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Ernie grew up playing ball for Portland’s Grant High School and eventually worked his way to Ohio where he played for the Cincinnati Reds farm team. The year was 1940 and Ernie James had great aspirations and hope - he was playing shortstop and doing well. But the bombing of Pearl Harbor changed many men’s dreams, and it changed the course of young Ernie’s life.
Drafted in 1941, Ernie spent four years in the South Pacific. When he returned to the states, Sgt. Ernie James was a different man, and the dream of baseball had become just a faded memory. Today, thinking back to those days, Ernie admits he’s proud of what he accomplished with the Reds. “I know I’m lucky,” he comments. “I enjoyed it. We could have gone on forever.”