Baseball in Wartime - Walter Navie

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Those Who Died That Others Might Be Free

Walter Navie

Date and Place of Birth: April 19, 1918 Chicago, Illinois
Date and Place of Death: October 9, 1945 Laredo, Texas
Baseball Experience: Minor League
Position: Pitcher
Rank: Private First Class
Military Unit: US Army
Area Served: Pacific Theater of Operations

Walter Navie was a 20-game winner in the minors and headed for a career with the White Sox. But four years of military service ended in tragic circumstances.

Walter Navie

Walt Navie was born Walter J Nawiesniak in Chicago, Illinois on April 19, 1918. After high school he was employed by the International Harvester Company but signed with the Crookston Pirates of the Northern League in 1936. However, he did not play a game. The following year, having abbreviated his last name to Navie, the 5-foot-11 left-hander hurled for the Rock Island Islanders of the Western League. In his debut professional game for the Islanders against the Davenport Blue Sox he survived seven innings without allowing a hit, and so did the opposing pitcher. In the eighth, Navie’s control wobbled, he allowed three hits and was beaten 2-1.

He averaged seven strikeouts a game in 1938, won 16 and lost 11 with the Rayne Rice Birds of the Evangeline League and was a 20-game winner with the Rice Birds in 1939.

Navie was with the Shreveport Sports of the Texas League in 1940 and 1941. He pitched for the Chicago White Sox during spring training in 1941 and would have been with the White Sox for spring training in 1942 had military service not beckoned in February of that year. On February 21, Navie joined the Army at Chicago, Illinois.

Private First Class Nawiesniak served with the US Army in the Pacific. He saw action at Guadalcanal and the Solomons and suffered recurring attacks of malaria.

On Monday, October 9, 1945, shortly before being discharged from military service, Walter Nawiesniak was found dead with an Army pistol in his hand at an Army camp in Laredo, Texas. He was 27 years old.

Added August 14, 2006. Updated May 1, 2008..

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