The Wingmen, page 29
So from the moment John Glenn’s Friendship 7 space capsule safely fell from orbit, splashing down in the Atlantic Ocean, he and Ted Williams also shared the crushing weight and unceasing burden of celebrity. Not many people whom Williams or Glenn ever encountered could appreciate being so compelled, so accomplished, so exceptional that they were on a first-name basis with an entire country, let alone much of the civilized world.
It was only natural for the man celebrated by millions as the greatest hitter who ever lived to sense a connection to the greatest aviator who ever lived and the standard bearer for space exploration. And vice-versa. They both understood that their gifts and rabid pursuit of excellence came with a price: fame. How they handled that fame was a different story.
The intersection of John Glenn and Ted Williams did not alter the course of world history. It did not even change the military, baseball, politics, space travel, or any of the avenues that either pursued. But it did change two men who, in a way, changed the world.
Glenn’s relationship with Williams did not influence his path to NASA, the Senate, or a permanent place in the pantheon of American heroes. Likewise, Glenn’s presence in Williams’s life did not make him a great ballplayer or icon of professional sports. He was already both by the time the two met. But they weren’t just friends, and they certainly weren’t just two ships passing in the night.
They truly admired each other. There’s something to be said about a titan who reveres another titan.
Several generations have worshipped Ted Williams. Young kids, Hall of Fame ballplayers, the secretary of the Navy, an Air Force colonel on an active military runway in a foreign country less than fifty miles from a hostile enemy, all idolized Ted Williams. Ted Williams idolized John Glenn, in 1953, in 1962, in 1988, in 1998, and prior to his death in 2002.
John Glenn did not idolize Ted Williams, but there is a uniqueness about his affection for the man he called “an excellent combat pilot, a great patriot, and a close friend.” Glenn often sat with presidents, foreign heads of state, corporate CEOs, generals and admirals, and intrepid, death-defying explorers. And he befriended the greatest hitter of all time, but that title is not why he liked and respected Williams. “Ted only batted. 406 in 1941,” Glenn told the crowd at Boston’s Wang Center in 1988. “He batted 1.000 for the Marines and the United States of America.” Other than his family and close friends, the Marine Corps and the United States of America were most near and dear to Glenn’s heart. For all the personality conflicts—moral, political, social—he may have had with Williams, because of that 1.000 batting average Williams would always occupy a special place in Glenn’s memory.
The day after John Glenn died in December 2016, politicians, service members, astronomers, celebrities, journalists, and ordinary fans all offered recollections of and praise for the legendary American. Most of them included the phrase “Godspeed, John Glenn,” a throwback to the famous words fellow Mercury astronaut Scott Carpenter told his friend ten seconds before Friendship 7 lifted off the ground at Cape Canaveral.
On his blog, award-winning columnist and author Joe Posnanski shared a different kind of tribute.
Prefaced with “[I] don’t know if it’s true. I want it to be true. The basics of the story seem to be true,” Posnanski painted a vivid portrait of an anecdote he once heard about John Glenn and Ted Williams.
“Supposedly they were once at an event of some sort, and Williams was off after a while ranting about something or other. When Ted got ranting about whatever the topic—whether it was baseball, fishing or the decline of the United States of America—there was no stopping him, no slowing him down. He was a runaway freight train, and whatever or whoever got in his way just got run over. That’s because Ted Williams was the biggest man in every room he ever entered....
“‘Ted,’ John Glenn said at some point as the conversation grew a bit too loud and profane and fierce.
“‘Listen here I’m trying to finish this,’ Williams said. ‘When I . . .’
“‘Ted,’ John Glenn said again, this time with a little bit of bite in his voice.
“And Ted Williams looked at his old friend. John Glenn was a few inches shorter than Williams, and his voice was considerably softer, and if he ever swore it sure as heck wasn’t in public. He was a square guy from Ohio who married his high school sweetheart, who once told the Mercury Astronauts to stop messing around on their wives, who once said after flying ‘To look out at this creation and not believe in God is, to me, impossible.’
“Ted Williams looked at ol’ Magnet Ass, and he just stopped. He understood. For once, he was looking at the biggest man in the room.
“‘Awright,’ he said quietly as he settled down. ‘I can’t compete with a bleeping American hero.’”
If anyone could humble Ted Williams, it was John Glenn. Although it’s a safe bet that Williams used a more colorful word than “bleeping.”
Appendix
United States Marine Corps VMF-311,
Based at K-3, Pohang, South Korea
February through July 1953
Commanding Officer (Feb. 1 to Apr. 20)
Coss, Lt. Col. Francis K.
Commanding Officer (Apr. 21 to May 31)
Executive Officer (Jan. 20 to Apr. 20)
Moran, Lt. Col. Arthur M.
Commanding Officer (June 1 to July 27)
McShane, Lt. Col. Bernard
Executive Officer (June 1 to July 2)
Skinner, Maj. John, Jr.
Executive Officer (July 3 to July 27)
Heier, Maj. William D.
Officers:
Armagost, Capt. William I.
Austin, Capt. Marshall S.
Bailes, Capt. Joe D.
Bruce, Maj. Ronald L.
Brothers, 2nd Lt. William Q., Jr.
Brown, Capt. Rowland C.W.
Brown, Capt. William P.
Campbell, Capt. Jack W., Jr.
Canan, Maj. Christopher M.
Carruthers, Capt. Joseph N.
Catlett, Lt. (JG) George F., Jr. (Navy Medical Officer)
Clabaugh, 2nd Lt. John W., Jr.
Clem, Capt. William B.
Cushman, Maj. Thomas J., Jr.
Day, 1st Lt. Marvin E.
Dennis, Capt. Harrel J.
Dochterman, Maj. Lloyd B., Jr.
Durnford, Capt. Dewey F., Jr.
Euster, 1st Lt. Jerold P.
Fauchier, Capt. Clifford E.
Fournier, 1st Lt. Willard D.
Fox, Maj. James G.
Glenn, Maj. John H., Jr.
Hagans, Capt. Harold F.
Harrison, Maj. Patrick
Haping, 1st Lt. Donald G.
Hawkins, 1st Lt. Lawrence R.
Heiland, 2nd Lt. John F.
Helms, Capt. Jonee L.
Hendershot, Capt. Jerry N.
Heintz, 1st Lt. William H.
Himes, Capt. John W.
Hollenbeck, Maj. Marvin K.
Hollowell, Capt. Forris M.
Jablonski, 2nd Lt. Raymond C.
Janssen, 1st Lt. Paul G.
Keck, 1st Lt. Frank L., Jr.
Kurtz, Capt. Francis D.
Lovette, Capt. Lenhrew E.
Magill, Maj. James H.
McGraw, Capt. William C., Jr.
Massey, Capt. William W.
McPherson, 1st Lt. Robert W.
Mendes, Maj. Jonathan D.
Milt, Maj. Jack W.
Mitchell, Maj. Joseph A.
Miller, 1st Lt. Robert E.
Montague, Capt. Paul B.
Moret, Maj. Alfred T., Jr.
Murdoch, Capt. James G.
Nettleton, 1st Lt. Russell W.
Newendrop, Capt. Arthur W.
Nordell, Capt. Robert I.
Parrish, 1st Lt. Darold D.
Peine, Maj. Robert H.
Petersen, Capt. Conrad H.
Ritchie, Capt. John A.
Ross, Capt. Walter L., III
Rudy, 1st Lt. Rylen B.
Sabot, Maj. Robert
Sample, 1st Lt. Edward J.
Schuerman, Capt. Mervyn T.
Schlage, 1st Lt. Raymond P., Jr.
Scott, Capt. Lee L., Jr.
Smith, Capt. Floyd
Spencer, 1st Lt. Richard T.
Stephens, Capt. Glenn A.
Street, Capt. Charles E., Jr.
Traut, 1st Lt. Earl W.
Verdi, 1st Lt. John M.
Wade, Capt. Robert
Walley, Maj. James M.
Whitefield, Capt. Melvin L.
Whitney, 1st Lt. Robert L.
Williams, Capt. Theodore S.
Young, Capt. Robert J.
Acknowledgments
Someone in the publishing industry once told me, and I’m paraphrasing, that no one cares about your Acknowledgments section other than the people mentioned in it.
I’m sure that’s true, but it totally misses the point. I believe the Acknowledgments section exists for that exact reason.
Nevertheless, there’s wisdom in that largely cynical aforementioned statement so I’ll keep this as brief as possible.
My wife, Sarah, and my parents, Dr. Hillard and Joan Lazarus, deserve top billing as always here. And this time around I’ll add my two boys, Aaron and Benny, who showed great interest in this subject. Aaron especially enjoyed tales of the astronaut and cross-country-sound-barrier-breaking pilot; Benny, tales of the man who during one whole season got four hits for every ten at-bats.
But the rest of my thanks belong to this list of individuals, without whose generous efforts this story would never have made it to the page:
My dedicated agent at Aevitas Creative Management, Justin Brouck-aert, and esteemed political reporter at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Greg Bluestein; my editor, Denise Silvestro, and the entire staff at Citadel Press; my Kenyon College Lords football teammates Kris Cheney, Tom Giberson, Mike Ferzoco, and especially Major Benjamin Van Horrick, USMCR; my brother Jeff Lazarus, my mother-in-law, Betsy Gard, and uncle James Siegelman; Alejandra Jaramillo Arizza; Carly Dearborn at Ohio State University, Alyson K. Mazzone at the Marine Corps History Division, Nicholas Herold at the National Archives and Records Administration, Hal and Ted Barker of the Korean War Project, and André Sob-ocinski at the U.S. Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery; Chris Conley, Dr. Richard P. Hallion, Major General Larry S. Taylor, USMCR (ret.), Fred Gaudelli, Bill Nowlin, and Ben Bradlee, Jr.; Lyn Glenn, Dr. David Glenn, Claudia Williams, Barbara Clem Alvarez, Kathy Moran Truitt, Robin Campbell, Jay Campbell IV, Dr. Fred Miser, John I. Hense, Jr., Cindy Gregoire, Robin Merriman, and all the relatives of those who served at K-3 in the winter and spring of 1953.
Others certainly made great contributions to my research, interviewing, writing, editing, etc. But these men and women really went above and beyond, and for that I am forever grateful.
Notes
Epigraph
vii “Fighter formation flying” “MARINE FIGHTING SQUADRON TWO HUNDRED EIGHTEEN: SQUADRON DOCTRINE,” courtesy of the John H. Glenn Archives at the Ohio State University, Box 14, Folder 20, Location 01-8-26-09-04-0-1, p. 5.
Author’s Note
ix “The word is particularly” “A Pocket Guide to Korea,” 1 September 1950, Armed Forces Information & Education Division, Office of the Secretary Defense, Courtesy of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, p. 34–35
Prologue
1 “greatest team in 25” “Muskie Eleven Seen School’s ‘Greatest Team In 25 Years,’”East Liverpool (OH) Review, November 18, 1939.
1 “got a little out of line” The John H. Glenn, Jr., Oral History Project, Oral History Interview 4, Brien R. Williams, December 12, 1996, p. 14.
1 “I didn’t have to peek to” The John H. Glenn, Jr., Oral History Project, Oral History Interview 4, Brien R. Williams, December 12, 1996, p. 14.
2 “I enjoyed it” The John H. Glenn, Jr., Oral History Project, Oral History Interview 4, Brien R. Williams, December 12, 1996, p. 4.
2 “Welcome to the War!” Correspondence with Chris Conley, November 22, 2021.
3 “daring, skill, and fearless” Headquarters U.S. Marine Corps, Citation: Distinguished Flying Cross to Second Lieutenant Robert F. Conley, USMCR, Circa September 1943.
3 “About then my gunner” “Capt. Conley Back in States After 7 Months at Guadalcanal,” Daily Jeffersonian (OH), November 20, 1943.
3 “We are not at war” . . . “United Nations” “The President’s News Conference, June 29, 1950,” Courtesy of the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum.
3 “truce tents” “Still Panmunjom,” New York Times, December 16, 1951.
4 “The Marine Corps for the” “55,000 Draft Call Set For February,” New York Times, December 9, 1951.
4 “individuals that desired” Ernest H. Guisti, Mobilization of the Marine Corps Reserve in the Korean Conflict 1950−1951 (1951), Historical Branch, G-3 Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, Washington, D.C., 20380, p. 34.
5 “We called up a lot” Ed Leach, “Visiting Marine Made Honorary Texan,” Longview (TX) Morning Journal, September 9, 1973.
5 “Assignment to extended active” Letter written by the Commandant of the Marine Corps to Captain Theodore S. Williams, April 9, 1952, Freedom of Information Act.
5 “What are you doing?” Chris Conley written memoirs of Robert F. Conley, Sr., received March 7, 2021.
CHAPTER ONE: From Fenway to Fighter Jets
7 “I don’t care whether” “Williams Denies Spitting at Fans,” Fort Myers News-Press, March 20, 1951.
7 “Breaking into a tantrum” Dick Farrington, “Fancy That,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 20, 1951.
8 “[Soon] a few critics began” Roger Birtwell, “Ted’s Age an Obstacle to Sox Trading Effort,” Boston Globe, December 11, 1951.
8 “As far as I’m concerned” “Open for Trades, Says New Leader,” New York Times, October 23, 1951.
8 “We would be a sucker” “Yanks May Want Williams Now,” Boston Globe, December 11, 1951.
9 “Fishing is how I relax” Joe Richler, “Ted Guards His Private Life, Loves Flycasting Audience,” Miami News, June 23, 1950.
9 “fashionable” Jimmy Burns, “Spotlighting Sports,” Miami Herald, January 10, 1952.
9 “Having spent my entire major” Arthur Simpson, “Ted Tickled He’s Staying; Rolfe Sees Big ’52 for Him,” Boston Herald, December1 9, 1951.
10 “the field artillery” Harold Kaese, “Teddy Rates Another Exam,” Boston Globe, January 14, 1952,
10 “slacker and draft dodger” Ralph McGill, “One More Word,” Atlanta Constitution, March 8, 1942.
10 “I’m no slacker” Bill Cunningham, “‘I’m No Slacker,’”Liberty, April 25, 1942.
11 “fresh and chesty” George A. Barton, “Sport Graphs,” Minnesota Morning Tribune, November 4, 1942.
11 “He did not pull sufficient” Bob Husted, “The Referee,” Dayton Herald, November 4, 1942.
11 “Why, if Ted had only hustled” Burt Whitman, “Ted Williams Misses A.L. Award,” Boston Herald, November 4, 1942.
11 “I have to think the reason” Ted Williams with John Underwood, My Turn at Bat (New York: A Fireside Book Published by Simon & Schuster, 1988), p. 96.
12 “The ball players go” Harold Kaese, “Neophyte Flyer Faces Big Grind Getting Wings,”Boston Globe, December 5, 1942.
12 “Flying is the last thing” Bill King, “Ted Williams Bats High as Navy Flier,” Philadelphia Inquirer, December 2, 1942.
12 “Yellow Peril” Carl Leiter, “Williams: Player, Soldier,” Kokomo Tribune, November 5, 1994.
12 “You can tell from the way “Aviation Cadet Ted Williams Wins, Big Sendoff at Bunker Hill,” Indianapolis Star, December 7, 1943.
000 “Very smooth” Gail Rippey, “He Taught This Star to Soar,” Lancaster Sunday News, July 7, 2002.
000 “He was up there checking our” John Vellante, “Veteran Recalls Flying Days with Ted Williams,” Boston Globe, July 28, 2002.
13 “From what I heard” Ed Linn, Hitter: The Life and Turmoils of Ted Williams (San Diego: Harcourt Brace, 1994), p. 247.
14 “They told me when I” Henry Berry, Hey, Mac, Where Ya Been? (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1988), p. 291.
15 “As far as Uncle Sam” Frank Eidge, Jr., “Ted Seems Unconcerned at Recall That Could End His Career,” Pensacola Journal, January 11, 1952.
15 “I resented the way they” Austen Lake, “Ted’s War Grows,” Boston Evening American, April 2, 1957.
15 “if you could tell me how I” Letter written by Carol Leavitt to Mr. Harry S. Truman, April 9, 1952, Freedom of Information Act.
15 “What earthly use can” Austen Lake, “Whisper Grows the Marines Will ‘4-F’ Ted,” Boston Evening American, March 24, 1952.
16 “With Williams out the Red” Joe Levine, “7 Bone Chips Removed from Williams’ Arm,” Miami News, July 13, 1950.
000 “The door opened and a Marine” Joe Reichler, “The Williams I Know,” Sport, February 1966.
17 “no significant limitations” Hy Hurwitz, “Williams Believes He Will Play When Service Ends,” Boston Globe, April 3, 1952.
17 “I’m 49, and I’m a pilot” Hy Hurwitz, “Williams Believes He Will Play When Service Ends,” Boston Globe, April 3, 1952.
17 “negligible” Hy Hurwitz, “Elbow ‘Weather Ache’ Considered Not Unusual,” Boston Globe, April 1, 1952.
17 “when they told Williams” Author interview with David Fisher, November 29, 2021.
17 “purely personal” Letter written by General Lemuel C. Shepard, Jr., to Ted Williams, May 22, 1952, courtesy of the personal archives of Ben Bradlee, Jr.
18 “Naturally I feel greatly” “Wednesday ‘Ted’s Day’ at Fenway,” Lowell Sun, April 27, 1952.
