It has been a while since I have added any casualties of war signatures. I will have several other posts to add, but I wanted to start with this one. I picked up two autograph sheets from a late 1930's NCAA boxing championship. The seller had 1940, but it would not be possible as one of the people below had already graduated and played in the NFL.
Ted Kara – He competed in boxing at the 1936 Olympics. At the University of Idaho he won 3 NCAA boxing championships. He enlisted in the US Army Air Corps. He was a radioman on a plane when it was lost over the Pacific February, 1944. The signature below his is his brother Frank. He was also an NCAA boxing champ. The first brothers to do this.
Keith Birlem – He was a star quarterback at San Jose State. His coach was 1924 Olympic gold medalist in rugby, Dudley DeGroot. He was an all around athlete, also competing in swimming and boxing. Birlem would play 9 games in the NFL in 1939, 6 for the Chicago Cardinals and 3 for the Washington Redskins. He enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps at the outbreak of WWII. He rose to the rank of Major and in November, 1943 he was appointed commander of the 508th Bombardment Squadron, 351st Bomber Group. His squadron arrived in England in April, 1944 with their first combat mission slated for May 14. He got an early trial by fire on his 28th birthday, May 4, 1944. He flew as co-pilot on the ‘Vicious Virgin’, part of the 427th Bombardment Squadron, 303rd Bomber Group. They flew a mission to bomb the former GM and Ford Auto plants in Antwerp, Belgium. They were attacked by German aircraft, but arrived safely back in England. The lead plane at assembly that day was the B-17F ‘Son’ co-piloted by Billy Southworth, Jr. , former minor league baseball player, son of the Hall of Famer of the same name and the first pro ball player to enlist in the armed forces prior to WWII. There was an observer in the B-17F ‘8 Ball MKII’, Capt. Clarke Gable. He manned the radio room gun for the raid. He had a cameraman with him who filmed much of the raid and subsequent air battle. The film was used in the movie ‘Combat America’. Three days later, May 7, 1943, Birlem went on a training flight from the air base at Polebrook, Northhamptonshire, England. Another B-17 was also on a training mission that day. Both planes collided and all 20 men were killed. The signature below his is James ‘Monk’ Moscrip who played for the Detroit Lions 1939-1940
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Last edited by Michael B; 07-02-2019 at 09:00 AM.
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07-01-2019, 11:13 PM
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