Bill Padar
| Date and Place of Birth: | January 19, 1918 Thorpe, WV |
| Date and Place of Death: | December 2, 1942 Tunisia |
| Baseball Experience: | Minor League |
| Position: | Second Base |
| Rank: | Corporal |
| Military Unit: | 13th Armored Regiment, 1st Armored Division US Army |
| Area Served: | Mediterranean Theater of Operations |
William L. “Bill” Padar was born in 1918 in Thorpe, West Virginia, a
former coal town that has since been incorporated into Gary. He was the
son of Bertha and Joseph Padar, a miner from Hungary. The family moved
to Detroit in the 1920s, where Bill attended Southwestern High School,
starred on the baseball team and played sandlot ball, along with his
brother Jim, with Western Union and Commodore in the Class B Detroit
Baseball Federation.
In 1940, Padar signed with the Mansfield Braves of the Class D Ohio
State League and played second base on opening day against the Lima
Pandas, going 2-for-4 in the 13-5 win. He continued to play for
Mansfield throughout May, but he was released in June and returned to
Detroit, where he worked as a crane operator and played baseball with
Arthur’s and Local No. 174.
Working at the Revere Copper & Brass Works on West Jefferson Avenue in
Detroit,
Padar entered military service with the Army in September 1941, and
served with the 13th Armored Regiment of the 1st Armored Division.
Corporal Padar was part of a tank crew (either M3 Stuart light tank or
M3 Lee medium tank) that saw action against Germany’s
Afrika Korps in Tunisia. He was killed in action when his tank was
destroyed in battle on December 2, 1942.
Bill Padar is buried at the North Africa American Cemetery in Carthage,
Tunisia.
Date Added March 26, 2020. Updated May 30, 2022
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