Metal Championship: Two 7th Army Victors of the 29th Division

To most collectors of American militaria, vintage medals and decorations are easily recognizable with distinctive patterns stamped into each face as well as the ribbons that they are suspended from.  In our militaria collection, we have focused on people (family members), a handful of U.S. Navy warships and other places that my relatives and ancestors served. In terms of collecting, medals and decorations are of tertiary importance, though I have acquired several pieces that otherwise captured my interest.

The ribbon is tied into a bow affixed to the suspension ring; a match to the Debratz copy.

In 2017, a group of photos, game programs (basketball), correspondence and a medal were listed in an online auction. All of the items originated from a veteran who served in the European Theater of Operations (ETO) during World War II with the 69th Infantry Division and played baseball for the unit’s team on his way to pitching in the ETO World Series in 1945 for the 29th Infantry Division team, the Blue and the Grays. After winning the 7th Army Championship, a semi-final elimination tournament, the 29th team faced (and was defeated by) the Red Circlers of the 71st Division.

The reverse of E.R. Ghelf’s medal shows the basic brooch pin as it is stitched to the backside of the ribbon-bow.

Focusing primarily upon the photographs, European Theater Baseball (the 29th Infantry Division Blue and Grays at Nurnberg) also addressed the historic and rare imagery in the group (the Earl Ghelf Collection) – how Mr. Ghelf photo-documented the baseball park that was constructed on the grounds of Soldiers Field (formerly known as Nuremberg Stadium). What was not covered in the article was the medal that was central to the group; a German-made piece with a diminutive red and white ribbon with engraving on the reverse. The obverse features a relief bust of an athletically-built man with the words “Dem Sieger” (which translates to, “The Winner”) above the figure’s right shoulder. The engraving on the reverse reads:

7th Army Baseball Champions
E. R. Ghelf
Mannheim Stadium
Germany

It is apparent that the 7th Army leadership locally sourced the medal and had it engraved and presented to Mr. Ghelf. It was assumed that the entire 29th Division Blue and Greys team was presented with the same personalized medal to commemorate their victory en route to the ETO Championship series. Not having seen another copy previously, the assumption about the entire team receiving them was untested and unproven…Until today.

“The Winner,” a direct translation from German, the medal is clearly sourced from the local marketplace.

Some of the best finds that arrive to the Chevrons and Diamonds collection come by way of accidental discovery. When I was researching a ball player in an attempt to find any correlation or connection to military service, an unintentional Google image search yielded a photo of a familiar medal – one that featured the same obverse design as the Ghelf medal (above) along with the same ribbon and suspension.

Identical to the Earl Ghelf copy, the J. Debratz engraving matches perfectly.

Recognizing that the image was from an online auction listing, I clicked on the image, opening a current auction listing for another engraved copy of the 7th Army Championship medal. The engraving on the reverse is exactly the same as my copy (save for the name):

7th Army Baseball Champions
J. Debratz
Mannheim Stadium
Germany

29th Infantry Division Blue and Grays (Seventh Army Champions) 1945:

Rank	Player	Pos	Previous
Pvt.	Earl A. Dothager	P	Springfield (WA)
Sgt.	Wallace W. Kale
Pvt.	Kazimer J. Waiter
Pvt.	Robert W. Lansinger	P	Lancaster (ISLG)
1st Lt.	Erwin Prasse	LF/Mgr.	University of Iowa
	Wesley “Lefty” Howard	P
	Herbert Biedenkapp	RF
	George Ortega
	William A. “Bill” Seal, Jr.	IF	Vicksburg (CSTL)
	Don Kolloway	IF	White Sox
Sgt.	Jack Dobratz	P	High School
	Joe Blalock
	Lloyd “Whitey” Moore	P	Cardinals
	Earl Ghelf	C/P	Amateur/Semi-pro
	Ken Hess	CF

 

The 7th Army Champions of 1945: The Blue and Grays of the 29th Infantry Division. Earl Ghelf is in the back row, second from the left. Sgt. Jack Dobratz is in the middle row, first from the right.

Without any hesitating, a sniped bid was set ahead of the due diligence in researching the name. The only instance of a roster for the 7th Army (29th Infantry Division) Championship team is located on Baseball in Wartime.com and a quick check revealed no player with that name. Searching through other sources yielded similar results. Who was J. Debratz?  Was his name misspelled on the medal? Was he a coach or a manager?  The decision was made to proceed despite the auction with the hope that should our bid prove successful, in time, the research could pan out.

Upon auction close, our bid was the only one and the Debratz medal arrived a few days later (a few days before publishing this article). One of the most rewarding aspects of collecting named pieces such as this medal is the satisfaction that follows a research or discovery breakthrough. For the present-time, this medal will be displayed along with the Ghelf copy.

With the assistance of Colonel Drew Sullins, board member of the Maryland Museum of Military History, J. Debratz was positively identified as Sergeant Jack Dobratz of Port Huron, Michigan. Sgt. Dobratz entered the United States Army on February 16, 1943 and was assigned to Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion in the 29th Infantry Division. He was promoted from private first class to the rank of sergeant on July 18, 1944. Dobratz graduated in January, 1943 from Port Huron High School where he excelled in athletics earning 10 letters in football, basketball and baseball. He was the school’s quarterback and punter on the gridiron and toed the mound as their star pitcher. Leading up to D-Day, Jack “Dobie” Dobratz pitched for his company’s team domestically and after arrival in England.

 

See also:

• Breaking the Color Barrier in the Ranks and on the Diamond
• Third Army – Baseball Championship Series