Jocko Thompson
Ballplayers Wounded in Combat
| Date and Place of Birth: | January 17, 1917 Beverly, MA |
| Date and Place of Death: | February 3, 1988 Olney, MD |
| Baseball Experience: | Major League |
| Position: | Pitcher |
| Rank: | First Lieutenant |
| Military Unit: | 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division US Army |
| Area Served: | European Theater of Operations |
John S. “Jocko” Thompson was born in Beverly, Massachusetts, on January
17, 1917. The tall left-hander hurled at Northeastern University and was
signed by the Boston Red Sox in 1940.
Thompson pitched for the Centreville Red Sox of the Class D Eastern
Shore League his rookie year, and was 18-5 in 27 games with a minuscule
1.56 ERA. The following year he was in the Army and volunteered for the
paratroopers, attached to the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd
Airborne Division.
On 17 September, 1944, Lieutenant Thompson played a vital role in
Operation Market Garden - the largest airborne operation in history. As
platoon leader, he and his men landed only 600 yards from the
southwestern edge of the bridge at Grave that spanned the Maas River. He
could hear erratic firing from the town itself but everything around the
bridge was quiet. Thompson was unsure whether he should attack with the
16 men in his platoon or wait for the remainder of the company. “Since
this was our primary mission, I decided to attack,” he told author
Cornelius Ryan.
Thompson led his platoon to cover in nearby drainage ditches, before
wading in water up to their necks as they worked their way towards the
bridge. They soon began receiving fire from a tower on the bridge and
also noticed a lot of other activity around a building on the bridge
that Thompson thought might be a powerplant. Thompson believed the
Germans might be preparing to blow up the bridge so he deployed his men
to attack the building. “We raked the area with machine guns, overran
the power plant, found four dead Germans and one wounded,” recalled
Thompson. Shortly afterwards, Thompson heard two trucks approaching from
the town. The driver of the lead vehicle was killed and the other
vehicle quickly came to a halt. German soldiers poured out of the back
of both vehicles and were met with a hail of fire from Thompson’s
platoon. They soon retreated back towards the town.
Thompson’s bazooka man then dealt with the machine-gun fire coming from
the tower on the bridge, and the platoon set up a road block, securing
the bridge until the arrival of further elements of the 82nd Airborne.
Lieutenant Thompson was wounded in action twice during the war and in
addition to being awarded the Silver Star and Bronze Star, he also
received decorations from the French, Dutch and Belgians. He saw action
during the Battle of the Bulge and at the end of the war he served as an
aide to General James Gavin in the occupation of Berlin.
Thompson was back playing baseball in 1946 and posted a 13-7 record with
the Scranton Red Sox of the Class A Eastern League. He was with the
International League's Toronto Maple Leafs in 1947 and remained with the
Maple Leafs in 1948 when the working agreement with Boston ended and he
became the property of the Philadelphia Phillies. He was 12-8 with
Toronto and on September 21, 1948, 31-year-old Thompson made his major
league debut with the Phillies, beating the Reds on a 5-hitter.
Thompson was 14-5 with Toronto in 1949, and made eight appearances with
the Phillies posting a 1-3 record. In 1950, he was 10-14 at Toronto and
made two relief appearances in for the Whiz Kids. Thompson, at 34,
pitched in 29 games for the Phillies in 1951, with a 4-8 won-loss record
and a 3.85 ERA. It was the end of his major league career, but he
pitched the following two seasons with the International League's
Baltimore Orioles, and ended his career, aged 38, having pitched two
seasons with the Richmond Virginians of the same league.
Jocko Thompson later worked as a sales manager in Maryland. He passed
away in Olney, Maryland on February 3, 1988. He was 71 years old and is
buried at the Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Silver Spring, Maryland.
On September 17, 2004 – 60 years after Thompson’s platoon captured the
bridge at Grave in Holland - it was renamed Lieutenant John S. Thompson
Bridge. His widow and many WWII veterans were present at the ceremony.
Date Added January 14, 2018
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