Vic Saltzgaver
| Date and Place of Birth: | July 17, 1920 Eldon, IA |
| Date and Place of Death: | July 22, 1943 North Africa |
| Baseball Experience: | Semi-Pro |
| Position: | Second Base |
| Rank: | Staff Sergeant |
| Military Unit: | 135th Infantry Regiment, 34th Infantry Division US Army |
| Area Served: | Mediterranean Theater of Operations |
"The special mission took my sweetheart but not my love
for him."
Arlouine Weaver-Trent
Victor C. "Vic" Saltzgaver, nephew of major leaguer Jack Saltzgaver,
was born in Eldon, Iowa on July 17, 1920. His father worked on the
railroad and Eldon was a busy little town until the railroad pulled out.
Vic was the youngest of four children and attended the local high school
in Eldon. "We had a great basketball team," recalls Arlouine
Weaver-Trent, who was Saltzgaver's sweetheart from childhood, "Vic was
one of the star players. After one great game Vic's picture made the
headlines of the Ottumwa Courier."
Life was different in those days. "We loved to dance, ride our bikes and
roller skate," remembers Arlouine. "We had a theater at that time but
none of us had much money to spend so we went with the cheaper fun. We
had a great many parties on Saturday nights and the gang would gather at
my folks' house. We would dance and play board games. My mother would
keep us supplied with refreshments."
Saltzgaver worked as a delivery boy for local grocery stores and enjoyed
going to local baseball games with Arlouine. Both their fathers played
on the town team and both were outstanding players.
Saltzgaver graduated from Eldon High School in 1937. His uncle Jack
arranged a pro tryout with the Lincoln team of the Nebraska State League
but when he was not offered a contract he moved on to California to
attend school and then worked in an airplane factory. "Vic wanted me to
come to California and get married," says Arlouine, "but I had just
started working and wanted to be independent for a while."
He returned to Eldon a couple of years later and, like a lot of local
boys, joined the Iowa National Guard. On February 10, 1941, his National
Guard unit was mobilized into the federal Army. He trained at Camp
Claiborne in Louisiana. "His folks took me down to visit him," remembers
Arlouine. "That's when I received my diamond. On his last leave we
planned to be married but the conditions down in Louisiana were so bad
he did not want me living there so we decided to wait until after he got
out of the Army. Well, that turned out badly!"
In February 1942, a year after joining the Army, Sergeant Saltzgaver
boarded a troop ship at the Brooklyn Navy Yard bound for Northern
Ireland. As part of a large convoy that zigzagged across the North
Atlantic, Navy destroyers constantly circled the outside of the convoy
in an effort to ward off prowling U-boats. He arrived safely in Northern
Ireland in March 1942 and was stationed at Castle Rock. Informal
baseball games between battalions began the following month, and it was
in July – to celebrate Independence Day – that the first officially
recognized baseball game since the First World War took place in
Northern Ireland. Saltzgaver played second base for the 34th Infantry
Division against the 1st Armored Division at Windsor Field, Belfast, in
front of an enthusiastic if somewhat bewildered crowd of locals and the
Duke of Abercorn. Saltzgaver was 1-for-3 at the plate in the lead off
spot and the 34th won the game, 3-2.
"Vic sent me many beautiful things from Ireland," says Arlouine,
"including a table cloth and napkins." But in November 1942, the 34th
Infantry Division left the safety of Northern Ireland to take part in
“Operation Torch,” the Allied landings on North Africa. They landed at
Oran on January 3, 1943 and Saltzgaver was engaged in police and salvage
work - training and building staging areas for the troops bound for
Sicily. Major league slugger, Zeke Bonura, was in charge of all the
athletic activities in Oran and the 34th Infantry Division played two
games against the 95th General Hospital while there, losing the first
game, 11-0, and winning the second, 11-0.
Vic and Arlouine continued to communicate throughout this time. "Vic
sent me a ring from Tunis dated 1943, with the inscription 'to Arlouine
from Vic'."
When a call went out for volunteers for some training maneuvers,
Saltzgaver decided to give it a try. "Vic wrote me that he had signed up
for a special mission," says Arlouine. "He said it would either make a
man of him or kill him."
On July 22, 1943, five days after his 23rd birthday, Staff Sergeant
Saltzgaver lost his life in North Africa - a victim of friendly fire.
The training maneuver involved live ammunition and when a machine gun
malfunctioned, the whole front line, including Saltzgaver, were killed.
"The special mission took my sweetheart but not my love for him," say
Arlouine, who still lives in the sleepy town of Eldon where she grew up
with Vic Saltzgaver. "I never stopped loving Vic - even though I did
eventually marry. Vic and I had so many years and good times together.
There has never been a day pass that I don't think of him. Vic had so
much respect for me - one just doesn't forget that.
"Vic's captain [Captain Charles Easton of Fairfield, Louisiana] visited
me when he returned home after the war. He told me about Vic spending
the evening, before Vic was killed, with him in his tent telling him of
our plans when Vic got home. He told me Vic was 'true blue' to me. I did
so very much appreciate him taking time to come visit me and telling me
about Vic."
Vic Saltzgaver was originally buried in Oran, but his body was later
moved to the American Military Cemetery in Carthage, Tunisia, where it
has remained for more than 60 years. Jack Saltzgaver made the trip to
Africa to visit his nephew's grave. "I always wished Vic's folks had
requested his body brought back," says Arlouine, "But that was their
decision to make. He does have a stone here in our cemetery so I can
decorate it."
34th Infantry Division "Midwest Giants" in
Northern Ireland in 1942
(Vic Saltzgaver is back row, fifth from left)
Vic Saltzgaver's marker at Eldon Cemetery in Eldon, Iowa
With special thanks to Arlouine Weaver-Trent for all her help with this biography.
Date Added June 5, 2012 Date updated July 23, 2013
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