The extraordinary story of World War II hero and Philadelphia Athletics star pitcher Lou Brissie is one of courage, honor and perseverance. In the new book "The Corporal Was a Pitcher: The Courage of Lou Brissie," Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ira Berkow sheds light on a man many of today's fans have never heard of, a player who overcame incredible odds after suffering a catastrophic injury to his left leg on the Italian battlefront during WWII to realize his dream of pitching for a professional baseball team. Now 85 years old, the question is why it took over 65 years to get his inspirational story told?

"Well I had thought about it and been encouraged to do it, and my wife and a couple of friends finally talked me into it, " said Brissie, who still visits on a regular basis with wounded veterans coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan. "I figured I was about running out of time, and if I was going to, I should get the story out. And I have talked with Ira several times, and it seemed like it took a while to get me going."

"I had always remembered Lou's story from my days in college when Red Smith had written a column about this World War II veteran trying to make the Philadelphia Athletics with a shattered left leg," recalls Berkow, who had also written the biography of baseball legend Hank Greenberg, who would later become Brissie's general manager when he played for the Cleveland Indians.

"When the 50th anniversary of Lou getting shot up in that snowy day in Italy came up in 1994, I gave Lou a call, and he had told me that during that summer he had returned to Italy to visit old friends, who happened to be in cemeteries. I wrote a column about it and Lou and I just stayed in touch. We both agreed it was time to tell his story, and I never realized how moving it truly was."

A child pitcher in the mill leagues of South Carolina, Brissie came to the attention of an original Hall of Famer, Connie Mack, the owner/manger of the Athletics, who had agreed to pay for Brissie's college education and give him a shot at professional baseball. World War II got in the way December 1941, and Brissie immediately enlisted in the army when he turned 18. Three years later, Cpl. Brissie -- an infantry squad leader in G Company, 351st Infantry Regiment, 88th Infantry Division, Fifth Army -- was riding in a seven-truck convoy in the Apennines Mountains of Northern Italy. The convoy was attacked by devastating artillery barrage that killed most of Brissie's squad. He was badly wounded with shrapnel tearing into much of his body. He crawled away from the area of the artillery barrage and collapsed.

Brissie's left leg was so badly torn apart that army doctors wanted to amputate it fearing it would become gangrene and kill him. Brissie told the doctors he was a ballplayer and wanted to keep his leg however bad it was. They relented and luckily gangrene never set in, but Brissie's rehabilitation was arduous and extremely painful, both physically and psychologically.

"I think from the day he was shot up when he was 20 years old and now that he's 85, I don't think there has been a day in the past 65 years he hasn't been in pain," said Berkow. "Now the leg is in such disrepair he has to move around on crutches."

Brissie would rehabilitate his leg to the extent that in 1947 he tried out for Mr. Mack, who had remained in touch with him during his convalescence and kept his word about giving him a chance to play professional baseball. Despite the fact that his leg had virtually no skin on it and was held together with a very painful brace, Brissie exceeded almost everyone's expectations, making the Athletics pitching rotation in 1948 and playing in the 1949 All-Star game at Ebbets Field in 1949. Brissie made it a point to always visit with injured war veterans, who viewed the former corporal as an inspiration.

"I was recently on a TV show with a panel of sports writers and I was asked how Lou's story ranks up there with other stories of athletes coming back from adversity," said Berkow. "I told them, 'Other than Jackie Robinson, I'd have to put Lou's right up there towards the top.' Lou being a soldier, coming back from what they call now post-traumatic stress syndrome and his physical disability, so from my viewpoint, his is as great as any person coming back in sports or anywhere else."

"Lou Brissie would have been one of the best left-handed pitchers in baseball, as good as Sandy Koufax if he hadn't been injured during the war," said Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Feller, who played with Brissie after he was traded to the Cleveland Indians in 1951. "He still had a great career, despite his leg being shot up and pitching with a brace. Lou ran American Legion ball after he stopped playing and did a great job at that to. I talk to him all the time and he was a great teammate."

After holding out for all these years, Lou Brissie has simple hopes for what readers will get from his story.

"If this story can help anyone from giving up or quitting, I will felt that that was acceptable," said Brissie. " I have had some awfully nice things happen, and if it can help people to stay with the battle and not give in, I'll be very pleased."

Brissie then recounted a story that brought it all home.

"I got a letter from a soldier who was injured in Iraq," recalls Brissie. "He told me that he got one of the copies of the book that I had given to the soldiers on active duty rehab. He said, 'When you got into the back of that truck in Italy, I got in there with you.' So there are people out there that identify with what I went through. That makes me feel good. If we were able to accomplish that with my story, than it's all been a success."

"The Corporal Was a Pitcher: The Courage of Lou Brissie," is published by Triumph Books and is in bookstores now.

This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.