Veteran Spotlight: Army Reserve Sgt. Bill 'Spaceman' Lee

FALMOUTH, Mass. — Bill Lee served his country in the Army Reserve from 1970 to 1976 during the Vietnam War. 

 

The "Spaceman" is the last Boston Red Sox player to miss time for active duty. 

 

William Francis Lee III, grew up in Burbank, Calif., and was born into a history of former semipro and professional baseball players. His grandfather William was an infielder in the Pacific Coast League and his aunt Annabelle Lee was an All-American Girls Professional Baseball player. 

 

"She taught me how to pitch," he said.

 

His father, also William, served in the Army as a sergeant during World War II and saw major action at the Battle of Okinawa as a radio communications soldier.

 

"My dad was tough, old school. My first big endorsement when I was playing was with a Honda dealership in Boston," Lee said. "I went to see my dad to get his thoughts and he says, 'If you come back with a rice-burning car, I'll run you through with the bayonet I took off a dead soldier.'"

 

Lee attended the University of Southern California and was part of the 1968 Trojan team that won the College World Series. He was drafted in the 22nd round by the Red Sox in the '68 draft. 

 

He would do his basic training in 1970 at Fort Polk, La., as a 22-year-old, and was named "Soldier of The Cycle," a designation given to top-performing recruits.

 

"I was married with a child on the way when I went to Fort Polk," he said. "I played on the baseball team and my commanding officer liked me, because he wanted to win. I thought I was in shape until I got to basic, I couldn't go through the parallel bars to save my ass ... I remember guard duty at 2 a.m. with the armadillos and rabbits, it was so hot and snaky."

 

He joked that he really couldn't fit into his uniform when he got there but did by the time he left. 

 

He shared a story about a fellow soldier from Hawaii that they nicknamed "Pineapple." 

 

"We were all out running one day and Pineapple has an asthma attack and he falls right into a swamp-like ditch," Lee remembered. "I go in and pull him out and my sergeant starts screaming at me — 'WHAT THE (Expletive) ARE YOU DOING LEE???? HE WAS DEAD WHEN HE WENT IN TO THAT DITCH! NOW YOU'RE DEAD!!!'"

 

Any memories stick out? "I loved the hand-to-hand combat in the ring with the pole and two cushions on the end, he recalled, adding "I was also the best grenade thrower around. They used to take bets on how close I would get to the target ... that's how I developed my eephus pitch," he said laughingly of his high-arcing throw.

 

"They wanted me to go to Fort Hood, Texas, for AIT [Advanced Infantry Training] and I didn't want to go so I went to the adjutant general at the base and told him I wanted to go to Fort Devens, Mass., to be closer to my family.

 

"He says, 'you get me two Carl Yastrzemski autograph bats and you got a deal.'"

 

Lee did and headed home to Fort Devens, but found his duties difficult. 

 

"I was in charge of processing the dead bodies that came back from Vietnam and had to call the families," he said. "It was just an awful, awful job." 

 

But, he said, "during the season, I'd drive to Fenway to work out. Guys would follow me from Devens and I'd arrange for tickets for them." 

 

When I asked him if he was called up, would he have gone to Vietnam, he responded emphatically: "ABSOLUTELY!"

 

"Our guys did it because that's what a soldier does — many did it out of patriotism but the government fooled'em, really sold them down the river. They went over and didn't question the premise. You don't defeat communism through war, you do it by containment. 

 

"I have so much respect for our Vietnam veterans."

 

Lee spent 10 seasons pitching for the Sox and is a member of the Red Sox Hall of Fame. He devotes countless hours to The Jimmy Fund and other charitable causes, and is active in his community in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom, even running for governor in 2016. 

 

Bill Lee, thank you for your service to our great country.