Jack Berquist
Age: 86
Hometown: South Bronx, N.Y.
Residence: Cathedral City
Military branch: U.S. Navy; served as an armed guard aboard the Hillsboro Inlet, Blackstocks Ford tanker, the James M. Porter, SS Marine Robin and SS Mariposa
Years served: Jan. 6, 1942 - Jan. 6, 1946
Rank: Radioman first class
Family: Companion Marlene Gaylord
About this series
Staff writer Denise Goolsby will profile desert veterans from World War II Wednesday through Sunday through the end of 2010 — the 65th anniversary of the end of the war. Contact her at (760) 778-4587 or via e-mail at denise.goolsby@thedesertsun.com
Coming tomorrow
U. S Army veteran Ralph Watt of Palm Springs.
More
Radioman 1st Class Jack Berquist served as an armed guard on merchant troop transport vessels traveling in the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea during World War II.
“We took the soldiers over to Sicily; we took 'em over to England,” he said. “On June 6, we invaded Normandy.”
Berquist, a hotshot shortstop who received a $5,000 bonus check from New York Giants owner Horace Stoneham, was set to begin playing for the team's Triple-A minor league affiliate, the Jersey City Giants.
Berquist, fantasizing about how he'd spend all of that money, didn't get the opportunity — at least not right away.
“My grandmother ripped it out of my hand and put it into a savings account,” Berquist said.
Before he could get his baseball career going, it was stalled. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Berquist knew he'd soon be drafted to play on Uncle Sam's team. Right away, he enlisted in the Navy, citing his love for the ocean and his reluctance to become a foot soldier.
“If I didn't join the Navy, the Army was going to send me a nice little letter,” he said.
Berquist served overseas as an armed guard, providing on-board security for merchant ships transporting troops to and from battle.
The armed guard teams were composed of a signalman, radioman, gunner's mate, boatswain and a lieutenant, who was in charge of the group.
Berquist, the ship's radioman, also operated the machine guns in the event of an attack — which came often, the now-86-year-old Cathedral City resident said.
Aboard Liberty transport vessel the James M. Porter, bound for Sicily, the ship came under attack by German fighter planes just as the sun was going down.
As the planes filled the early evening sky, Berquist fed ammunition into a machine gun, while a fellow sailor — a friend named Anthony — fired at the enemy aircraft.
“When it was my turn to fire, he would load on the next wave. Then he got hit by machine gun fire from the German planes,” Berquist said.
Strapped into place at his gun station, there was little Berquist could do for his dying friend but fight mightily to save the others on board.
“And here they come for a second round,” he said.
“The fifth bullet is a tracer and, boom, I got (him). (The plane) came tumbling over the top of the ship, oil coming out all over. He was gone.”
Awaited dream comes true
After returning stateside, Berquist eventually picked up where he left off with his baseball career, playing in the minors from 1948 to 1955.
He said he was only called up to the big leagues once, for a week. He “rode the pine” the entire time, never making it into a game, but the memories have remained for a lifetime.
“In 1951,” he said. “It happened to be in (late) September when the Giants were fighting the Dodgers for the pennant.”
He said he was on the bench when Giants outfielder Bobby Thomson smacked the pennant-winning home run — “the shot heard 'round the world” — to beat the Dodgers in the playoff series.
“It was a line drive, and I thought it was going to hook foul,” he said. That line drive carried over the left field fence.
The three-run, walk-off homer carried the Giants to a 5-4 victory.
Berquist, who was jittery and worried about trying to impress, got some sage advice from teammate Willie Mays, the 1951 National League Rookie of the Year.
“He said to me, ‘You try to do things too fast, kid. You got the moves; just take it easy.'”
