There was no baseball draft.
Ted Williams did not volunteer for the service. He was drafted. And was bitter about being called up for Korea.
He never saw combat in WWII
He did fly combat in Korea, but was not “highly decorated”. However, he was wing man to John Glenn.
I didn’t bother reading the rest.
Ted Williams did not try to avoid combat in World War II. He was a good pilot and he was selected to teach others how to fly. He followed orders. Most World War II vets were drafted. My uncle (a WWII vet) told me that from 1943 on there was no more volunteering. If you volunteered to go into the service your were told that you would be going into the service when you were ordered to report. The military had to gear up and build training bases etc. in order to absorb the large numbers of men.
One of my favorite Greatest Generation veterans is Jerry Coleman. He went from the N.Y. Yankees into the Marine Corps. He is the only major league player who saw combat in two wars. He flew combat in WWII and Korea. He said that the Marine Corps ruined his baseball career. He also said that his Marine Corps service is the achievement of which he is most proud. He retired as a Lt. Colonel in the USMCR. He is still working part time as the Padre play by play announcer. The other broadcasters refer to him as “Colonel.”
As an outrider of the Baby Boom, born in January 1946 I watched "the greatest generation" close up for many years. Watched and listened and learned. When Brokaw launched his sound bite nickname, I felt uneasy. My observation of these people, my parents and their generation, was such that I KNEW none of them would have made up that monicker for themselves.
Not out of false modesty but out of necessity. The overwhelming impression I have after all these years is that these were people who did what they had to do, and did not feel extraordinary for doing it. Heroes yes, there were many to be sure-- but like most true heroes the men and women I knew (and still run across occasionally) didn't think of themselves that way.
As far as failing to pass on their values to the boomer generation, the author makes the same banal error so commonplace among poorly prepared media types-- the failure to realize the Boomer generation was really two generations, split down the middle, and living uneasily side by side. The same generation that went to shit on the campuses of the 60's and seventies produced the votes to elect Ronald Reagan in the eighties.