Joe Dimaggio is one of baseball’s greatest players and an Army Veteran.

Dimaggio’s marital status gave him a 3-A Draft classification that would bar him from enlisting in the military. However, with his divorce from his wife, Dimaggio was able to serve proudly for his country. On February 17,1942, Dimaggio enlisted in the Army. He asked his comrads to treat him just like everyone else. Like most baseball ballplayers, Dimaggio did not go overseas. Instead he was assigned to Special Services and was stationed in Santa Ana Army Air Base in California, where he received the rank of sergeant. Dimaggio was released from the Army on September 14, 1945.

During WWII (1939 to 1945) Joe Dimaggio’s parents Giuseppe and Rosalia DiMaggio were among the thousands of German, Japanese and Italian immigrants classified as “enemy aliens” by the government after Pearl Harbor was attacked.

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