The Bridge

Before the Uniform

In 1942, Warren Spahn was a 21-year-old left-handed pitcher with the Boston Braves. Manager Casey Stengel ordered him to throw at Pee Wee Reese's head. Spahn refused.

He didn't think I had enough guts. He was probably right at the time. I wasn't very assertive.

— Warren Spahn

Stengel's verdict was brutal: "No guts." Spahn was sent back to the minors. He entered military service in December 1942 with zero Major League wins.

The 276th Engineer Combat Battalion

Combat engineers were armed combatants first, builders second. They built bridges, cleared mines, and constructed roads—under fire. They fought alongside infantry.

Let me tell you, that was a tough bunch of guys. We had people that were let out of prison to go into the service. So those were the people I went overseas with, and they were tough and rough and I had to fit that mold.

— Warren Spahn

The Winter of 1944–45

Before Remagen, there was the winter that nearly broke them. The 276th was caught in the Hürtgen Forest during the Battle of the Bulge—surrounded.

We were surrounded in the Hürtgen Forest and had to fight our way out of there. Our feet were frozen when we went to sleep and they were frozen when we woke up. We didn't have a bath or change of clothes for weeks.

— Warren Spahn

At Remagen

The 276th arrived at Remagen on March 10, 1945—three days after the bridge was captured. Their mission: repair the bridge, maintain traffic, build backup pontoon bridges. All while under continuous attack.

We went up at midnight, get in an hour's work, and then started ducking German shells. We pulled back and went in later. Every time we went in they'd throw more shells. So we quit.

— Warren Spahn

At six o'clock in the morning we found a 15-year-old German kid, a civilian, right under the abutments with a telephone. He'd been telling an observer everything we did.

— Warren Spahn

Wounded: March 16, 1945

Spahn was working on the bridge when German artillery found the range. Shrapnel to the foot. Purple Heart. He refused evacuation—or returned quickly. What is certain: he was back at work within hours.

The Collapse: March 17, 1945

Spahn's platoon was scheduled to relieve another at 4:00 PM. He walked out onto the bridge early to find the lieutenant he was replacing.

A fellow from Pennsylvania who hadn't been on the bridge all day, went up to get a piece of equipment just as the bridge gave way. We never saw him again. That's fate for you.

— Warren Spahn

After the War

Spahn returned to the Boston Braves in 1946. On July 14, 1946, he earned his first Major League win. Age 25. He would win 362 more—363 total, more than any left-hander in baseball history.

After what I went through overseas, I never thought of anything I was told to do in baseball as hard work. You get over feelings like that, I assure you, when you've spent days on days sleeping in frozen tank tracks in enemy-surrounded territory.

— Warren Spahn

When asked about pressure at the 1999 All-Century Team event, his response was simple: "Well, there was the Battle of the Bulge."

Hall of Fame

Inducted 1973. 363 wins. World Series champion (1957). Two no-hitters (ages 39 and 40). The only MLB player believed to have received a battlefield commission.

The guys who died over there were heroes.

— Warren Spahn

Before the Uniform

Jack Buck came from a large Irish-Catholic family in Cleveland—seven children, father on the railroad. Good with words. Dreams of broadcasting, not baseball. The draft notice arrived in 1943.

I was just a kid from Cleveland who ended up in the infantry.

— Jack Buck

He became a replacement soldier—shipped to Europe in February 1945 to fill gaps in depleted units. The 47th Infantry had already bled through North Africa, Sicily, Utah Beach, Hürtgen Forest, and the Battle of the Bulge. Buck arrived for the final push.

Crossing the Rhine

On the night of March 7-8, 1945, K Company raced to reinforce the captured bridge at Remagen. A nine-hour forced march in rain and darkness. They reached Remagen at 4:00 AM. No time to rest. They crossed the bridge under fire.

The 47th Infantry became the first infantry regiment to cross the Rhine since Napoleon.

Wounded: March 15, 1945

Buck led a patrol through the Remagen bridgehead. German artillery found them. Shrapnel tore through his left forearm and his left leg.

The shrapnel narrowly missed a hand grenade hanging from my belt.

— Jack Buck Jr., recounting his father's account

K Company had one medic left—the other had been wounded days earlier. A 19-year-old from St. Louis sprinted to Buck's position: Frank Borghi, from The Hill neighborhood.

The Wound

If dad lifted up his arm, you could see where he had a discernible long scar from his combat injury. If someone were to touch him there, it would cause him to wince in pain.

— Jack Buck Jr.

Note: Beverly Buck Brennan states Borghi "saved my father's arm from amputation," but Buck's own autobiography describes the wound as "not severe." The family account is included with attribution.

The GI Bill

Buck was discharged in April 1946. He'd never play baseball—his damaged arm saw to that. But the war gave him something else: the GI Bill. He enrolled at Ohio State University, majoring in radio speech with a minor in Spanish. He was training to become one of baseball's greatest voices.

The Hill Connection

In 1954, when Buck joined the Cardinals broadcast team, he chose to live on Elizabeth Avenue in St. Louis—the same street where Yogi Berra and Joe Garagiola grew up across from each other. A Cleveland kid who fought at Remagen, choosing to live on The Hill.

In his mind, he was always a soldier first.

— Beverly Buck Brennan

Hall of Fame

Ford C. Frick Award 1987. Fifty years behind the microphone. "I don't believe what I just saw!"—Kirk Gibson's World Series homer, 1988.

Jack Buck was buried with full military honors at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery—not far from Frank Borghi. 10,000 mourners paid respects at Busch Stadium, where his casket rested at home plate with a Budweiser Clydesdale standing guard—the largest baseball send-off since Babe Ruth lay in state at Yankee Stadium in 1948.

Before the Uniform

In 1942, Monte Irvin was 23 years old and the greatest player in the Negro Leagues. Coming off a season where he'd batted .397 with 20 home runs in 63 games in the Mexican League. He called it "the best year of my life."

The Negro League owners had held a meeting. They'd agreed on who should be the first to integrate Major League Baseball. The consensus choice was unanimous.

Monte was the choice of all Negro National and American League club owners to serve as the No. 1 player to join a white major league team. We all agreed, in meeting, he was the best qualified by temperament, character, ability, sense of loyalty, morals, age, experiences and physique.

— Effa Manley, Newark Eagles owner

Monte was the best all-round player I have ever seen. As great as he was in 1951, he was twice that good 10 years earlier.

— Roy Campanella

Then the draft notice arrived.

The Two Americas

The Army assigned Monte Irvin to the 1313th Engineer General Service Regiment. Not combat engineers—support engineers. The distinction mattered. Combat engineers built bridges under fire. General Service engineers built roads and guarded prisoners—far behind the lines.

In 1944, 95% of all Black soldiers deployed overseas were assigned to service units—not combat roles. The Army that asked Monte Irvin to serve his country wouldn't allow him to fight for it.

100 Miles Away

While Spahn fought at the Bulge and nearly died at Remagen, while Buck led patrols and took shrapnel, Monte Irvin was stationed at Reims—assigned as reserves "in case the Germans broke through at Bastogne." They never did.

The contrast cut deeper than geography. German prisoners of war—captured by American forces—were often treated better than Black American soldiers. Same mess halls. Better accommodations.

All our commanding officers were white. In England we had a southerner who had no business being a company commander. He made some remarks about no fraternization with whites. We couldn't do this, couldn't that.

— Monte Irvin

After he spoke, we had a company chaplain who got up and said, 'Men, you are members of the United States Armed Forces. You can do anything anybody else can do. I assure this company commander will be gone in two weeks.' And he was.

— Monte Irvin

The Road Not Taken

Before the uniform, there had been another path. Branch Rickey—the man who would sign Jackie Robinson in 1945—had approached Monte Irvin in 1942. He wanted him for the Dodgers.

I was offered a chance to try out for Branch Rickey, but I never did it because I went into the service. After I came out, I just wasn't the same.

— Monte Irvin

The Cost

I had been a .400 hitter before the war. I became a .300 hitter after the war. I had lost three prime years. I hadn't played at all. The war had changed me mentally and physically.

— Monte Irvin

Mentally, he was suffering what was called 'shell shock.' Today we call it post-traumatic stress disorder.

— Bob Kendrick, Negro Leagues Baseball Museum

Irvin was discharged September 1, 1945. His rank? Private. He'd made sergeant during the war—then was demoted on his final day for being an hour late returning to base.

Hall of Fame

Monte Irvin finally joined the Giants in 1949 at age 30—seven years after the war began. In 1951, he batted .312, led the league in RBIs, made the World Series. That same year, he mentored a rookie named Willie Mays.

In 1968, he became baseball's first Black front office executive. Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1973—the same year as Warren Spahn.

I lost four years to the war and the best years of my career to segregation.

— Monte Irvin

If they ever decide to start the Hall of Fame all over and place decency above all else, Monte would be the first man in.

— Commissioner Bowie Kuhn

March 7, 1945

The greatest prize in the European Theater: an intact bridge across the Rhine.

The Germans had wired the Ludendorff Bridge with 2,800 kilograms of demolition charges. When the order came to blow it, the civilian-grade explosives only partially detonated. The bridge was damaged but standing.

At 3:45 PM, Sergeant Alexander Drabik sprinted 300 meters under fire to become the first American soldier to cross the Rhine since Napoleon.

Eisenhower's reaction when he heard: "Worth its weight in gold."

Why Remagen Mattered

• First intact bridge captured across the Rhine
• Over 125,000 American soldiers crossed before collapse
• War in Europe ended two months later
• German High Command executed five officers for failing to destroy it

The Bridge Today

Only the stone towers remain, standing on either bank of the Rhine. The bridge itself is gone—collapsed into the river 80 years ago. A peace museum now occupies one of the towers.

The Germans attacked the bridge with everything they had. What followed was ten days of hell.

German Attacks on Remagen (March 7–17, 1945)

• 367 aircraft attacks (including jet bombers and fighters)
• 11 V-2 ballistic missiles (first tactical use in history against a specific target)
• 14 rounds from 600mm super-heavy mortars
• Floating mines and explosive boats
• SS frogmen
• Continuous artillery bombardment

Two Missions, One Battle

The Infantry's Job (Buck): Expand the bridgehead and protect the engineers. Every yard they pushed forward was one more yard between German guns and the bridge.

The Engineers' Job (Spahn): Repair the bridge, maintain traffic, build backup pontoon bridges. All while under continuous attack.

Both men—one building, one fighting—were converging toward the same fate.

It wasn't artillery that brought the bridge down. It was engineering. The original demolition charge from March 7 had cracked the upstream truss. For ten days, the downstream truss carried the entire load while thousands of vehicles crossed. The constant stress, the repairs, the weight—it was too much.

At approximately 3:00 PM on March 17, 1945, the bridge fell.

280 meters of steel and stone folded into the Rhine. Engineers tumbled into the churning water. Lieutenant Colonel Clayton Rust, commanding the 276th, was on the bridge when it fell. He dropped into the river and was pulled out alive. Many of his men were not.

The Discovery: St. Louis, 1975

A banquet. Jack Buck was the emcee, honoring a local hero. At the head table sat Frank Borghi—famous as the goalkeeper who'd led the U.S. team to a 1-0 upset of England in the 1950 World Cup.

The two men talked about the war. Buck asked about Borghi's service.

I asked him what regiment he was in, and he said the 47th. I said I was also. I asked him what company he was in, and he told me he was in K Company. So was I. I asked what he did in K Company, and he told me he was a medic. I asked how many medics there were in K Company after we crossed the Remagen Bridge. He told me he was the only one, because the other medic had been wounded. We determined that he was the medic who bandaged me the morning I was hit. That's unbelievable.

— Jack Buck, That's a Winner! autobiography (1997)

The Episode 1 Connection

• Frank Borghi was from The Hill — the same neighborhood from Episode 1
• Borghi was at Utah Beach on D-Day — the same beach where Yogi Berra operated rocket boats
• Jack Buck moved to Elizabeth Avenue (The Hill) in 1954 — by choice
• Elizabeth Avenue is where Yogi Berra and Joe Garagiola grew up across from each other
• Both Buck and Borghi are buried at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, St. Louis

Four of the five St. Louisans on the 1950 World Cup team were from The Hill—including Borghi.

✅ CAN STATE WITH CONFIDENCE

⚠️ NEEDS QUALIFICATION

❌ CANNOT STATE

Warren Spahn Sources

Jack Buck Sources

Monte Irvin Sources

Remagen Bridge Sources

Warren Spahn

• "It wasn't 10 minutes later that the bridge collapsed. It sounded like machine guns blasting as the rivets came loose." — Harold Kaese, Boston Globe, 1950
• "After what I went through overseas, I never thought of anything I was told to do in baseball as hard work." — Multiple sources
• "Let me tell you, that was a tough bunch of guys. We had people that were let out of prison to go into the service." — Multiple sources
• "We were surrounded in the Hürtgen Forest and had to fight our way out of there." — Multiple interviews
• "A fellow from Pennsylvania who hadn't been on the bridge all day, went up to get a piece of equipment just as the bridge gave way. We never saw him again. That's fate for you." — Harold Kaese, 1950
• "He didn't think I had enough guts." — On Casey Stengel
• "The guys who died over there were heroes." — Multiple sources

Jack Buck

• "I asked him what company he was in, and he told me he was in K Company. So was I... We determined that he was the medic who bandaged me the morning I was hit. That's unbelievable." — That's a Winner! autobiography, 1997
• "The shrapnel narrowly missed a hand grenade hanging from my belt." — Jack Buck Jr., recounting his father's account

Jack Buck Family

• "In his mind, he was always a soldier first." — Beverly Buck Brennan
• "If dad lifted up his arm, you could see where he had a discernible long scar from his combat injury. If someone were to touch him there, it would cause him to wince in pain." — Jack Buck Jr.

Monte Irvin

• "We felt like we were thrown away. We built a few roads, and when the German prisoners started to come in, we guarded the prisoners." — Multiple oral histories
• "I had been a .400 hitter before the war. I became a .300 hitter after the war. I had lost three prime years." — Autobiography
• "I lost four years to the war and the best years of my career to segregation." — Multiple sources
• "I was offered a chance to try out for Branch Rickey, but I never did it because I went into the service. After I came out, I just wasn't the same." — Autobiography

On Monte Irvin

• "Monte was the choice of all Negro National and American League club owners to serve as the No. 1 player to join a white major league team." — Effa Manley
• "Monte was the best all-round player I have ever seen. As great as he was in 1951, he was twice that good 10 years earlier." — Roy Campanella
• "If they ever decide to start the Hall of Fame all over and place decency above all else, Monte would be the first man in." — Commissioner Bowie Kuhn

Documentary Scene Recommendations

Episode 4 Tease

The sound of jet engines. A cockpit. Korea. A voice crackles over the radio: "Ted, you're on fire. Get out of there." A jet streaks across the sky, trailing flame.

TED WILLIAMS. JERRY COLEMAN. MARINE PILOTS.

EPISODE 4: 20/10