Buck Templeton
Ballplayers Wounded in Combat
| Date and Place of Birth: | July 14, 1918 Statesville, NC |
| Date and Place of Death: | February 27, 2011 Bath, NY |
| Baseball Experience: | Minor League |
| Position: | Shortstop/Second Base |
| Rank: | Technician Fifth Grade |
| Military Unit: | Battery B, 60th Field Artillery Battalion, 9th Infantry Division US Army |
| Area Served: | Mediterranean and European Theater of Operations |
Webster A. "Buck" Templeton was born in Statesville, North Carolina, on
July 14, 1918. He attended Statesville High School and signed as a
shortstop with the Mooresville Moors of the Class D North Carolina State
League in 1938, batting .297 in 81 games.
The following year, Templeton raised his average to .306 with the Moors,
helping them clinch the league title along with a 23-win performance
from Dick Robinson, a 21-win season from Clyde Teague and the .343
batting average of future Reds and Giants outfielder Garland Lawing.
Templeton’s 100 runs scored tied for first place in the league and he
also stole 34 bases, while his .924 fielding average was best among the
league’s shortstops. Mooresville went on to clinch the play-off title
that season and in October the team sold five players – Templeton,
Teague, Lawing, John Liske and Jim Milnar – to the Cincinnati Reds’
Durham farm club of the Piedmont League.
Shortly afterwards, the Durham club changed hands and came under the
ownership of the Brooklyn Dodgers, and Templeton was assigned to the
Elmira Pioneers for 1940 - the Dodgers' Class A Eastern League
affiliate. Templeton was only with Elmira until June, but it proved to
be enough time to meet his future wife Helen Aber, although the couple
would have to wait until late 1945 to get married. Templeton played 20
games with Elmira under the management of former National League catcher
Bill Killefer, before being optioned to the Anniston Rams of the Class B
Southeastern League. Anniston finished in last place in 1940, and
Templeton batted an uninspiring .257 as the club’s lead-off hitter.
However, he enjoyed a strong finish to the season. On August 11, he went
4-for-5 with two doubles in a 9-2 win over Gadsden. Then, on August 21,
he had two hits in the 9-run first inning of a 19-0 whitewash against
Jackson, finishing the day with four hits in six at-bats including two
doubles. On September 1, he was 4-for-4 in a 5-3 win over Gadsden.
Templeton spent the spring of 1941 with the Reading Brooks of the
Inter-State League battling for the shortstop job with Vince Polito. It
was a battle he didn’t win and the Dodgers organization offered the
22-year-old a contract with Elmira (where he’d played in 1940), but he
turned it down to play with the semi-pro Burlington (North Carolina)
Mills team of the Inter-City League.
Nevertheless, it was not long before Brooklyn lured Templeton back to
organized ball and he joined the Dayton Ducks of the Class C
Mid-Atlantic League for 61 games, batting .251 with 28 RBIs. Templeton
finished the 1941 season with Akron – a New York Yankees’ franchise – of
the same league, where he played 27 games and batted .233 as the Akron
Yankees claimed the league title.
Templeton’s baseball career came to an abrupt end when military service
beckoned in 1942. He was inducted in the army at Fort Bragg, North
Carolina, on February 4, and served as an artillery spotter/radio
operator with Battery B, 60th Field Artillery Battalion of the 9th
Infantry Division. The division landed in the invasion of North Africa
on November 8, 1942, fought through the barren country of El Guettar,
and across the mountains of Sedjenane and Sicily. At the battle of
Maknassay in Tunisia in March 1943, Templeton was awarded the Silver
Star for gallantry. His citation read as follows:
The President of the United States of America...takes pleasure in
presenting the Silver Star to Private First Class Webster
Templeton...for gallantry in action...against the enemy at Djebel,
Maemia, Maknasay, Tunisia, on 25 March 1943. A soldier of a nearby
organization was wounded by enemy machine gun fire and left lying on the
battlefield. Private First Class Templeton, accompanied by an officer,
voluntarily and without hesitation went through heavy and close enemy
machine gun and small arms fire to reach the wounded soldier and
administer first aid to him. The gallantry and concern for the welfare
of a wounded comrade with complete disregard for his own, displayed by
Private First Class Templeton, reflect great credit upon himself and the
command and are deserving of the highest praise.
In November 1943, the 9th Infantry Division were in England and landed
at Utah Beach, France, on June 10, 1944 (D-Day Plus 4). The division was
involved in the Normandy, Northern France and Ardennes campaigns, during
which time Corporal Templeton earned the Bronze Star and also the Purple
Heart for wounds received in the summer of 1944.
At the beginning of 1945, Templeton’s mother was taken seriously ill and
confined to Long’s Hospital near the family home in Statesville. The Red
Cross unsuccessfully tried to locate Corporal Templeton so that he might
be given an emergency furlough to visit his mother. But in February
1945, news was received that he had arrived at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey,
after more than 30 months duty overseas.
His mother was “overjoyed when she received word” reported the
Statesville Daily Record on February 26, 1945. Templeton made it home
before his mother passed away on March 22.
Corporal Templeton returned to Europe a month after his mother's death,
and reached France about the time of the German surrender. It wasn’t
long before he was on his way home again. “Thirteen letters marked
‘Returning to the USA’ have been received at the home of Corporal Buck
Templeton – a pretty safe bet that Buck is on his way home and will show
up here in at most no time,” reported the Statesville Landmark on June
4, 1945. However, it was not until September that Buck Templeton arrived
on a troopship in New York in September 1945. Waiting for him was Helen
Aber. They were married in Elmira, New York, on October 8, 1945.
Buck Templeton didn’t return to professional baseball after the war
although he played fast-pitch softball in Elmira, and coached youth
league baseball for many years. A gifted baseball coach, two of Buck’s
sons – Bob and Bill – were offered contracts to play professional
baseball but chose to pursue other career options.
Buck Templeton, a World War II hero of the minor leagues, passed away on
February 27, 2011 in Bath, New York. He was 92 years old and is buried
at Saint Peter and Pauls Cemetery in Elmira, New York.
Buck Templeton on Elmira Pioneer Day at Dunn Field in Elmira, August 26,
2001,
honoring former Pioneers.
Date Added February 3, 2018
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