Charles Edward Behan (August 4, 1920May 18, 1945) was a professional

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

end for one season for the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

Football career

Behan caught 4 passes for 63 yards in 1942, his only year with the Lions. Behan enlisted in the U.S. Armed Forces in 1942 and served in the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Prior to his overseas deployment, he played for the football team at

Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune () is a United States Armed Forces, United States military training facility in Jacksonville, North Carolina. Its of beaches make the base a major area for Amphibious warfare, amphibious assault training, and its ...

. In late 1944, when Behan was fighting with the newly reformed Sixth Marine Division on the island of

Guadalcanal Guadalcanal (; indigenous name: ''Isatabu'') is the principal island in Guadalcanal Province of Solomon Islands, located in the south-western Pacific, northeast of Australia. It is the largest island in the Solomon Islands by area, and the seco ...

, he played in a hard-hitting "touch" football game on

Christmas Eve Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas Day, the festival commemorating the birth of Jesus. Christmas Day is observed around the world, and Christmas Eve is widely observed as a full or partial holiday in anticipation ...

between teams representing the

4th Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

and 29th Regiments. Behan was the 29th Marines' player-coach and team captain in what the roster sheets passed out that day labeled "The Football Classic." The game ended in a scoreless tie.

Death at Okinawa

Most Marine players and spectators involved in "The Football Classic" were shipped to

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

in April 1945. During the Okinawa campaign, Behan took part in the Battle of Sugar Loaf Hill. During the battle he was hit with shrapnel in the mouth. Insisting to stay on the front lines, Behan applied cotton to his mouth and changed it out regularly. After tossing

grenade A grenade is an explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A modern hand grenade genera ...

s at a Japanese machine gun nest, Behan was hit by machine-gun fire and died. Behan was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross.

Notes

External links

Football's wartime heroes
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Behan, Charlie 1920 births 1945 deaths People from Crystal Lake, Illinois Sportspeople from McHenry County, Illinois Players of American football from Illinois American football wide receivers Northern Illinois Huskies football players Detroit Lions players United States Marine Corps officers United States Marine Corps personnel killed in World War II Recipients of the Navy Cross (United States) Deaths by firearm in Japan Military personnel from Illinois