Yogi Berra: From D-Day Rocket Boats to World Series Champion

The Hill's name derives from its proximity to the highest point in St. Louis, near Arsenal Street and Sublette Avenue. German and Irish immigrants first settled there in the 1830s-40s to mine clay deposits, but Italian immigrants"”primarily from Lombardy in northern Italy and Sicily"”arrived in waves between the 1880s and 1924. By 1910, the population was 90% Italian. City of St. Louis

The neighborhood's character emerged from economic necessity. Pietro Berra and nearly every father on The Hill worked in the brickyards and clay mines.

Even though they grew up during the Depression, it was a neighborhood full of kids, they were always playing baseball or football or soccer, and they loved their life. Their fathers all worked in the mines, in the clay factories, in St. Louis. They were working poor. They never went without, but they never had more than they needed.

"” Jon Pessah, biographer STLPR

The Hill built resilience through hardship. Before 1914, the neighborhood lacked plumbing; waste and garbage lined the streets. Streetlights and sidewalks arrived only by 1916. During the Depression, residents' experience with Italian poverty proved advantageous"”they were already accustomed to planting vegetable gardens, living frugally, and caring for neighbors with less.

The Street That Made Three Hall of Famers

Elizabeth Avenue was later renamed "Hall of Fame Place" because three Baseball Hall of Fame inductees lived on the same block: The Hill STL

• Yogi Berra (5447 Elizabeth Avenue) "” Hall of Fame 1972
• Joe Garagiola (5446 Elizabeth Avenue, directly across the street) "” Ford C. Frick Award 1991
• Jack Buck (lived there early in his broadcasting career) "” Ford C. Frick Award 1987

The Garagiola family lived directly across from the Berras. Joe, born February 12, 1926"”almost exactly one year younger than Yogi"”became his lifelong best friend and served as best man at Yogi's wedding.

Not only was I not the best catcher in the Major Leagues, I wasn't even the best catcher on my street!

"” Joe Garagiola Wikipedia

Other Sports Figures from The Hill

Pietro "Peter" Berra (1886-1961) was born in Malvaglio, a small town about 25 miles south of Milan in Lombardy, Italy. A tenant farmer, he sailed from Le Havre, France on the ship La Bretagne, arriving at Ellis Island on October 18, 1909, at age 23. WikiTree

Paolina "Pauline" (Longoni) Berra (1892-1959) was born in Robecchetto, Italy. A weaver by trade, she arrived at Ellis Island on March 10, 1912, at age 18"”and married Pietro just nine days later on March 19, 1912.

My pop, Pietro, was one of them. He came from Malvaglio, a little town in northern Italy, around 1913. He couldn't speak much English. But he found steady work as a laborer in the brickyard, and coming from where he came from, felt lucky to have it.

"” Yogi Berra SABR

Critical family dynamic: Pietro did not understand baseball. He came from the old country and didn't know what baseball was. He was ready to go to work. He opposed his sons playing professionally and made Yogi's older brothers Tony and Mike quit promising baseball careers for "respectable" work at a bakery and shoe factory.

The Berra Children

1. Anthony "Tony" Berra (b. 1914) "” "Lefty" "” the most talented baseball player in the family
2. Mario "Mike" Berra (b. 1915/1916 in Italy during Paolina's wartime visit)
3. John Berra (b. 1922)
4. Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra (May 12, 1925)
5. Josephine "Josie" Berra (after 1925)

The Sacrifice That Made Yogi Possible

The pivotal family dynamic that allowed Yogi's career came from his brothers' intervention:

Grandma and grandpa didn't want Uncle Yogi to play ball either, so the older brothers had to talk him into letting him play. They told him, 'We're all working pop, let him [Yogi] go play ball.'

"” Mary Frances Brown, niece FOX 2

Born Lorenzo Pietro Berra on May 12, 1925, his parents anglicized his name to Lawrence Peter in their desire to assimilate. His mother Paolina had difficulty pronouncing "Lawrence" or "Larry," calling her son "Lawdie." Neighborhood kids called him "The Sewer Guy" because when their only baseball went down the drain, young Lawrence was agile and small enough to retrieve it.

The "Yogi" nickname came from friend Jack Maguire after watching a short film about India featuring Hindu fakirs (snake charmers):

Jack noticed a similarity between his friend, cross-legged and waiting to go to bat, and a Hindu man he'd seen in a film. That was the day a young Italian-American man living in St. Louis by the name of Lawrence Peter Berra became, once and forever, Yogi.

"” Yogi Berra Museum Museum

Education and Early Work

Yogi attended South Side Catholic (now St. Mary's High School) with Joe Garagiola but quit school after eighth grade. Pietro strongly disapproved and enlisted both the school principal and the local parish priest to keep Yogi in school. Yogi held firm, and eventually his father relented.

His early work history was troubled because he prioritized baseball:

• Coal yard job ($25/week) "” Lost because he left work early to play ball with friends
• Pepsi Cola truck ($27/week) "” Fired for the same reason

The 1941 Cardinals Tryout

In 1941, at age 16, Yogi and Joe Garagiola tried out for the St. Louis Cardinals. Both were offered contracts"”Garagiola received $500 bonus; Berra was initially offered no bonus, then $250.

Yogi refused both. He knew he could not go home without the same bonus as Garagiola.

This wasn't Cardinals incompetence"”it was deliberate. Branch Rickey, who was secretly planning to move to Brooklyn, intentionally lowballed Yogi to keep him available for the Dodgers. When Rickey later sent a telegram from Brooklyn, Yogi never responded"”he'd already signed with the Yankees for $500 bonus and $90/month in October 1942. Wikipedia

Young Sailor Testimonies

The research uncovered multiple accounts from 18-19 year old sailors that parallel Yogi's experience:

We were all 19. We were all greenhorns. I didn't know what end was up in regards to fighting like that.

"” Richard Rung (19, LCT-539 diesel mechanic) DAV

"¦no amount of training (and we had plenty) can prepare you for actual warfare "“ I was 18 years of age.

"” Roy Nelson (18, Royal Marine LCV(P)) Historic Newspapers

Yes, I was afraid. I was 19 years old, and I was afraid.

"” George Alex (19, Paratrooper)

Body Recovery Accounts

Multiple sources documented the horrific duty that Yogi performed on days two and three at Normandy:

As we got closer to the beach we saw that casualties were floating in the water just like refuse in a harbour. There was this and that equipment floating, soldiers, sailors "“ it was very disheartening. For hours off the coast we watched the tide bring out the debris and the bodies of those who had died.

"” British veteran Historic Newspapers

When graves registration troops reached Normandy on the afternoon of June 6, hundreds of bodies littered the beaches; high tide washed corpses ashore, and low tide revealed men trapped under wrecked vessels and beach obstacles. Graves registration men had to go underwater to cut corpses entangled in landing craft propellers.

"” HistoryNet HistoryNet

USS Bayfield records document that 197 bodies were recovered onto the ship during the D-Day operation"”Yogi's LCSS was attached to this vessel.

The "Fourth of July" Quote in Full Context

From NBC News interview with Keith Olbermann (June 14, 2004): NBC News

Well, being a young guy, I thought it was like the Fourth of July, to tell you the truth. I said, 'Boy, it looks pretty, all the planes coming over.' And I was looking out and my officer said, 'You better get your head down in here, if you want it on.' Being a young guy, you didn't think nothing of it until you got in it.

"” Yogi Berra

On the rocket boat:

Landing craft support small (LCSS), but we used say landing craft suicide squad.

"” Yogi Berra

On witnessing death:

I've seen guys drown. We would pick them up and everything... Doctors asked us if it was scary going overseas and all and I said, 'Well, it was, a little bit.' But later on when it sinks in, you get scared.

"” Yogi Berra

The Saving Private Ryan Revelation

Source: BallNine interview with Larry Berra (son), June 2022 BallNine

My brothers and I took my father to see 'Saving Private Ryan.' He would give little smatterings of this and that. We saw the movie, it was the first time we had been to the movies together, my brothers and my Dad. When we came out of the movies, my Dad looked like he was showing some emotion.

"” Larry Berra

The Silence and the Scar

Why Yogi never received his Purple Heart:

He did not want his mother to worry about him being wounded.

"” Larry Berra

Evidence of the wound:

He had the scar on his left hand. He showed us and said, 'This is where I got hit.'

"” Larry Berra

He'd say D-Day was like the 4th of July, but we all know it was far more traumatic than that.

"” Lindsay Berra, granddaughter Jersey Catholic

Exact Timeline: Combat to World Series

The transformation: 3 years and 4 months from D-Day to World Series ring.

Evidence of Adjustment Difficulties

The family's account reveals classic patterns of what we'd now recognize as PTSD:

• Avoidance: Rarely spoke of military service for 50+ years
• Emotional breakthrough triggered by stimuli: The Saving Private Ryan viewing
• Minimization: Consistently described trauma as "like Fourth of July"
• Delayed processing: "But later on when it sinks in, you get scared"
• Family pattern: Brothers Mike and John, who also served, "wouldn't talk about it either"

How War May Have Shaped His Baseball Philosophy

His famous calm under pressure"”catching the only perfect game in World Series history, where Don Larsen did not shake off a single pitch"”may trace directly to combat experience where "loading and firing, with no room for fear" became automatic.

The Scope of Loss

• 500+ MLB players served in WWII
• 2 MLB players killed in combat
• 127-172 minor league players died in military service
• 4,427 American and Allied troops died on D-Day alone

The Yogi Connection: While 19-year-old Yogi manned a machine gun off Normandy, three baseball players his age died that same day.

MLB Players Killed in Combat

Baseball Players Killed on D-Day

Key Audio/Video Sources

"It Ain't Over" Documentary (2022) "” Director: Sean Mullin. Executive Producer: Lindsay Berra. Sony Pictures Classics "” now on Netflix, Amazon Prime, Apple TV+. Successfully obtained archival footage and family interviews.

Licensing Considerations

On Combat

• "Being a young guy, I thought it was like the Fourth of July, to tell you the truth." "” Yogi
• "Landing craft support small (LCSS), but we used say landing craft suicide squad." "” Yogi
• "I've seen guys drown. We would pick them up and everything." "” Yogi
• "We were all 19. We were all greenhorns." "” Richard Rung, D-Day veteran

On the Silence

• "What he started talking about was not the first day of D-Day, but the second day and the third day. They were still just off-shore and their duty was to, unfortunately, pull the bodies that floated up. And he got very emotional about it." "” Larry Berra
• "He'd say D-Day was like the 4th of July, but we all know it was far more traumatic than that." "” Lindsay Berra

On Perspective

• "When you face a real life-or-death experience, the bottom of the ninth with two outs and the bases loaded "” that is only opportunity." "” Lindsay Berra
• "I don't think Grandpa had to practice gratitude. I think he was eternally grateful every day for the fact that he came home from the war." "” Lindsay Berra
• "I'm no hero. Heroes don't come back." "” Bob Feller

On The Hill

• "The whole Hill was built on what I wish this country was doing now: helping one another." "” Joe Garagiola
• "When someone asks me about my role model, that's easy. It's Tony, Mike and John, my older brothers. I've never forgotten their sacrifices." "” Yogi

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