Lawrence "Yogi" Berra was born in St. Louis and after doing well in Legion Ball played minor Baseball in 1942. When Yogi turned 18, he put his baseball career on pause and joined the Navy in 1943. Trained as a gunner's mate, Yogi worked on the attack transport USS Bayfield during the Normandy landings. A Second Class Seaman, Berra was one of a six-man crew on a Navy rocket boat, firing machine guns and launching rockets at the German defenses on Omaha Beach. He was fired upon, but was not hit, and later received several commendations for his bravery. During an interview on the 65th Anniversary of D-Day, Berra confirmed that he was sent to Utah Beach during the D-Day invasion as well. He said about the invasion: "Being a young guy, you didn‘t think nothing of it until you got in it. And so we went off 300 yards off the beach. We protected the troops." For the next twelve days his boat was ordered to shoot down enemy aircraft. They accidentally shot down an American plane, but managed to save the pilot. He went on to serve in a second assault on France for which he received a medal from the French government.

Yogi returned home and in 1947 moved into the Major Leageas and played for the New York Yankee. He got his nick name from a teammate saying that when the team was losing, Yogi would cross his arms and legs and he looked like a 'Yogi". Courtesy of Military.com