Jerry Coleman, the former major league baseball player and broadcaster who earned two Distinguished Flying Crosses and numerous other honors while flying combat missions during World War II and the Korean War, died Jan. 5. He was 89. Coleman played for the New York Yankees from 1949 to 1957 (excluding time he served in Korea), and broadcast San Diego Padres games on radio from 1972 through last season. He did spend one year out of the booth – 1980 – to take a stint in the dugout as the Padres’ manager.
According to mlb.com, the official Web site of Major League Baseball, Coleman flew a total of 120 combat missions during the two wars. Besides the two DFC medals, he also earned 13 Air Medals and three Navy citations. He retired from the Marines as a lieutenant colonel. Despite his impressive military service record, he typically shied away from requests to discuss his time in uniform – and dismissed any suggestions that he was a hero. “The guys who didn’t come back … they were the real heroes,” Coleman said. He died following complications of a head injury he sustained during a fall.
