Excerpt from Open Doors: Vietnam POWs Fifty Years of Freedom
Jack Ensch’s wife, his college sweetheart, has become an avid San Diego Padres fan. “Before I got this job, Kathy thought a hit and run was leaving the scene of an accident; now she questions every move a manager makes. ‘You know, why didn’t he bunt, why didn’t he hit and run? Make him steal! Change the pitcher!’ She’s become a real fan of the game, which is really nice since I’m now doing this for a living.”
Jack is Director of Military Marketing for the San Diego Padres, the only Major League Baseball team to have a position dedicated to serving the military market. Like most Americans, he got his first taste of baseball as a kid. “I remember going to my first baseball game with my uncle in the St. Louis, Missouri, Sportsman Park. I first went to see the St. Louis Browns play and later the Cardinals. Driving down there in the late 1940s or early 1950s, going down to the ballpark, sitting in the stands with peanuts and a hot dog…It was just very memorable. I can remember the smell and the sights and the sounds and it was just very exciting. However, I didn’t get to go to that many games as a youth because we didn’t have much money. I had to rely on the radio.”
Jack’s father was a factory worker in Springfield, Illinois, and his mother was a waitress. Neither had college degrees, but they raised him to place a premium on family and education. Jack has a master’s degree, a 37-year marriage, three college-educated daughters and two grandchildren. He proudly considers these his greatest accomplishments.
As a Midwesterner, Jack is easygoing and friendly and replete with patriotic pride. But being shot down and losing a thumb in Vietnam took away some of his ego. Injured during his jet ejection, it was amputated without anesthesia. The incident earned him the nickname “Fingers.” For a long time, he was self-conscious about it. “I was frustrated that I couldn’t do things that I had been able to do before—and I guess I was feeling sorry for myself as well—‘Why me? It’s not fair.’ I just didn’t want to be looked upon as a cripple, I guess. The macho fighter aviator mentality was fogging my thinking.” His younger brother, Leon, snapped him out of it: “He said, ‘Get your damn hand out of your pocket. You have nothing to be ashamed of for your injury.’”
That was the wake-up call. Jack figured out a way to wrap his hand so he could play handball again and he took up long distance running again, eventually finishing ten marathons. He also returned to flight status and was able to fly jets again. Being back in the game physically boosted his spirits mentally. It made him feel whole again.
At the Padres, he’s been an inspiration to the young Padres staff members who work with him. “I’ve been told by many of the young men and women I’ve worked with here that they have learned from me. Things like integrity, honesty, teamwork…keeping a sense of humor. And, yes, I’ve learned from some of them, too.…Just because I’m older doesn’t mean I have all the answers.”
Targeting the military market is smart for the Padres, given the large military community in San Diego. Since Jack has been with the Padres, attendance by military fans has increased by 5-10 percent. “The Padres is a good organization. I’m the old dinosaur among them, but there are a lot of young people here who are very enthusiastic about baseball and are having a good time. They are hard workers and they put in a lot of long hours—not unlike sailors in the fleet in a lot of ways.”
The job fills him up, fuels his need to be involved, to stay on the field and get up to bat. “There’s always something new and different and I feel like I’m still doing something worthwhile for the military and their families.” It keeps him active and offers a fitting finale for a man whose career has been devoted to service. He shrugs and squints to make his words more pointed. “Everyone thinks the POW experience was the end. It’s not. It was just the beginning.”
Open Doors: Vietnam POWs Fifty Years of Freedom takes a close look at thirty former Vietnam POWs from all branches of the military. Produced by photographer Jamie Howren and author Taylor Baldwin Kiland, the exhibit was created in 2003 on the 30th anniversary of the men’s return and updated for the 50th Anniversary in 2023. The exhibit includes 31 impressionistic photos and accompanying written profiles intended to capture these extraordinary American men who were tested like few people of subsequent generations have. It is also intended to defy the lingering negative stereotype of Vietnam veterans.
Open Doors is available for rent as a traveling exhibit to museums, libraries, universities, and other cultural institutions. For more information, please contact info@coronadohistory.org.
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