[Our approach to baseball] is to use baseball as a means of cooperation with our allies in a social way. Mr. A.D. Kelso, of Durex Abrasives, was the man who got baseball started here in Birmingham 10 years ago. Col. J.A. Kilian, of the U.S. Army, is a great lover of baseball and is doing a lot of good for the game in England.[1]

Colonel James Alphonse Kilian (1891–1958)[2] was a baseball obsessive. He was also, from November 1942 onward, in a unique position to do something about that obsession. That was the month he was given command of the U.S. Army’s 10th Replacement Depot in Lichfield, England. Replacement deports were clearing stations—for recruits fresh from the United States, for men recuperating from injuries, and for military prisoners who would be returned to the frontline on completion of their sentences. Kilian had his pick of the men arriving at the depot and he took advantage of this to assemble a unit baseball team of such depth of experience and skill that it would be all-conquering in the local area in 1943, 1944, and 1945.[3] At different times, the team would include at least one major leaguer and a host of minor leaguers, semi-pro, and varsity players, who were scouted for Kilian by his classification officer—the officer in the depot responsible for deciding what soldier got sent where—a man said to be a former major leaguer himself.

Kilian had a simple way of motivating his players to play well. Ross Kendrick, a Canadian semi-pro player who came up against the 10th Replacement Depot team in 1944, would, many years later, report a conversation he had with one of its stars, major leaguer Al ‘Skippy’ Roberge.[4] On a visit to Lichfield, Kendrick had noticed that the members of the baseball team did not have to do any other kind of duty.

Why don’t you do any training?

If we play ball, we’re ok, but if we don’t, we’re shipped out by the following Friday.[5]

To be clear: This wasn’t the men avoiding active service by playing—Roberge would go on to be wounded in action—this was the men avoiding being sent to whatever dark hole Kilian could think to send them to. If even half the rumours about Kilian were true, that would be a very dark hole indeed.

Capt. Kilian Assigned Here. Capt. James A. Kilian, son of Col. J.N. Kilian of the First Nebraska Infantry in 1898, has been assigned to the Sixty-sith cavalry division, organized reserves of the Seventh Corps area in Omaha.[6]

By the time Kilian took command at Lichfield in November 1942,[7] he had been in the U.S. Army for nearly 30 years. A second-generation career officer, his father was Major Julius N. Kilian, a naturalised American of German heritage who had played a prominent role in the U.S. Army’s relief efforts following the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake but afterward settled for a career as a commissary officer. He died of disease while on a tour of duty in the Philippines when Kilian was just 23.[8]

The Kilian family was part of Nebraska’s large German-American community, and Kilian went by the name ‘Alphonse’ as a younger man. That all changed with America’s entry into the First World War and the attack on the German language and culture that this triggered. So it was as Alphonse J. Kilian, German-American, that Kilian started his military career with the National Guard in the 1910s, but as James A. Kilian, All-American, that he joined the regular army in 1920. We can see in this reinvention being sown the seeds of an excess of zeal in later life in expressing his patriotism.

His early years in U.S. Army service were spent in the Cavalry, although on the support side (M.T.—motor transport); however, by 1931, he had transferred to the Quartermaster Corps. When the U.S. entered the Second World War, he was stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas.[9] His next stop was England.

This is a replacement pool and you are assigned from here. We spend all our spare time censoring mail and believe me these fellows really turn it out […] We also have calisthenics, lectures, training films, etc. Monday night 10 of us went to Wolverhampton a town of about 150,000 to hear the Liverpool Philharmonic which was very good.[10]

Lichfield camp, or more properly Whittington Barracks, Lichfield, was a few miles north of Birmingham, the biggest city in the English Midlands, itself around 120 miles north of London. A British Army base since the late Nineteenth Century, when Lichfield was handed over to the U.S. Military in 1942, it became home to the 10th Replacement Depot, which by 1943, included a training camp, hospital, and guardhouse (stockade), with the latter mostly housing men who were caught after going AWOL from the depot. At its height in the run-up to D-Day in the summer of 1944, Lichfield hosted upwards of 32,000 service men and women.[11]

One of the challenges of maintaining a facility of this size was gaining and keeping the goodwill of the local populace. This required a hearts and minds campaign that Kilian took to with gusto, something that is evidenced by the fact that in late 1944, he was awarded the Legion of Merit for his ‘exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services’ as the depot’s commanding officer with particular reference made to his work in ‘enhancing Anglo-American relations’.[12]

Kilian oversaw a Special Services programme that included allowing U.S. personnel to accept invitations from local families to stay with them for the weekend or for holidays and, most particularly, making available service men and women for local civic, leisure, and sporting events, particularly those in aid of war charities. The most visible of these latter initiatives was the loan of the depot’s two bands—military and dance—for local events and the staging of boxing matches—ETO heavyweight boxing champion Bill Kingsland was another man on long-term assignment to the 10th Replacement Depot—and baseball games.[13]

GRAND SPORT. AMERICA’S NATIONAL GAME COMES TO WALSALL. STAR PLAYERS Representing the 10th REPLACEMENT COMPANY of the UNITED STATES ARMY (by kind permission of Colonel J. A. Kilian) have arranged A BASEBALL MATCH.[14]

By the time the 1943 ETO baseball season in England got underway in April of that year, Killian had had nearly five months to assemble a team—although, at this stage of the war, he did not have access to the number of servicemen that would come his way the following year in the build-up to D-Day. With characteristic lack of modesty (and humour), he called his team ‘The Americans’ and it played in two leagues: the U.S. Military Western Base Section Central District League, and the local mixed civilian–military Midlands League, with the latter comprising teams drawn from the U.S. and Canadian militaries and Birmingham-based teams from the pre-war [civilian] Midlands League, still able to field teams because many of their players were factory workers engaged in essential war work. (To be fair to Kilian, the team probably acquired the name ‘The Americans’ because it was the only American team in the mixed league, and it debuted there before playing in the military league; this does not explain, of course, why it kept that name for the military league.).

I tell the story of the birth and growth of the Midlands League elsewhere.[15] I am indebted to the work of Gary Bedingfield for the story of the military leagues.[16]

The Central District League was one of a number of leagues established in Great Britain in June 1943 to determine which teams would go forward to a planned ‘ETO World Series’. Briefly, as Gary Bedingfield covers the ETO Championship in depth, Kilian’s ‘Americans’ won all seven of their games in the Central District League and went to the Championships at the Bushy Park U.S. Army base in Middlesex in September, where, unfortunately, they were knocked out in the first round.

We can assemble a roster for the 1943 10th Replacement Depot ‘Americans’ team that went to the ETO Championships based on that which turned out for an exhibition game against a second 10th Replacement Depot team, ‘The Easterners’, one month earlier—the first of a short series of exhibition matches that, to the evident satisfaction of Kilian, culminated in a game that took place in front of royalty in the form of the Duchess of Kent.[17]

AMERICANS.—1st Base, Mattidello (Boston, Massachusetts); 2nd Base, Kocur (East Chicago, Indiana); 3rd Base, Garrett (Birmingham, Alabama); Centre Field, Pearsall (Ozone Park, Queens, New York); Left Field, [John] Kapinos (Norwich, Connecticut); Right Field, [Albert J.] Tranter (Staunton, Illinois); Short Stop, Daley (Freehold, New Jersey); Catcher, Hughes (Charlotte, North Carolina); Pitcher, [Martin] Philips (Morrisville, Pennsylvania); Substitute, Alfano (Milwaukee, Wisconsin); Sub. Pitcher, Collins (Ashland, Kentucky).[18]

There are no stand-out names here.[19] There were not yet servicemen enough passing through the depot for Kilian to assemble the team that he wanted. However, it was already good enough to beat all-comers in the local area.

NEWCOMERS TO BIRMINGHAM BASEBALL. An American team and a Canadian team are now in the Birmingham Baseball League, and will play their first games this week-end. Results of games played during last week-end were: Allen’s Cross 5, B.C.T. 13; Daytona 9, Pirates 14.[20]

Kilian’s Americans made their debut in the Midlands Baseball Association’s Birmingham (AKA Midlands) League in May 1943 (one month before their debut in the military league). As I have written elsewhere, the league had been running with only one year’s interruption due to wartime regulations since 1934. It was the creation of local personalities Albert D. Kelso (1888–1980), the New York-born managing director of Durex Abrasives, the British subsidiary of an American concern, and ‘Uncle’ Joe Biddle (1880–1967), born locally, but, rather confusingly raised in Birmingham, Alabama, who, although over 60, was still turning out every week as the catcher for the Pirates.

In its 1943 season, the Midlands League comprised the Americans (10th Replacement Depot), the Canadians (Canadian Army), Durex, Daytona, Pirates, Allens’ Cross, High Duty Alloys (H.D.A.), Turner Bros, Coughton Tools, and Birmingham City Transport (B.C.T., aka Birmingham Trams).[21]

Kilian’s Americans swept all before them, winning every game. All team members, and presumably Kilian too, received their own silver cup in recognition of their achievement. Joe Biddle’s Pirates came second, winning 11 games and losing 6. Collectively, the teams in the league were reported to have played 90 league games and a further 50 exhibition or charity games.[22]

So the 1943 baseball season had seen notable successes for Kilian and his Americans, topping two leagues and appearing in the ETO World Series as one of the Top 20 U.S. military baseball teams in the country. The following year, 1944, with its massive upsurge in American troop numbers arriving in the country in preparation for the D-Day landings, would provide Kilian with a much deeper pool of players from which to draw. His goal, of course, was to acquire a major leaguer. In May of 1944, he did just that.

Johnny Cooney’s timely single with the bases filled and none out in the last of the 17th, gave the Braves a 4–3 victory over the Cubs in the majors’ longest game of the season. Cooney’s clout, which tallied Al Roberge from third, dissolved a deadlock which had lasted for nine stanzas.[23]

Second-baseman Al ‘Skippy’ Roberge (1917–1993) played three seasons of baseball with the Boston Braves pre- and post-war; he could perhaps have played more if not for injuries sustained in combat in February 1945. He finished his career in the minors.[24] He was joined in the 1944 10th Replacement Depot baseball team by a host of minor-leaguers (Marvin Crater, Howard Davis, Howard Hinds, Jack Yarnell), and semi-pro players like John Chopick.[25] All of these men were expected to deliver the results that Kilian demanded while they were on the team. A snapshot of the team as it was in June 1944 is provided by the following team list.

Americans.—Pvt. Steve Chorney, Center Field (Allen’s Town, Pennsylvania); Sgt. Jack Yarnell, Left Field (Lockhaven, Pennsylvania); Cpl. Harold Hinds, 1st Base (Holloway, Ohio); Pvt. Walter Spratford, Right Field (Milltown, NJ); Sgt. John Kapinos, Short Stop (Norwich, Connecticut); Pvt. Albert Roberge, 2nd Base (Boston, Massachusetts); Pvt. M[a]rvin Crater, Catcher (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania); Cpl. Charles Koenig, 3rd Base (Jackson, Mississippi); Pvt. Ronald Fraze [Leonard W. Frase?], Pitcher (Youngstown, Ohio); Subs: Pvt. Martin Phillips, Infield (Morristown, Pennsylvania); Cpl. Howard Davis (Glassborough, New Jersey). Officer in Charge: Lt. Arthur F. Horan (New York City, New York).[26]

As well as returning to play in the Midlands League, the 1944 10th Replacement Depot team was sent on a tour of England, travelling as far south as Bristol to play exhibition matches.[27] In the Midlands League, they squared off against many of the same teams they had faced the previous season, although gone were Birmingham Trams and Turner Bros, replaced by a second H.D.A. team, the H.D.A. Cardinals. One additional change was that they were now playing under the 10th Replacement Depot name; the full list was the Pirates, Canadians, 10th Replacement Depot, Daytona, H.D.A. Cardinals, H.D.A., Allens’ Cross, Coughton Tools, and Durex. In a sign of growing interest in the game in the area, the association also ran a junior league that year, comprising Allens’ Cross, Daytona, Bulldogs, Lucas Mohawks, and Tigers.[28]

There was also a change to the format of the championship, with the top four teams at the end of the season squaring off against each other for the Victory Cup. The 10th again swept all before it, ending the season undefeated before going on to beat second-place Pirates 13–0 in the final of the Victory Cup.[29]

Kilian and the 10th Replacement Depot team were presented with their prizes at a gala evening in October 1944. This was the same month that Kilian received his Legion of Merit. Two months later, he was presented, on behalf of the 10th Replacement Depot, with the Freedom of the City of Lichfield in a day of ceremonies that included a march past by troops from the camp. He was at the height of his success.[30]

No. 1 pitcher on the 10th Replacement Depot baseball team in England in Lieut. Ed Tuleya, former Penn State hurler. The team of which the York portside is the ace has been beaten only once in 22 starts.[31]

By the time the 10th Replacement Depot baseball team began its third season in England, the purpose of the depot had done an almost full 180; whereas once it was primarily tasked with funneling troops from the US to Europe, now, its main job was to send them back the other way. Lieutenant Ed Tuleya, the team’s lead pitcher for the 1945 season, was one example of this. The former Penn State hurler had been wounded landing on Omaha Beach the day after D-Day and was now waiting his turn to be shipped back home, his promised tryout with the St Louis Browns on his return a shattered dream.[32] As the above quote hints, the team was once more all-conquering in the Midland League, which, in 1945, comprised the Americans (10th Replacement Depot), the Canadians, Allens’ Cross, Daytona, Lucas, Pirates, H.D.A., and B.C.T.[33] Notable by its absence was Durex, the company and team that had started it all back in 1934. From the available data, admittedly sparse, 1944 was the last year in which Durex involved itself in baseball in Birmingham, although its recreation section would continue to be active in other sports such as Association Football. The team had long relied on its Canadian and American players, and it may well be that attrition had robbed it of these by 1945; however, this is speculation.

Although Kilian may have gained some satisfaction from this third straight League and second straight Victory Cup win, in truth, by the end of the 1945 baseball season, he had other things on his mind. Because the summer of that year was when the Stars and Stripes newspaper finally said in print something that GIs had been saying in private for at least the last year: there was something rotten in the 10th Replacement Depot, and James A. Kilian stood at the heart of it.

I have also seen guards beat and lash fellows with naked bodies in the latrine, which was so cold that toilet seats had a layer of ice on them. Blood could be seen on the walls of the latrine at any time. At all times there was more than one guard applying torture…The guards—often drunk—said they had been given authority by their CO.[34]

Kilian and Lichfield were a byword for brutality in the ETO by the summer of 1945, and the violence was not just directed at prisoners in the guardhouse, men recovering from wounds assigned to the depot before being sent to new units reported that the abuse was general and directed toward making being sent to the frontline preferable to staying at the depot.[35] Tellingly, Kilian’s Legion of Merit citation made specific mention of his success in greatly reducing the number of men going AWOL from the depot;[36] it was clear to everyone in the ETO this was done by making it known what treatment men caught overstaying their 48-hour passes could expect in the Lichfield guardhouse. Black soldiers were made to crawl on all fours and bark like dogs; guards jabbed the wounds of Purple-Heart recipients with truncheons; and there were even rumours of men dying of the abuse.[37]

Within a week of the first letter reporting the abuse appearing in Stars and Stripes, five officers and eight enlisted men at the depot had been relieved of duty following an initial investigation that substantiated the claims of torture.[38]

In a chilling echo of the defences offered in the Nuremberg and Tokyo War Trials—a fact not lost on observers[39]—Kilian and the officer in charge of the guardhouse, Provost Marshal Major Richard LoBuono, denied all knowledge of the abuse carried out by the men under their command, while, the lower ranks claimed they were only following the orders of the officers above them.

At first, only enlisted men were brought to court-martial. This took place in December of 1945. The men were convicted and received dishonourable discharges and prison sentences, the longest of which was 3 years of hard labour (for Sergeant Judson Smith). However, the evidence of culpability by senior officers presented at the court-martial was so overwhelming and the public outcry that greeted it so great that, in early 1946, in Bad Nauheim in Germany, Killian and three other officers, LoBuono and Lieutenants Granville Cubage and Leonard Ennis, found themselves, one after the other, in the dock. Kilian’s turn came in May 1946.

The proceedings were at times explosive, and the chief prosecutor, Earl Carroll, became so disgusted at the trial panel’s refusal to allow more serious charges to be brought against Kilian (including witness tampering) that he resigned. However, in the end, the panel of judges took only two hours to acquit Kilian of the more serious charges, aiding and abetting the abuse, and convict him instead of the lesser charge of permitting conditions that led to the abuse (by failing to properly oversee the actions of his subordinates). In common with the other three officers, and in contrast to the fate of the convicted enlisted men, his only punishment was to be fined the equivalent of one month’s pay and handed an official reprimand.[40]

Lieutenant-Colonel James Alphonse Kilian was at best an egomaniac and at worst a sadistic monster, a man who, depending on whom you ask, either instigated, turned a blind eye to, or remained too self-absorbed to notice the systematic torture of replacements, patients, and military prisoners at the hands of men under his command. The U.S. Military chose to take the latter view, handing Kilian a smack on the wrist at the close of his 1946 court-martial. At least, that was the reason that the court-martial panel gave for acquitting him of the more serious charges that he faced. However, there may have been other forces at work.

There was a prevailing view that guardhouses were supposed to be unforgiving places, particularly in wartime—given a choice between the guardhouse and the frontline, soldiers were supposed to choose the frontline. And then, there was the timing: The Second World War might be over but a new confrontation was brewing. In Churchill’s famous words, delivered between the end of the first Litchfield court-martial and the start of Kilian’s trial, ‘From Stettin in the Baltic, to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain [had] descended across the continent,’; the U.S. wanted to put the Second World War behind it and focus on this new threat. It needed James Alphonse Kilian and the problems he brought with him to just go away.

Kilian, conversely, continued to maintain his innocence after his court-martial and even brought—unsuccessful—actions against the War Department for refusing to ratify his promotion to full Colonel and a publisher for publishing a book by Earl Carroll in which the former prosecutor repeated his assertions that Kilian ordered the abuse. Kilian was honorably discharged from the Army in 1951 and died in 1958. His wife successfully applied for him to be interred in Arlington National Cemetery.[41]

The final postscript is this: Back in England, despite everything that had come out in the Lichfield trials, Kilian continued to be remembered fondly in some quarters. In 1945, Walsall had planned to present Kilian with a silver tureen in appreciation of everything he had done for the cause of Anglo-American friendship; when charges were brought against him, the tureen was ‘locked in the strongroom of Walsall’s Town Hall’. In 1952, a committee established to deal with unfinished business left behind after the war voted to go ahead with the presentation, even extending an invitation to Kilian to receive it in person, an invitation that Kilian is said to have accepted. This was greeted with horror by some, and the tureen gained the nickname ‘Walsall’s silver skeleton’. In the event, the tureen was still unclaimed six years later, when Kilian died. So, perhaps wiser heads prevailed.[42]

The skeleton was returned to the closet.

Jamie Barras, June 2025

Notes

[1] Zipp Newman, ‘Dusting ‘Em Off’ column, Birmingham News (Birmingham, AL), 25 July 1944.  Quoting a letter from ‘Uncle Joe Biddle’ in Birmingham, England.

[2] Kilian’s official rank was Lieutenant Colonel, but he was given the acting rank of Colonel when he took command of the replacement depot. For much of the information on Kilian, I rely on the following sources:

1.        Nino Monea, ‘The Beast of Lichfield Colonel James A. Kilian and the Infamous 10th Reinforcement Depot’ The Army lawyer, 2019, 20.

2.        John A. Haymond. "Disparate Justice: The 1946 Lichfield Courts-Martial." John A. Haymond - Accessed 6/16/2025. https://www.historynet.com/disparate-justice-the-1946-lichfield-courts-martial/

[3] The topic of baseball in the European Theater of Operations (ETO) during World War Two is a large one that has already been covered by authors far more expert in the game than I, chief among them Gary Bedingfield. A database of Gary’s work alongside a list of his publications in this area can be found at his Baseball in Wartime website: https://www.baseballinwartime.com/index.htm, accessed 16 June 2025.

[4] Ross Kendrick: Joss Chetwynd, ‘Ross Kendrick’, chapter in ‘Nine Aces and a Joker’, ed. Joe Gray (London: Fineleaf Editions, 2012), 27–36; Skippy Roberge: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/robersk02.shtml, https://www.baseballinwartime.com/player_biographies/roberge_skippy.htm. Accessed 16 June 2025.

[5] Interview with Ross Kendrick, conducted by William Morgan, 25 October 1971, transcript available at: https://www.projectcobb.org.uk/artefacts/1971-interviews.pdf, accessed 16 June 2025.

[6] ‘Capt. Kilian Assigned Here, Omaha Morning Bee (Omaha, NE), 5 November 1923.

[7] Kilian took command of the 10th Replacement Depot on 11 November 1942. This information is included in the citation for Legion of Merit that he was awarded two years later: ‘Signal Honour for Colonel James A. Kilian’, Lichfield Mercury, 6 October 1944.

[8] ‘Major Kilian Dies Aboard Ship’, San Francisco call (San Francisco, CA), 30 August 1913.

[9] This account of Kilian’s early career can be assembled from his Army records: U.S., Select Military Registers, 1862-1985. Kilian gives his name as Alphonse J Kilian on his Missouri National Guard sign-up papers, 1912: Missouri, U.S. Pre-World War II Adjutant General Enlistment Contracts, 1900-1941, ancestry.co.uk, Ancestry.com Inc. Operations, accessed 16 June 2025.

[10] Excerpt of a V-Mail letter by Lt B. S. Bohland, 10th Replacement Depot, dated 18 January 1944. Author’s personal collection.

[11] See Note 2 above.

[12] See Note 7 above.

[13] Family stays: ‘Legion of Merit: High Award for Colonel James A. Kilian’, Birmingham Mail, 3 October 1944. Information on other aspects of the Special Services Programme can be gleaned from articles and public notices in local newspapers announcing local events and the participation of elements of the 10th Replacement Depot (‘by kind permission of Colonel J.A. Kilian’); see, for example, in the case of the dance band, ‘Dance for Youth Centre’, Tamworth Herald, 22 April 1944. Bill Kingsland ETO Champion and 10th Replacement Depot: ‘Public Notices’, Lichfield Mercury, 6 August 1943, ‘“Salute the Soldier” Campaign’, Lichfield Mercury, 7 July 1944. As an aside: Joe Louis visited the camp during his 1944 tour of U.S. Army camps: ‘Rugelians Stayed at Home’, Rugeley Times, 3 June 1944; ‘Joe Louis Explains’, Liverpool Echo, 11 April 1944.

[14] ‘Public Notices’, Walsall Observer, 14 August 1943.

[15] Forthcoming; this will be Part Two of the Health, Friendship, and Baseball series.

[16] For a full account of the 1943 baseball season in the ETO see: Gary Bedingfield, ‘Somewhere in England: Baseball in the European Theater During 1943’, Baseball in Wartime Newsletter Special Edition, 2016, 8, no. 42; available at: https://www.baseballinwartime.com/BIWNewsletterVol8No42Spring2016.pdf, accessed 17 June 2025. Kilian’s personality can be judged from the fact that while he called his team ‘The Americans’, other teams in the ETO Championship had names like ‘Yanks’, ‘Clowns’, ‘Buccaneers’, ‘Red Devils’, ‘Mustangs’, etc.

[17] The game in front of the Duchess of Kent took place on 18 September 1943: ‘Public Notices’, Walsall Observer, 18 September 1943. There is a photograph of Kilian looking very pleased with himself sitting next to the Duchess of Kent as one of the players explains the game to her that was published in U.S. newspapers, for example, ‘The Doughboy and the Duchess’ Edwardsville intelligencer, 13 October 1943. A copy of this photo is in the author’s collection. The team rosters for both ‘The Americans’ and ‘The Easterners’ are provided for an earlier game in the same series: ‘Public Notices’, Walsall Observer, 21 August 1943. The player in the press photo is S/Sgt Thomas J McGoldrick (1917—1963) of Savanna, Illinois, known as Dynamite (or Midget) McGoldrick, he was only 5 ft 2 in in height, but played baseball, football, and basketball all throughout high school. U.S., World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946, U.S., School Yearbooks, 1900-2016, ancestry.co.uk, Ancestry.com Inc. Operations, accessed 18 June 2025. ‘Savanna Wins over Mt Carroll’, Freeport Journal Standard, 20 October 1934.

[18] See Note 17 above, third reference. The given names in [] are taken from a later team list: ‘Public Notices’, Walsall Observer, 22 April 1944.

[19] There was an [Edward] Walter Kocur of East Chicago, Indiana, who played one season with the minor league Fulton Lookouts: https://www.statscrew.com/minorbaseball/roster/t-fl11650/y-1955, accessed 17 June 2025. However, he was in the Navy; ‘our’ Kocur is another of the many Kocurs from East Chicago who served. See, for example, Joseph Antony Kocur, Indiana. Draft Registrations 1940–1947, ancestry.co.uk, Ancestry.com Inc. Operations, accessed 17 June 2025.

[20] ‘Newcomers to Birmingham Baseball’, Evening Dispatch (Birmingham), 26 May 1943.

[21] This list can be assembled from fixtures and results printed in local newspapers for the 1943 season. For example, ‘Baseball Results’, Birmingham Gazette, 3 May 1943; ‘Baseball Again’, Evening Dispatch (Birmingham), 30 April 1943; ‘Baseball Fixtures’, Evening Dispatch (Birmingham), 9 July 1943.

[22] For results, see Note 1 above. For number of games played, see: ‘Baseball’, Birmingham Post, 15 February 1944.

[23] ‘Newcomers to Birmingham Baseball’, Evening Dispatch (Birmingham), 26 May 1943.

[24] See Note 4, final reference.

[25] See entry for 10th Replacement Depot https://www.baseballinwartime.com/service_teams/service_teams.htm, accessed 17 June 2025. There is a list of the 10th Replacement Depot ‘Americans’ team of 1944 here: ‘Public Notices’, Walsall Observer, 3 June 1944. The latter was an exhibition match against ‘the Easterners’ at the same ground as the September 1943 game watched by the Duchess of Kent.

[26] See Note 25 above, second reference.

[27] See: https://www.baseballinwartime.com/player_biographies/chopick_john.htm, accessed17June 2025.

[28] See Note 1 above.

[29] Victory Cup competition format: ‘Baseball Cup’, Birmingham Daily Gazette, 31 August 1944. Final: ‘Midland Baseball Cup’, Evening Dispatch, 11 September 1944.

[30] Cup Presentation: ‘Baseball Trophies’, Birmingham Daily Gazette, 17 October 1944. For Legion of Merit, see Note 13 above, first reference. Freedom of the City of Lichfield: ‘Lichfield Honours Our American Allies’, Lichfield Mercury, 22 December 1944.

[31] ‘Baseball’, Mercury (Pottstown, Pennsylvania), 25 October 1945.

[32] James McClure, ‘The Tuleyas of York and Millersville, Pa.: A Love Story not Baseball and Hand Grenades’, York Daily Record (Pennsylvania), 14 February 2008. Available here: https://eu.ydr.com/story/news/history/blogs/york-town-square/2008/02/14/the-tuleyas-a-love-story-not-b/31683457/, accessed 17 June 2025.

[33] This list was assembled from fixture lists and results for the 1945 season, for example: ‘In Brief’, Evening Dispatch, 8 June 1945. A the start of the season, it was thought ony six teams would be available (Americans, Canadians, Pirates, Lucas, H.D.A., and Daytona): ‘Baseball Activities’, Birmingham Daily Gazette, 14 April 1945.

[34] ‘Soldier Makes Torture Charge in Army Newspaper’, Springfield weekly Republican (Springfield, Mass), 26 July 1945. The quote is taken from a letter published in the Stars and Stripes newspaper.

[35] Irvin Herowitz, Cabbages and Kings Column, Harvard Crimson, 21 June 1946; available here: https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1946/6/21/cabbages-and-kings-peto-veterans-who/, accessed 18 June 2025.

[36] See Note 7 above.

[37] See Monea, Note 2, first reference, and Note 35, above.

[38] ‘Army Takes Action on Beating Reports’, Washington daily news (Washington, DC), 26 July 1945.

[39] See editorial in the Washington Post quoted by Haymond, Note 2 above, second reference.

[40] This account was assembled from Monea and Raymond, Note 2, above.

[41] https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/17878162/james-alphonse-kilian, accessed 18 June 2025.

[42] ‘Walsall Invites Cruelty Colonel’, Birmingham Daily Post, 24 January 1952; ‘Silver Skeleton Dispute Revived’, Birmingham Daily Post, 21 March 1958.