typhoons in

europe but in the winter of '44 there was snow, lots of it, and bone-chilling cold. >> cold as could be. maybe, you know, six below zero it was so cold. and we were more concerned about keeping warm than we were, you know, about fighting. >> it was the worst weather i ever saw in my life. i can remember christmas morning, i was sitting up against a tree and i was never so cold in my life. i didn't know whether they feet were on me or not. ♪ >> on that frigid christmas morning, morrie martin was one of thousands of girks is. they were facing hitler's last gas, a massive german counter attack. >> very long nights. sleeping on the ground, mud, rain, snow, ice, didn't know who you were fighting. because they were -- some of them, most of them, when they

first made the break through, they were dressed in our uniforms and they spoke perfect english. you would have to start with questions like who hit the home run and where's st. louis at. it was rough. terrible. >> the battle of the bulge cost more than 10,000 american lives and was one of the bloodiest engagements of world war ii. irvine was in france hoping for a piece of the action. >> not being able to make a bigger contribution, we wanted to fight too. that's the reason why they drafted us. >> their attitude changed when they got a little advice from a sergeant just back from the front. >> he said you ever heard of the german 88s. they're very accurate. of all of you guys, boy uldn't complain much anymore. and we didn't. >> morrie martin survived the battle of the bulge but in march of '45 he was shot in the leg while on patrol in germany. >> they were going to amputate

my leg and the nurse looked at my record and saw my occupation was a baseball player and she told them, they got this new drug out to kill this infection. said refuse that operation and make them give you that. >> the new drug was pencilen. >> she saved my leg. god bless her soul, all i know is she was from georgia. >> 8 may 1945 as morrie martin lay in a hospital, germany's surrender ended the war. >> did your unit get tagged to go to fight against japan? >> yes. yeah. we thought maybe we might go to japan. >> we're set to pick up a carrier and hit the mainland in 1945. >> operation downfall was scheduled to begin that november. but in august two atomic bombs made downfall and it's estimated

1 million american casualties here to this day. because i really feel had i taken a carrier to japan and the intensity of that war there, i might not be there. >> the boys of summer return home. >> that's next on "war stories."  ♪  this is how you say it's going to be okay to someone who just lost everything. every 8 minutes the red cross responds to a disaster and makes this promise. help us keep it.

♪ >> during the war baseball provided a welcome respite from reial. peace meant two things, we had triumphed over evil and two, baseball's biggest names were back on the diamond. in i led the league in almost everything but stolen sweatshirts. i broke the strikeout record, pitched a no-hitter innian key

stadium, all star game in fenway park. i broke a major league strikeout record that stood at that day and time. i had a great year in 1946. >> when he first saw me, he said he didn't like me that much. i said yes, sir he did. then he started to like me. >> a three-time american league mvp, yog gi berra played 19 years. he was selected to the american league all star team every year from 1948 to 1962. >> we got a great country here. that's all i go. >> let me share with your yogi berra's observations. he said bob feller was really rough on me until he found out i had served in combat. that's what he h said. >> he brings it up all the time. he's a great guy and his wife is

a great lady. >> he won 236 games and struck out batters. in world war ii, it cost me four seasons. >> 1946 was a special year for baseball in the country. great players were able to come back. >> earn any har well broadcast his first game for the atlanta crackers in 1946. in 1960 he moved to detroit where he announced for 42 seasons. >> i've had a great life and a great part of it was being in the marines for four years. >> i was signed by the new york giants in 1949. >> would you have gotten into major league baseball sooner had you got gone off to war? >> yeah. i had been selected to be the first at that time. i was scouted back in 1936. so they had selected me to be the first. but how can you argue with the job that jackie did. >> monte irvine fields the ball

but too late to keep jackie robinson from scoring. ♪ >> in '51 irvine was with the giants are one of baseball's most famous moments. the deciding game of the special playoff between the new york giants and the brooklyn dodgers. at stake a trip to the world series. bobby toch son came to the plate with two men on and his giants down by two. >> the pitch, thompson swings. it's going, going, it's gone ap engiants win the pennant 5-4. >> that magnificent home run hit by bob thompson, that was like a dream come true. >> the blast that was heard around the baseball world. >> you traded uniforms. is that something some youngster should say i could do that too? >> yeah. >> they said freedom is not free. we have to fight for the freedom that we have. each and ever one of us should

remember that. >> i was anxious to get back into it and get back into civilian life but i knew i was going to have a rough time because i just, i don't know, i just wasn't all there yet, you know, in any mind. i had went through a lot. >> morrie martin needed to overcome more than the war. after almost losing his leg, he needed to recover as a an athlete and make the major leagues and he did pitch in the majors for ten years. >> i'm proud to serve my country and i'm thank the good lord that i'm back, back here alive. in as good of shape as i am. >> you gave up a lot to change unifor uniforms. >> yes, i did. >> very likely you gave up your chance to be in the hall of fame. >> i don't know about that. you're very kind to say that. i'm in the red sox hall of fame and that's good enough for me. >> for the amount of sometime and service that john has given to baseball, that alone should qualify him for the hall of fame. but he has the number to go with

it. and yes, i think john should be in the hall of fame. >> come dimaggio and johnny peskiry joined the red sox for the 1946 season. that year boston made it to the world series. >> did you notice in talking to come and ted that three years changed you? >> no it matured us, i would say. we were so happy to see the guys that we played with before we went in, they were all healthy and still young. we played a good ten years together. that's a long time. >> i think it was the best thing i ever did. had i not gone in the service i think i would have resented it to this day. >> the day the war ended i said this to myself, what am i going to do now? >> they let me out january of 1946 and that's when i picked up baseball again. >> jerry coleman went on to play nine seasons with the yankees. in june 1950 north korea invaded south korea.

ted williams and jerry coleman again sacrificed their baseball careers to answer their country's call. >> the yankees loss is the marine corps gain. >> well colonel i would say it's like going from one championship team to another. >> i say this candidly and honestly. the marine corps destroyed by baseball career. there's no question about it. the greatest thing that ever happened to me in my life is my time in the service and the marine corps, nothing close to it. >> more baseball and world war ii when

i can't believe we broke old man hennessey's window correction dude, you broke. i just threw the ball. this is really bad. what are we going to do? dude, kiss your life goodbye. let's go.

♪oh. keep smiling, keep shining♪ ♪knowing you can always count on me, for sure♪ hi ♪knowing you can always count on me, for sure♪ tell him it was an accident and we can fix the window. ♪knowing you can always count on me, for sure♪ i'll come with you. ♪woah, that's what friends are for♪

president roosevelt certainly made the right call when he decided baseball should keep going during world war ii. by boosting moral on the home front, baseball help keep the country going. to all of the players who love of the game was rivalled only by their love of the country, theirs is a war story that

deserves to be told. i'm oliver north, good night. ♪ tonight on "war stories", the united states coast guard is always ready. >> you never know what you're going to face when you get up in the morning. >> the ship exploded with one huge fireball. about 580 men were destroyed in an instant. >> americans life savers. >> we bring the wounded back out to the ships. >> when you save a life there's >> more than ever, we need these guardians of the sea. that's next on "war stories."