D-Day Day

Leon Day, that is.

During the prime of his career at age 26, Leon Day joined the United States Army and fought for two years, 1944-1945, in the European Theatre of Operations of World War II. He was drafted on September 1, 1943. A member of the 818th Amphibian Battalion, Day landed and fought on Utah Beach during the D-Day invasions.

Among the sailors and soldiers participating in the D-Day invasion were future Hall of Fame baseball players Yogi Berra and Leon Day.

While Leon Day was landing on Utah Beach with an Army amphibious unit, Berra was on an LST participating in the Normandy invasion, then went off the LST onto a 50-foot rocket-launcher boat that went within 20 yards of the beach.

Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Feller, the legendary hurler who served for three years aboard the battleship USS Alabama, said one reason players who returned from the war were reluctant to talk about their experience or portray themselves as heroes was because "The heroes didn't come back," said Feller, a chief petty officer who was director of a set of four anti-aircraft guns on the Alabama. "They're in unmarked graves and at the bottom of the ocean. Young people don't understand what the world and the war was like then."

Incredible history, thanks for this!

Interesting about Berra, did not know this:

Berra joined the United States Navy in 1943 (he was 18), and served as a gunner's mate on the attack transport USS Bayfield during the Normandy landings.[18] A Second Class Seaman, Berra was one of a six-man crew on a Navy rocket boat, firing machine guns and launching rockets at the German defenses on Omaha Beach. He was fired upon and later received several commendations for his bravery. During an interview on the 65th Anniversary of D-Day, Berra confirmed that he was sent to Utah Beach during the D-Day invasion as well.[19][20] Although the Yogi Berra Museum website claimed that Berra was "fired upon, but was not hit,"[19] according to the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, he was shot in the left hand during Operation Dragoon, an injury which earned him a Purple Heart.

Following Operation Dragoon, he was sent to Tunisia before returning to the United States in January 1945 and being stationed at Naval Submarine Base New London. While there, he played for the base's semi-pro baseball team. He also bribed guards to allow him to sneak off base and play for the Cranston (RI) Chiefs for $50 a game under an assumed name, as he was already signed with the Yankees.[21][22] He was ultimately discharged in May 1946.[23]

Following his military service, Berra played minor-league baseball with the Newark Bears, surprising the team's manager with his talent despite his short stature.[24] He was mentored by Hall of Famer Bill Dickey, whose uniform number Berra took. He later said, "I owe everything I did in baseball to Bill Dickey."[25]