World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseRobert "Bob" Feller was born in Iowa, United States in 1918 to farmer William Feller and teacher/nurse Lena Feller (née Forret). He began showing a talent for the sport of baseball at the young age of eight, and his father supported his interest by building a baseball field for him on the family farm. He became a professional baseball player in the major league (bypassing the minor leagues, which was a usual growth path for most players) in 1936, and very quickly rank among the best pitchers in the league. He heard about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor while returning to his team after visiting his father in Des Moines, Iowa, United States, and within days enlisted in the United States Navy; this made him the first American professional athlete to enlist. He received basic training at Norfolk Naval Base in Virginia, United States He attempted to join naval aviation as a fighter pilot, but he was rejected after failing hearing tests. After serving as a physical instructor at Norfolk for some time, he was assigned to battleship USS Alabama, with the responsibility of gun captain and at the ultimate rating of Chief Petty Officer. After some time in Britain, USS Alabama was shifted to the Pacific Ocean in Aug 1943. Aboard USS Alabama, Feller saw action in the Gilbert Islands, Marshall Islands, and in the Philippine Sea. He returned to the United States in Jan 1945, where he would serve as an instructor at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station in North Chicago, Illinois, United States until the end of the war. He was discharged from the US Navy on 22 Aug 1945, and returned to professional baseball two days later. He would go on to have a distinguished career in baseball, and he was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in 1962. Feller passed away from leukemia in 2010.

Robert Feller Interactive Map

Photographs

Robert Feller Timeline