ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A reunion softball game for U.S. and Japanese World War II veterans turned out to be the last mission for one former sailor.

Karl Sommer suffered a heart attack and died Saturday in St. Petersburg, a day after returning to Florida from the game in Hawai'i, his wife said. He was 81.

"Karl was extremely enthusiastic about the trip," said Marge Sommer, his wife of 56 years. "He had a blast. He thought that the Japanese men were just top-notch in the way they handled themselves. The trip meant a tremendous amount to him."

The game, played at Hans L'Orange Park in Waipahu, was proposed by Sho Ishida, a New York-based Japanese TV director who filmed a documentary on the U.S. vets' softball team several years ago.

The Florida-based Kids & Kubs outscored Japan's Over the Rainbows, 14-2.

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