Military Team Tragedies - Part 3

While more than 500 ballplayers have lost their lives in military service not all have been isolated incidents. On a number of occasions, a military baseball team, usually in transit from one place to another, has suffered fatalities. Here is the third of a seven part series describing some of these tragedies.

Plane Crash at Foster Field, Texas - 1945

On August 9, 1945 – the Foster Field Falcons traveled to Childress Army Air Base in Texas, for a ballgame. The Falcons won the contest and five of the players – Cpl. Peter J. Zarrilla, Sgt. H. Duard Lawson (an amateur first baseman from Princeton, Texas), 1/Lt. Harold G. Phillips (a semi-pro catcher from Georgia), S/Sgt. Chester V. Seipp (a semi-pro shortstop from Pasadena, Maryland) and Cpl. Lester O. Clotiaux (a Refinery League catcher from Nederland, Texas), along with 2/Lt. Peter R. Davis (a veteran transport pilot with 1,500 hours to his credit) flew back to Foster Field in a twin-engine Beechcraft AT-7C airplane. On the return journey the plane crashed and burst into flames near Smiley, 60 miles east of San Antonio, Texas. All six men were killed.