In Honor of Veterans Day, 2010

Commemoration: Frank Nelson

by Mark McDermott

On a day America honors its military veterans, the story of Seaman First Class Frank Nelson, who attended Elk Grove High School and pitched for the Sacramento Solons in 1946-47 and 1951-52, is one of an American hero.

According to Baseball in Wartime Blog, a blog dedicated to baseball players who served in the armed forces during World War II, Nelson survived 54 hours in shark-infested waters after the destroyer USS Johnston was sunk by the Japanese Imperial Navy on October 25, 1944.

At 9:45 a.m., orders were given to abandon ship and 25 minutes later the Johnston rolled over and began to sink. Of the USS Johnston’s complement of 327 on board, only 141 were saved. Of the 186 servicemen lost about 50 were killed by enemy action, 45 died on rafts from battle injuries and 92 were never heard from again.

After abandoning ship, Nelson was clinging to a life raft in the water together with a number of other sailors, many of whom were badly injured. At around 3 p.m., sharks began to circle the area and some made attacks on the helpless sailors, killing at least two that were with Nelson.

The following morning two men began to swim toward Samar, a province in the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region, to try and get help. At noon, Nelson and a half a dozen others clinging to a 4-by-4 timber headed in the same direction.

Late that afternoon, Nelson and the others spotted what looked to be two men in a small boat. As the men got closer, they realized it was the two sailors who had set out earlier for Samar. They were now in a life raft from the USS Johnston that must have been blown overboard during the battle. With all eight men safely in the life raft, they expected to reach land by nightfall, but the current changed and they drifted back out to sea.

Around noon on October 27, a group of small ships was sighted. They were American and after 54 hours in the water the eight sailors were finally rescued.

Nelson was 27 years old and had missed three seasons when he returned to the Solons in 1946. In 15 appearances, he was 4-2 with a 4.50 ERA.

Nelson succumbed to cancer on September 9, 1987 in Sacramento. He was 69.