Gedeon was an outstanding track athlete at the University of Michigan (1938-1939) and was a two-time Big 10 champion in the 120-yard high hurdles and 70-yard high hurdles. He signed with the Washington Senators in the summer of 1939, played 67 games for Orlando, and appeared in five games with the Senators at the end of the season. He had three hits in 15 at-bats. The following season Gedeon was at Charlotte where he hit .271 in 131 games. It was to be his last season in professional baseball - Gedeon joined the United States Army Air Force in March 1941. He trained with the 21st Bomb Group at MacDill Field in Tampa, where his life almost ended before he went into combat.
On August 9, 1942, Gedeon was flying as the navigator in a B-25 that crashed on take off at Raleigh, North Carolina. Gedeon was thrown from the burning bomber, and despite his own injuries, he returned to the wreckage to rescue his crewmates. First Lieutenant Elmer Gedeon was awarded the Soldiers' Medal for his heroics in a ceremony at MacDill Field that was conducted by Major General St Clair Streett, commanding officer of the Third Air Force. In July 1943, Gedeon began training as a pilot on B-26 Martin Marauders at Ardmore AAF base in Oklahoma.
By the following month he was involved in combat simulation and high altitude bombing practice in preparation for overseas duty. Gedeon was with the 394th Bombardment Group who reached Boreham Airfield, England in February 1944. Their first mission was to attack an enemy airfield at Beaumont-le-Roger in France on March 23. On April 20, Gedeon piloted one of 30 B-26 Marauders that left Boreham to attack construction works at Bois de Esquerdes. It was the group's thirteenth mission. Gedeon's bomber was severely hit by flak over France, and co-pilot Lieutenant James Taaffe, who had been sitting alongside Gedeon when the airplane was hit, was the only crew member able to escape as the bomber plunged to the earth, carrying Gedeon and five others. He is buried at St Pol, France.
The 394th Bomb Group's historian, J Guy Ziegler later wrote that Gedeon "was one of the most popular officers in the group."
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Copyright © 2001 by Gary Bedingfield. Posted May 22, 2001.
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