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Those Who Died That Others Might Be Free

 

Bob Gary

 

Date and Place of Birth: 1920 Beaumont, Texas
Date and Place of Death: February 4, 1944 McNary, Texas
Baseball Experience: Minor League
Position: Infield
Rank: Second Lieutenant
Military Unit: 2nd Air Force, USAAF
Area Served: United States

 

Bob Gary had only just embarked on a professional baseball career when military service beckoned. The young Texan would not get the opportunity to resume his dream.

 

Robert W "Bob" Gary Jr was born in Beaumont, Texas in 1920. He never played baseball before entering college but became captain of the Washington and Lee University team where he hit .318 his senior year and led the team in RBIs, doubles and triples.

 

The young infielder was signed out of college by the Washington Senators and began his professional career with the Mayodan Millers of the Bi-State League where he batted .305 with five home runs and 17 RBIs. But a promising career was put on hold when he was called in to military service on April 30, 1942.

 

Second Lieutenant Gary served as a bomber crew navigator at Biggs Field, Texas with the 2nd Air Force. He had trained with his crew for some time and they became very close. Gary and Second Lieutenants Crantz, Savitsky and McDowell - all married men - shared a house with their wives in El Paso while stationed at Biggs Field.

 

On February 4, 1944, their Consolidated B-24E Liberator, piloted by Crantz, was on a routine flight when it crashed 60 miles southeast of El Paso at McNary. All six crew members were killed and one can only wonder at the scene when the news reached the home shared by the wives of Robert Gary and the three other officers.

 

Thanks to the El Paso Public Library and Davis O Barker for help with this biography.

 

Added August 12, 2006. Updated January 23, 2008.

 

Copyright © 2007 Gary Bedingfield (Baseball in Wartime). All Rights Reserved.