Baseball in Wartime - Ray Milcsik

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Ray Milcsik

Date and Place of Birth: October 23, 1922 New Jersey

Died: June 3, 1994 Edison, New Jersey

Baseball Experience: Minor League

Position: Shortstop

Rank: Sergeant

Military Unit: 326th Bomb Squadron, 92nd Bomb Group USAAF

Area Served: European Theater of Operations

Ray Milcsik

Raymond M Milcsik was born on October 23, 1922 in New Jersey. He was signed by Cincinnati in 1941 and assigned to the Cordele Reds of the Georgia-Florida League where he batted a lowly .182.

On January 15, 1943, Milcsik entered military service with the Army Air Force. He trained as a tail gunner and the young sergeant was assigned to the 326th Bomb Squadron of the 92nd Bomb Group at Podington in England.

On January 4, 1944, Milcsik was part of Second-Lieutenant Joseph C Hughes' B-17 Flying Fortress crew on a bomb run to Kiel. German anti-aircraft artillery badly damaged the bomber and Hughes gave the order to bail out. All but the radio operator, Staff-Sergeant Richard L Martin, survived the ordeal but most were soon captured when they landed at Vinkwijk in Holland.

Milcsik spent the next 18 months as a prisoner of war at Stalag 17B in Braunau Gneikendorf near Krems, Austria.

He returned to baseball in 1946, playing briefly for the Erie Sailors of the Middle-Atlantic League but soon quit the game after batting just .176.

He later joined the Edison (New Jersey) Police Department and was promoted from detective to detective-lieutenant in July 1957.

Ray Milcsik passed away on June 3, 1994 in Edison, New Jersey. He was 71.

Photo courtesy of Bill Ward.

Created January 24, 2008. Updated May 23, 2008.