{"id":7938,"date":"2025-02-07T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-07T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7938"},"modified":"2025-02-07T17:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-02-07T17:00:00","slug":"honoring-veterans-marine-corps-veteran-bill-greason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7938","title":{"rendered":"Honoring Veterans: Marine Corps Veteran Bill Greason"},"content":{"rendered":"

Originally published:<\/strong> 2025-02-07T17:00:00+00:00. Historical source article: benefits, rules, amounts and deadlines may have changed. Check the official source for current information.<\/p>\n

William Henry Greason was born on Sept. 3, 1924, in Atlanta, Georgia, where he spent his youth playing sandlot baseball in the surrounding area. Though his family was poor and he had received no formal coaching, Greason learned the art of pitching by playing with others who had played semi-pro<\/a>. <\/p>\n

After the onset of World War II, baseball took a backseat as Greason enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1943. He became one of the Montford Point Marines, among those who attended segregated basic training at Montford Point at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. After training, he served with the 66th Supply Platoon, landing on Iwo Jima in the Pacific Theater in 1945. <\/p>\n

\u201cTwo of my best friends were killed on that island. I prayed and said, \u2018Lord, if you get me off this island, whatever you want me to do, I\u2019ll do it,\u2019\u201d he told MLB.com in an interview last November<\/a>. Greason finished out his remaining 13 months with the American occupation force in Japan, where he was stationed at Sasebo and Nagasaki<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After leaving the military, Greason pitched for the Nashville Black Vols of the Negro Leagues in 1947 and then the Birmingham Black Barons from 1948 to 1951. He was acquired by MLB\u2019s St. Louis Cardinals in 1953 and made his Senior Circuit league debut the following season, though he only made three appearances. He went on to pitch for several more years in the minor leagues, as well as in Puerto Rico (with Willie Mays and Roberto Clemente), before retiring in 1959.<\/p>\n

Between stints in the Negro Leagues, Cuba and the Pacific Coast League in 1951, Greason was recalled to active duty during the Korean War. \u201cI had a good camp commander. He said, \u2018That\u2019s a no-win war. You stay here. I\u2019m going to have a baseball team,\u2019\u201d he recalled, in an interview with The Oklahoman in 2012<\/a>.\u00a0There, he played with the Camp Lejeune ball club, once beating Brooklyn Dodgers ace\u00a0Don Newcombe<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On Sept. 15, 1963<\/a>, Greason felt the call to the ministry, going on to study at Birmingham Baptist Bible College and\u00a0Samford University. In 1971, he became pastor of Birmingham\u2019s Bethel Baptist Church Southside, where he\u2019s remained to this day.<\/p>\n

Reverend Bill Greason turned 100 last September and\u00a0threw out the first pitch<\/a>\u00a0at MLB\u2019s Tribute to the Negro Leagues game between the Giants and Cardinals in June at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just thankful that God allowed me to be here this long,\u201d he said, in the MLB.com interview<\/a>. \u201cI\u2019m thankful for life: God\u2019s been good to me, and He is good to me. Allowed me to live the age that I am and to have the activities of my life. It\u2019s surprising to me. I never thought I\u2019d live this long after being in two wars, baseball and traveling. It\u2019s been a blessing.\u201d<\/p>\n

We honor his service. <\/p>\n

Nominate a Veteran for Honoring Veterans<\/h2>\n

Do you want to light up the face of a special Veteran? Have you been wondering how to tell your Veteran they are special to you? VA\u2019s Honoring Veterans social media feature is an opportunity to highlight your Veteran and his\/her service.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to nominate a Veteran. All it takes is an email to newmedia@va.gov with as much information as you can put together, along with some good photos. Visit our\u00a0blog post about nominating<\/a>\u00a0to learn how to create the best submission.<\/p>\n

\n

Source: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs<\/a>. Its Veterans is an independent publication and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the U.S. government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week’s Honoring Veterans spotlight honors the service of Marine Corps Veteran and MLB pitcher Reverend Bill Greason.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":151,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community-veteran-stories"],"yoast_head":"\nHonoring Veterans: Marine Corps Veteran Bill Greason - Its Veterans<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This week's Honoring Veterans spotlight honors the service of Marine Corps Veteran and MLB pitcher Reverend Bill Greason.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7938\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Honoring Veterans: Marine Corps Veteran Bill Greason - 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