Spring Training with “The Cloudbuster Nine”

As spring training approaches, you might enjoy reading about a lost piece of baseball and WWII history: The Cloudbuster Nine: The Untold Story of Ted Williams and the Baseball Team that Helped Win World War II by Anne R. Keene. Learn about the 1943 V-5 Pre-Flight program at Chapel Hill, North Carolina. This 90-day elite program (with dropout rates as high as 75%) “championed the use of sports” to prepare our finest pilots. This program was developed with the help of college coaching staff from across the United States, and the first recruiting classes included top high school, college, and professional athletes.

In addition to the rigorous training requirements, newly enlisted MLB players and other top athletic talent toured the country, playing baseball games to boost morale and raise money for the war effort. This lost piece of history was discovered in an old trunk where the author learned that her father served as batboy for the Cloudbuster Nine. Fun fact for fellow Michiganders: One of the last remaining members of the Cloudbuster Nine lived in Marshall, MI (Ivan Fleser 1919-2018). Fleser’s simple but inspiring life tips are words to live by: Be humble, expect failure, live within your means, maintain a lifelong work ethic, etc.

The Cloudbuster Nine also illustrates the powerful role of organized sports in a healthy society, “ …baseball brings people together as a morale booster, dissolving loneliness, quieting pain, offering small unpredictable moments of anticipation that inspire hope.” Keene’s book also felt like looking through an old scrapbook for the Murphy Family. My husband’s grandfather, Donald Springer, completed Pre-Flight in Iowa in 1943 before flying out of Truax Field in Corpus Christi. I’m grateful for the time with Grandpa and opportunity to record a few stories, including this little known piece of history about an aerial attack on South Padre Island, TX.

Thanks for reading!

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