SAN DIEGO -- While there's no denying that Jerry Coleman's military career effectively cut short his Major League career, one will never catch the longtime Padres broadcaster in a moment of remorse for what could have been.

"The best thing that ever happened to me was my time in the service," Coleman said. "I have said this over and over again, but there's only two things that are more important to me -- the people who love me and that I love my country. Period."

And that's something the 82-year-old Coleman is thankful for each day, even more so on Memorial Day -- the holiday that commemorates United States men and women who died while serving their country in the military.

Coleman -- the only Major League player to see combat in two wars -- is some 55 years removed from the day his active duty in the military ended, though the memories of his time as a pilot are every bit as strong in his mind as his memories of his nine years in the Major Leagues.

While future Hall of Famers Joe DiMaggio, Bob Feller, Ted Williams, Warren Spahn and so many other players had their playing careers cut short by World War II, Coleman actually credits his military time for getting his playing career started in the first place.

"Actually, it activated it," Coleman said. "I was going to college, because I wanted to get into naval aviation and you had to be 18. I ended up playing in the summer of '42 just to kill a summer. I had nothing, so I signed a contract to play baseball. So the war activated my baseball career, though it didn't help it to say the least."

A former standout at Lowell High in San Francisco, Coleman was intent on continuing his baseball career at USC. The summer after he graduated from high school, he signed with the Yankees and reported to the Minor League team in Wellsville, N.Y., in 1942.

Coleman played that summer in Wellsville as a 17-year-old, not yet old enough to enlist. Like many others his age, he got caught up serving his country. For as much as he loved playing baseball, it would have to wait.

"We all wanted to be heroes," Coleman said. "So when that season ended, I was at the ferry building signing up."

Coleman joined the Navy in October as a naval aviation cadet in the V-5 program in his hometown of San Francisco, though he wouldn't stay there long. He trained as a pilot in North Carolina, Colorado and Texas before being commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in the Marines.

A year after training began, Coleman was a pilot. And in August 1944, Coleman was shipped to Guadalcanal to join his squadron (VMSB-341) -- or otherwise known as "The Torrid Turtles."

Coleman was just 19.

"I was 19 when I went overseas and my gunner was 18," Coleman said. "If the Japanese knew what they were up against, they would have never surrendered -- talk about a couple of rhubarbs."

It was adrenaline that got Coleman through his 57 combat missions more than anything. Coleman and his gunner had to be on constant watch, as they flew close air support and on missions in the Solomon Islands and Philippines until 1945.

"Some [missions] would last four hours, two hours there, then your mission and then two hours back," Coleman said. "It depended on where you were sent. If you were sent to the front, you were usually in and out pretty quick. But the front was also the most dangerous, because you had guys on both sides shooting at you from all directions."

When Coleman returned to the United States, he retired to the inactive reserve list and got back to playing baseball, spending the next three seasons in the Yankees Minor League system before finally sticking with the team in the spring of 1949 when manager Casey Stengel took a liking to him and when the Yankees starting second baseman -- George "Snuffy" Stirnweiss -- was injured.

Coleman hit .275 with 123 hits in 128 games for the Yankees in 1949, as New York went on to win the World Series. He was named the Associated Press Rookie of the Year.

The next year would be even better for Coleman, as he drove in 69 runs and hit .287. He made the American League All-Star team and was named the Most Valuable Player in the World Series after driving in the game-winning run in Game 3 against the Phillies, as the Yankees won the series in four games.

In the winter of 1951, Coleman received a call that again put his baseball career on hold.

"I was stupid. I thought I would just come back again and start playing again," Coleman said. "The Marine major at Alameda called and asked me what I thought about going back into the service. I told him I hadn't thought about it. He said they were going to get me. I asked him for how long. He said a year and a half."

When Coleman was 18, the idea of doing his part to help win World War II greatly motivated him. But he found that those same feelings weren't nearly as strong, when he was recalled for active duty in 1952 for one simple reason.

"I was young the first time. ... I was 19, 20, 21. The second time in Korea, I was 28," Coleman said. "I had a family and I didn't think it was that much fun."

Coleman flew 63 combat missions during his time in Korea, and, by his account, detested nearly every minute of it. The missions, for one, were mostly flown at night, making his job even more difficult than it already was.

Hall of Famer Ted Williams -- who like Coleman, served in both wars, though Williams spent World War II stateside -- recalled an incident that involved Coleman during the war for a 2002 article in "Officer" magazine.

"Jerry went out on a bombing run, [and] he had a lot of experience. If it had happened to me, I would have been useless over there. Jerry had a full load of bombs and he was on this dive-bomb mission. He was the third one to go in. He rolled out of formation and started his run. He was lining up on the target behind his buddies gathering speed, and the Corsair right dead in front of him was totally blown away. One minute he was there, the next minute there was a flash, and he was completely gone. Well, that was enough to take the starch out of anyone."

Coleman returned to the state in the fall of 1953 and was eventually honored for his time in Korea, adding to a total of two Distinguished Flying Crosses, 13 Air Medals and three Navy Citations.

He appeared in only eight games at the end of the 1953 season and would go on to play parts of the next four seasons with the Yankees, though he was never the same player as he was before going to Korea due to missed time and a handful of injuries, including a broken collarbone.

Coleman did enjoy one of his finest moments as a player in the 1957 World Series, when he batted .364 with two doubles and two RBIs in the Yankees' seven-game loss to the Milwaukee Braves. That was his curtain call.

"I missed about four years," Coleman said. "I had decent years in '56, '57, but it wasn't what I would have liked to have had."

But, again, Coleman holds absolutely no regrets about his time in the military. And when the Padres begin a three-game series in Pittsburgh starting on Tuesday, Coleman will be behind the microphone calling the game, much like he has the previous 33 seasons for the team.

He considers himself fortunate for that, and, really, for a lot of things.

"Yes. ... I'm lucky, but I don't try to dramatize it," Coleman said. "Things that happened to people in World War II or Korea become more heroic the longer you are away from it. At the time, it wasn't heroic. You were doing a job."