 Having to concede his plane seat to higher-ranked military personnel, he was bumped at the last moment from the passenger list of a military transport plane scheduled to fly from Camp Kilmer, New Jersey to his home in Los Angeles – the plane crashed, killing everyone on board.After the war and following his transition back to civilian life, Lohrke resumed his baseball career.The summer of 1946 found him playing for the Class B Spokane Indians of the Western International League.