On June 6, 2024, 80 years ago today, the turning point of World War II took place, with the D-Day invasion of Normandy, France, with the Allied Forces storming the beaches.
Historian Tom Burke noted on Facebook today that there were two wrestlers, Tony “Bill” Olivas aka the Elephant Boy and Bobby Coleman, who took part in the invasion, and then asked, “If anyone knows of other wrestlers taking part in D-Day please let me know.”
Here’s what we know, Professor Burke.
In a lengthy interview with this author, Father Olivas detailed much of his life and times, which were quite remarkable and fascinating — and that was leaving out that he was among the troops that arrived at Omaha Beach. He was a part of the combat engineers, and stayed with the U.S. Army as it marched through France and Germany as an assistant to the front-line Roman Catholic chaplain. Wrestling-wise, he was best known as Elephant Boy with Slave Girl Moola — yes, the Fabulous Moolah — at his side.
Bobby Coleman was on the smaller side at a time in the wrestling business where that was less of an issue. He was anywhere from 165 to 200 pounds. He appears to have been from New York City, and got into pro wrestling around 1933, with some boxing background as well. According to an Arizona Daily Star story from December 1953, when he took over the Tuscon-based promotion from Rod Fenton, “Coleman served with the U.S. Coast Guard and was decorated for bravery.” Prior to buying Arizona territory, he had promoted (and refereed) in southern California, in at the Jeffries Barn in Burbank, working with former heavyweight boxing champion Jim Jeffries, and also was aligned with the LeBell promotion in Los Angeles, serving as matchmaker for a time. A different story promoted the light-heavyweight as “All-Navy champion during the war” while the Van Nuys News in 1949 noted that “Little Giant” Coleman was “a veteran of the Okinawa and other historic Pacific campaigns.”
Bobby Coleman in 1953.
SlamWrestling.net brought to Burke’s attention two more names that we knew about — and had written about.
The late Gary Howard wrote up a terrific piece on the life and times of Dave Sims. In the story, it’s noted that Sims was a radar operator on a destroyer ship that escorted supply convoys and that his main responsibility was detecting depth charges. He took part in the D-Day invasion of Normandy. His brother, Bill, was also in the Royal Canadian Navy.
In 2015, Steve Johnson detailed the story of Jack Gacek, who was believed to be the first professional wrestler to have died during World War II. He died on November 13, 1944, having been shot. Gacek had been a part of D-Day as well, but from the land side. According to Johnson’s research, “The 327th was involved in the Utah Beach D-Day landing in June 1944. Near Auville-sur-le-Vey, Gacek was one of two men who ran through the countryside, strafing it with bullets so they could break through German fire.”
Burke also noted that there was a Royal Navy ship called the Wrestler that served in World War I and was reconditioned to be a part of the Second World War, and was among the 7,000 ships that brought troops and munitions to the beaches.
Given that there were forces from the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, France, Australia, Czechoslovakia, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Greece, South Africa, and Southern Rhodesia, there is a good chance that there were other wrestlers involved.
“I am sure that there were some other wrestlers in the invasion,” said Burke. He is surprised that none from England have been discovered yet.
History is always being uncovered, and we will continue to learn more about the brave soldiers and sailors on that day 80 years ago. Burke summed it all up best: “Had D-day not happened the world be a different place today.”
TOP PHOTO: A memorial statue at Omaha Beach is flanked by, clockwise from top left, Dave Sims, Bill Olivas, Bobby Coleman and Jack Gacek.
REMEMBRANCE DAY / VETERANS DAY STORIES
