Posted on 05/30/2021 9:41:24 AM PDT by massmike
Eddie died leading his battalion in a desperate fight to relieve (Major) Whittlesey’s beleaguered men two. He was commanding a company of Three Hundred Seventy infantry from Camp Upton, when the battle began.
For four days and four nights, his company was part of the command which was trying to get to Whittlesey. On the morning of the day that relief was effected, Eddie was so worn out he could scarcely move. Some of his brother officers noticed him sitting on a stump, with a cup of coffee in front of him.
Two or three times, they say, he tried to lift the cup, but he was so weak he couldn’t do it. Finally with a terrific effort, he gulped down the coffee, when the command came to move.
He stepped off at the head of his company as briskly as ever. On the way through the forest, fighting at every step, Grant came upon stretcher bearers carrying back the major commanding the battalion, who had been wounded. The major called to Grant:
“Take command of the battalion!”
Eddie Grant was then one of the few officers left. The major had hardly spoken when a shell came through the trees, dropping two lieutenants in Grant’s company. Eddie shouted:
“Everybody down,” to his men, without hunting for cover himself. He called for more stretcher bearers for the two lieutenants. He was calling and waving his hands when a shell struck him. It was a direct hit.
Eddie Grant would sadly thus have another footnote in the annals of major league history – he would be the first MLB player to be killed in action in service to his country.
(Excerpt) Read more at behindthebag.net ...
I guess not going down Electric Avenue today.
“Workin’ so hard like a soldier
Can’t afford a thing on TV”
Amazing story. Thank you.
Same here. At first I thought he had passed away recently but it was about an entirely different person...
Saluting Captain Grant, WWI hero.
I wonder if the memorial plaque is still there. The Polo Grounds is no more, but I hope the plaque is...
An odd twist to the Grant story took place when the bronze plaque, located in the shadows of Coogan’s Bluff at Polo Grounds, disappeared after the Giants played their final game in the venerable ballpark prior calling San Francisco home in 1958. After a 9-1 loss to the Pirates on September 29, 1957, The New York Times reported that soon after the contest’s final out, a number of fans from the announced crowd of 11,606 descended upon the field and began removing home plate, the pitcher’s rubber, two of the bases, the centerfield wall padding, handfuls of grass and sod, and telephones.
“The Eddie Grant plaque – dating to 1921, three years after the former Giant infielder died as a hero in World War I – was gradually loosened and slid from its place by three boys of about 15,” The New York Times continued. “Its prompt recovery by police outside the field was a relief both to the club and to the Society of the 307th Infantry, which plans to remove the entire monument to a suitable new site.”
The original Grant plaque has not been seen since. On Memorial Day 2006, a replica plaque was put up at San Francisco’s AT&T Park.
http://newyorkgiantspreservationsociety.com/?p=2455
Bttt.
5.56mm
Thank you Eddie Grant bttt
There was an Edward L Grant Highway in the Bronx at one time. Don’t know if named for him. It is now gone, renamed for MLK.
Well looks like I may be wrong. Just looked and the street is still named Edward L Grant
Nice!
There’s also a field at Dean College in Franklin,Massachusetts named after him.
Grant was born in Franklin in 1883 and played college ball at Dean College.
https://www.deanbulldogs.com/general/2019-20/photos/0003/index
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_College
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