Bart Avery
| Date and Place of Birth: | 1920 Gloversville, NY |
| Date and Place of Death: | April 6, 1945 Germany |
| Baseball Experience: | College |
| Position: | Pitcher |
| Rank: | Major |
| Military Unit: | HQ Company, 335th Infantry Regiment, 84th Infantry Division US Army |
| Area Served: | European Theater of Operations |
Bartle A. “Bart” Avery was born in Gloversville, New York in 1920.
One of the best athletes to come out of Gloversville High School, Avery
played football, baseball and basketball at GHS, captaining the football
team his senior year. In baseball, he captained the team his junior and
senior years. “Ace Pitcher and Batting Sensation is Chosen to Head
Millermen,” announced the Gloversville and Johnstown Morning Herald on
June 2, 1937. “The newly elected captain,” the article continued, “is
the star player of the diamond nine and is leading the batters with an
average well over .400 and when not on the mound he plays the outfield.”
Avery was the kind of player who could do it all on the ballfield, as
described by the Morning Herald on May 27, 1937. “GHS Pitcher Allows
Only Seven Hits, Fans 10 and Has Perfect Day at Bat in Five Trips to
Plate,” announced the sports page headline. “The Red and White moundsman
fanned 10 batters and allowed only 7 hits [and] besides pitching a good
game, turned in a good day at bat with five hits in as many trips to the
plate. He was calm and cool headed on the mound and twice got out of bad
situations with three men on, fanning the next three batters.
By 1940, Avery was attending the University of Alabama, where he played
baseball, basketball and football, and was playing semi-pro summer ball
in Gloversville with Shermans’, the Johnstown Indians and the Bleecker
Dutchmen. He missed out on going to the Cotton Bowl with the Crimson
Tide in 1941 (where they beat Texas A & M under head coach Frank Thomas)
because of a toe fracture, but was back with the team the following
year.
With war looming, Bartle took military studies at Alabama. He married
college sweetheart Ellen Daniel on November 12, 1943 at Trinity Church,
Gloversville, and entered military service days later.
After completing basic training he was assigned to Infantry Officer’s
Candidate School at Fort Benning, Georgia, and graduated as a second
lieutenant in April 1944. From there he was assigned to Camp Claiborne,
Louisiana, and it at Claiborne in June 1944 that he received news of his
older brother’s death. Second Lieutenant Milton Avery lost his life with
the 15th Air Force in Italy.
By November 1944, Bart Avery was serving in Europe with the 335th
Infantry Regiment, 84th “Railsplitters” Infantry Division, attached to
the 9th Army. His wife, Ellen, gave birth to a baby daughter on
Christmas Day, but Avery’s time was occupied with action at the
Siegfried Line in the Geilenkirchen sector, the Battle of the Ardennes,
the Roer River crossing and the breakthrough to the Rhine.
Perhaps inspired by the loss of his brother, Lieutenant Avery quickly
established himself as battlefield hero. On November 30, 1944, he made
five different trips with a motor vehicle over an area covered by German
shellfire after all other means of communication had been broken,
receiving a citation for bravery and meritorious work. On another
occasion he was awarded a Silver Star and promotion to first lieutenant
for his part in unsnarling a traffic tie up while under heavy German
fire. He also received a shrapnel wound to his hand which earned him a
Purple Heart.
By late March, Lt. Avery was at a rest camp, enjoying a well-earned
break from combat. But pretty soon he was back in the front line and the
newly promoted captain was aiding the final push against the Germans. On
April 6, 1945, just days after receiving promotion to Major, 25-year-old
Bartle Avery was killed in action.
A Requiem Mass was held for Avery at Trinity Church in Gloversville, on
April 23, 1945 – the church where he and Ellen had married 17 months
earlier. This church later commissioned stained glass windows in memory
of both Avery boys.
After the war, both Milton and Bartle Avery's bodies were returned to
the United States and rest at Ferndale Cemetery in Fulton County, New
York.
During the 1960s the Gloversville Pop Warner-sanctioned football program
was named the Wemple-Avery Football League in honor of Bart Avery and
Don Wemple, another local athlete killed in WWII.
Date Added: June 13, 2012 Updated July 5, 2013
Baseball's Greatest Sacrifice is associated with Baseball Almanac
Baseball's Greatest Sacrifice is proud to be sponsored by
