Chet Romanowski
| Date and Place of Birth: | December 23, 1923 Hamtramck, MI |
| Date and Place of Death: | July 10, 1944 nr. Mercey, France |
| Baseball Experience: | Minor League |
| Position: | Outfield |
| Rank: | Private First-Class |
| Military Unit: | Second Platoon, Company F, 134th Infantry Regiment, 35th Infantry Division US Army |
| Area Served: | European Theater of Operations |
Chet Romanowski, the youngest player on the 1941 Paragould Browns, at age 17, was the tragic victim of a usually harmless behavior disorder.
Chester J. “Chet” Romanowski, the son of Polish
immigrants Joseph and Sophie Romanowski, was born on December 23, 1923
in Hamtramck, Michigan, just north of Detroit. Joseph was a machinist
and trimmer in Detroit’s auto industry and young Chet attended Pershing
High School where he was a star outfielder.
As well as playing high school baseball, Chet played for the Denby Post
American Legion team in 1940 and was with the Pepsi-Cola team in Class A
sandlot baseball with the Detroit Amateur Baseball Federation in 1941.
The Pepsi-Cola team was managed by Joe Kritch, who had played minor
league baseball in the St. Louis Browns organization in the late 1930s
and was a scout for the Browns.
Upon graduation from high school in 1941, Kritch recommended Chet to the
Browns and he was signed at the beginning of July to play for the
Paragould Browns of the Class D Northeast Arkansas League. At 17, the
left-handed hitting and throwing outfielder was the youngest player on
the Paragould squad and he appeared in 56 games, playing alongside
future big leaguers Ribs Raney, Andy Anderson, Babe Martin, Hooks Iott
and Marlin Stuart. Chet batted .217 with two home runs and was assigned
to the Youngstown Browns of the Class C Middle-Atlantic League at the
end of the season. He was then assigned to the Huntington club of the
Class D Mountain State League in September, presumably for next season.
It’s not known why Chet didn’t return to organized baseball in 1942.
Between the summer of 1941 and by the time he registered for the draft
in June 1942, the United States had been thrown into a global conflict
and Chet was employed at Fisher Body Plant 21 at Piquette Avenue and St.
Antoine Street in Detroit, working in the aircraft unit. He remained in
this employment until entering military service with the Army in January
1943.
Chet was 19 years old when he joined the 134th Infantry Regiment of the
35th Infantry Division at Camp Rucker, Alabama. During that summer, as
well as learning to be a soldier, Chet starred on the Regiment’s
division championship baseball team, but bats, balls and gloves were
packed away by the time he participated in the Tennessee maneuvers in
November 1943. In cold and wet conditions the Division engaged in two
months of realistic battle situations, before moving on to Camp Butner,
North Carolina in January 1944. In May of that year, the regiment moved
to a staging post on the east coast and departed New York for Europe
aboard the transport ship SS General A. E. Anderson on May 12. Arriving
in England two weeks later they had a short rest period in Cornwall
before leaving for France and landed at Omaha Beach on July 5, 1944.
The 134th Infantry Regiment was assembled near Mercey, France for the
purpose of organization and preparation for combat, but on the morning
of July 10, a tragic accident ended Chet’s life. “At about 0130…I heard
the approach of footsteps to my right,” explained Staff Sergeant Harold
D. Chace, who was on guard duty that night. “I challenged, hollering
halt three times at intervals. It was very dark outside but I could see
the outline of someone. He started to crouch after the first halt and
after each succeeding halt seemed to crouch a little more. After the
third challenge, and when the individual didn’t answer, I shot. He
didn’t drop with the first shot so I fired again.”
Chace then ran to Captain Joseph B. Scully, his company commander, and
told him that he had shot a German and believed there were more of them
in the hedgerows. Captain Scully got a detail of men together and
advanced on the hedgerows but found no one. Upon their return they found
the lifeless body of Chet Romanowski, just a short distance from his pup
tent. “Upon examination,” explained Captain Scully, “I found that he was
shot twice, once through the heart, and once just a little below the
heart.”
Private First-Class Romanowski was just 20 years old. “It is my
opinion,” add Captain Scully, “inasmuch as Romanowski used to be a
professional [baseball player], that it wasn’t a question of frozen
reflexes but rather that Romanowski must have been walking in his sleep.
Romanowski was a sleep-walker as evidenced during the maneuvers in
Tennessee. It was an unfortunate accident but unavoidable under the
circumstances, as the guard had made proper challenge before firing.”
Following an investigation, Chet’s death was classified as Killed in
Action and he was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart. On July 5,
1945, with the war in Europe at an end, the 134th Infantry Regiment
dedicated its ball park near Niedermendig, Germany, as Romanowski Field,
in honor of the first soldier of the 134th to die in France.
In April 1948, Chet’s remains were returned from their resting place in
Europe and buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Detroit.
Note date of death is incorrect
Date Added July 26, 2021
Thanks to Roberta Russo at the 134th Infantry Regiment website http://www.coulthart.com/134/ for help with this biography and to Jack Morris for "discovering" Chet Romanowski.
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