PFC Leonidas Kirkland (1915 – December 5th, 1944)
45th ID, 180th Reg, 2nd Batt., Co. G
by Ryan Ruedlinger and Alex Anderson
Early Life
Leonidas Kirkland was born in 1915 in Abbeville, AL.1 Both of his parents, William W. Kirkland and Lucy Kirkland (née Summerford), lived their entire lives in Henry County, AL.2 From a young age, Leonidas’ family worked on a rented farm, eventually earning enough to purchase the property outright sometime in the 1930s.3 Leonidas, the oldest of his siblings, grew up with his sister Lena Doris (1918) and brothers Jack (1921), Charity William (1927), and James (1934).4 In his youth, Leonidas completed grammar school. His formal education did not extend any further, and by age fifteen, Leonidas worked on the family farm, his primary occupation over the next decade.5
In February 1940, Leonidas married Hattie Margaret Steinbaugh of Osceola County, Florida.6 Margaret, born in Kansas in 1918, had completed all four years of high school.7 He and Margaret settled in Apopka, FL, where he took a job at the Consumer’s Lumber and Veneer Company. 8 Proving vital to the early twentieth-century agriculture industry in central Florida, Consumer’s Lumber and Veneer provided the specialized crates required for shipping local produce, including what Orlando was famous for – citrus.9 In the early 1940s, Leonidas also worked as a member of the Kissimmee Air Base Fire Department, leading up to his enlistment.10 Then, in August 1941, just a few months before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Leonidas’ brother Jack enlisted in the Marine Corps.11
In the midst of these busy years, Leonidas and Margaret began building a family of their own. They were blessed with three children in four years. The couple welcomed their first son, William L., in 1941, and likely named him in honor of Leonidas’ father, William W. Kirkland. In 1942, Leonidas and Margaret’s family continued to grow; they welcomed their second son, Richard, and in 1944, their daughter, Janice, as captured in the picture here, likely dating right before Leonidas left for the US Amy.12
Military Service
In early 1944, Leonidas was drafted into service, officially beginning his Army enlistment on 13 January. He entered Camp Blanding, FL, which by 1943 had grown into one of the largest Infantry Replacement Training Centers (IRTC) in the US. The base trained over 800,000 men, including nine infantry units and over 165,000 men as part of the IRTC program by the end of the war.13 Leonidas completed his initial basic combat training there before being assigned to Company G in the 180th Infantry Regiment of the 45th Infantry Division (ID), known as the “Thunderbirds.”14 On July 5, Leonidas was transferred to Fort Meade, MD, where he awaited his ticket to join his unit in Europe. One month later, on August 5, Leonidas boarded an aircraft set for Italy, where he joined the Allied war in Europe.15
Leonidas arrived in Naples, Italy, on 15 August, as part of the replacement troops.16 In the early months of US operations in Europe in 1943, the Thunderbirds played a vital role in the campaigns to secure Sicily and southern Italy from Salerno to Rome.17 By the time Leonidas reached Europe, the 180th had already proven its grit and daring in battle, but also suffered heavy casualties. As part of the Army’s replacement program, Leonidas helped reinforce its ranks after the bloody fight to liberate Italy. Upon arrival, he likely began training with his comrades–other replacements and the men who had seen significant fighting in Italy–in preparation for Operation Dragoon, the Allied push into southern France. Major General Alexander Patch’s Seventh Army led Operation Dragoon, the second Allied assault into France, just two months after Operation Overlord, which began on June 4, 1944, on the shores of Normandy. Like Overlord, Dragoon combined airborne and amphibious tactics to establish a foothold in the country, this time attacking the French Riviera along the Mediterranean Sea.18
The Seventh Army, which included Leonidas’ 180th Regiment, fought its way north, intent on liberating France from its German occupiers. The movement of the 180th in France began on the southern coast in the quaint seaside town of St. Maxime. The regiment quickly advanced to meet with their airborne counterparts ten miles (sixteen kilometers) inland near the commune of Vidauban. Together, the battalions of the 180th built momentum as they battled north through Gap and Grenoble, and on towards Bourg-en-Bresse, in only a few short weeks.19
The Thunderbirds crossed two major rivers through their advance, first the Durance River and later the Doubs. River crossings presented significant hazards for many reasons. Not only did combatants blow up bridges to prevent enemy movement, but bridge crossings also required large formations by restricting movement and limiting defenses against an enemy attack. Nevertheless, by September 15, just one month after landing in France, the 180th had advanced to the town of Villersexel near the foot of the treacherous Vosges Mountains.20 It is unclear when exactly Leonidas linked in with his unit and joined the frenzied campaign to push the German military out of France. He likely joined during this period, first experiencing the hectic and brutal close combat that permeated the urban battles he continued to face.
By September 21, the 180th launched an attack to liberate the city of Epinal, marking the start of the Allies’ difficult campaign into the heavily defended Vosges. Their first obstacle, the broad Moselle River, separated the Allies from the heart of Epinal. In their retreat, German forces destroyed the bridges that crossed the eighty-foot (Twenty-four-meter) wide river, preventing the Allies’ access into the city. Undeterred, companies of the 45th ID spent days prodding along the banks of the Moselle, searching for ideal locations to cross between the sectors of German machine gun emplacements. At midday, September 23, Leonidas and Company G crossed the swift moving Moselle, attacking south from the town of Golbey. Through enemy machine gun fire and mortar shells, the men of the 180th scaled the steep river embankments and continued the fight east across the city. The following day, after repelling a fierce German counterattack, Epinal stood battle-scarred but liberated thanks to the bold actions of the 180th Regiment.21
Capitalizing on the momentum, Leonidas and the troops of the 45th ID moved to take Girmont to the north and Mossoux to the south within the same day. The German forces offered no resistance as they scrambled to retreat east, deeper into the Vosges Mountains.22 After successfully securing the area around Epinal, the 45th ID pursued the German army into the perilous mountain terrain, where troops met heavy enemy resistance and disastrous weather conditions.23 Progress slowed significantly as the Thunderbirds fought on. In the first month of the campaign across southern France in August 1944, the Allies covered 300 miles (483 kilometers); over the twenty-four days in the Vosges in September, they had advanced only ten miles (sixteen kilometers).24
The front lines stalled as the 180th approached the Mortagne River in a hilly and densely forested area between Rambervillers and Grandvilliers. On October 18, Leonisda’s Company G pushed in this sector against strong resistance.25 At some point during the intense fighting, German artillery struck Leonidas, leaving him with shrapnel wounds to his forehead and chest.26
Leonidas recovered from his injuries and returned to the front on November 5, rejoining the Division’s effort to take the town of Raon l’Étape.27 Leonidas and his regiment, finally relieved by adjacent units, moved to a secure area behind the lines of the Seventh Army. In total, the Regiment had sustained eighty-six consecutive days of combat. Before being recalled to the front lines, the men enjoyed a well-earned rest from November 10 to 22.
On their return, the 180th found themselves tasked to advance on German forces holding Alsace, France’s easternmost region between the Vosges Mountains and the Rhine River. The unit traversed the Saverne Gap through the Vosges Mountains, providing a northern defensive line for Allied forces working to purge the German Army from Strasbourg, the capital of the region along the Rhine River. By late November, the Thunderbirds continued their push north, systematically clearing the towns and villages of the Northern Alsace Plain and the foothills of the Vosges.28 After six days, on November 28, the men of the 45th entered the German held town of Uhrwiller to the north. Over two days of fighting, they liberated Uhrwiller before quickly pressing on towards the village of Zinswiller.29 In the following months, Uhrwiller and the surrounding sectors fell back to the Germans in a chaotic ebb and flow of battle lines, before ultimately returning to Allied control.30
Upon arrival, the 45th ID staged its troops on the high ground on the outskirts of the village, utilizing the terrain for cover. In the early days of that cold December, the battle-hardened unit began its assault on Zinswiller from the western hills outside the village. The heavily defended village proved difficult to penetrate, with roadblocks and hazardous traps limiting every avenue of approach. It took ten days of intensive fighting before the Allies managed to drive the German forces out and claim the town.31 On December 5, in the midst of the assault, German artillery struck Leonidas for the second time; this time, shrapnel penetrated his thigh. He was rushed to the hospital but died of his wounds that same day.32
Legacy
In the months following Leonidas’ death, the soldiers of the mighty 180th Infantry played key roles in the assault into Germany. His comrades in the 45th ID continued clearing the village of Zinswiller, before advancing to breach the Maginot line.33 During Operation Nordwind in early January 1945, the division fought defensively along the German border, eventually withdrawing to the Moder River. After a rest period in February, it resumed the offensive in March, pushing through the Siegfried Line. On May 26, 1945, the Regiment crossed the Rhine River, penetrating deep into the Rhineland. One month later, the Allied forces swarmed upon Nuremberg, before pushing south to Munich. This campaign marked the final stretch of combat for the 180th.34
The men of Leonidas’ Company G earned a Presidential Citation for their actions in Europe.35 In total, the Regiment accrued over 1,000 various awards and citations, including the French Croix de Guerre.36 Leonidas Kirkland was awarded the Purple Heart with an Oak Leaf Cluster for his fatal injuries.37 He was initially buried in the temporary cemetery at Hochfelden in Alsace, a site still marked today by a sandstone monument, as seen in the photo. In 1948, the American Battle Monuments Commission relocated the Hochfelden cemetery to Saint-Avold to establish the Lorraine American Cemetery, nearly fifty miles (eighty kilometers) from Zinswiller.38 Leonidas Kirkland now rests there, in Section F, Row 8, Grave 5.39
Leonidas Kirkland was survived by his parents, who lived in Henry County, AL, for the rest of their lives, passing away in 1953 and 1984, respectively.40 His sister, Lena Doris, married and moved with her husband to Palm Beach, FL, where they raised four sons. She passed away in 1977.41 All four Kirkland brothers served their country with honor. Leonidas’ eldest brother, Jack, joined the Marine Corps and served throughout World War II. He was honorably discharged on October 31, 1945, and returned to Abbeville, AL, where he married and lived until his passing in 1993.42 The middle brother, CW, enlisted in the Army on July 11, 1945, merely a month after the Allied victory in Europe.43 After his service, he returned home and remained near the family home in Abbeville until his death in 2005.44 The youngest sibling, James, also enlisted in the Army, serving during the Korean War. He, too, spent his later years in Abbeville, naming his oldest son Michael Leonidas, likely to honor his late brother. James passed away there in 2005.45
Leonidas was also survived by his wife and his three children. His widow, Margaret Hattie Kirkland, remarried in 1951 to Robert Lloyd Burton, who was stationed at the Orlando Air Force Base.46 Burton served over twenty years in the US military, starting as a Private First Class in the US Marine Corps. He then had a career in the Air Force, where he rose to the rank of Technical Sergeant.47 Margaret lived to the age of ninety-five, passing away in 2013. At the time of her death, William, the oldest son, resided in Winnfield, LA, Richard, their middle son, in Round Rock, TX, and their daughter, Janice, lived close to her mother, in Gonzales, LA. By then, Leonidas’s legacy had grown to include nine grandchildren.48
1 “1920 U.S. Census,” database, ancestry.com, (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/6061/records/1003887?tid=57380971&pid=310012054266&ssrc=pt: accessed April 1, 2025), entry for Leonidas Kirkland.
2 “1900 U.S. Census,” database, ancestry.com, (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/7602/records/48127772?tid=57380971&pid=310012054265&ssrc=pt: accessed April 1, 2025), entry for W W Kirkland; “1900 U.S. Census,” database, ancestry.com, (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/7602/records/48131489?tid=57380971&pid=32540818806&ssrc=pt: accessed April 1, 2025), entry for Lucy L Summerford.
3 “1920 U.S. Census,” database, ancestry.com, (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/6061/records/1003885: accessed April 1, 2025), entry for William W Kirkland and family; “1940 U.S. Census,” database, ancestry.com, (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2442/records/63945511: accessed April 1, 2025), entry for Will Kirstand [Kirkland] and family. The 1920 Federal Census shows that the family farm was rented at the time; by the 1940 Census, records show that the Kirkland family owned the property.
4 According to Charity William’s obituary, he was preceded in death by two sisters. However, census records list only one sister, Lena Doris. Interestingly, on Leonidas’s father’s World War I draft registration card dated June 1914, William stated that he had a wife and one child. This suggests that the Kirkland family likely had an earlier daughter who died at a very young age and may not have appeared in later records. “U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918” database, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/6482/images/005146836_04392: accessed April 15, 2025), entry for William Wilson Kirkland; (“1930 U.S. Census,” database, ancestry.com, (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/6224/records/119781064: accessed April 1, 2025), entry for W W Kirkland and family; “Obituaries, C.W. Kirkland,” Abbeville Herald (Abbeville, Alabama), December 1, 2005, newspaper.com (accessed May 16, 2005); “1940 U.S. Census,” database, ancestry.com. Handwritten census records variously spell “Lena” as “Lana,” “Lenoh,” or “Lenah.” In official records, Lena often used her middle name, “Doris.”
5 “U.S., World War II Army Enlistment Records,” database, fold3.com, (https://www.fold3.com/record/88464189/leonidas-kirkland-us-wwii-army-enlistment-records-1938-1946: accessed November 8th, 2022), entry for Leonidas Kirkland, 34910653; “1940 U.S. Census,” database, ancestry.com, (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2442/records/63945518?tid=&pid=&queryId=e2a980bf-a111-4d32-939a-01e0bc57e163&_phsrc=qFr274&_phstart=successSource: accessed April 2, 2025), entry for Leonidas Kirstand [Kirkland].
6 “Florida, U.S., County Marriage Records,” database, ancestry.com, (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/61369/records/663588?tid=&pid=&queryId=3fbbb1ab-9f1b-46ef-b6ae-6e64360ccd10&_phsrc=qFr277&_phstart=successSource: accessed April 2, 2025), entry for Leonidas Kirkland; “Florida, U.S., State Census, 1935,” database, ancestry.com, (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1506/records/2104759: accessed April 2, 2025), entry for Margret Stinebaugh.
7 “1940 United States Federal Census,” database, ancestry.com, entry for Margaret Kirstand [Kirkland].
8 “U.S., WWII Draft Cards Young Men,” database, ancestry.com, (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2238/records/12755727:
accessed April 2, 2025), entry for Leonidas Kirkland.
9 “The History of Apopka,” The Apopka Museum, https://theapopkamuseum.com/history-of-apopka/, accessed April 17, 2025.
10 “Leonidas Kirkland Killed In Action In France,” Abbeville Herald (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/61843/records/13362838: accessed April 2, 2025).
11 “U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs BIRLS Death Files” database, ancestry.com, (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2441/records/10753716: accessed April 2, 2025), entry for Jack Kirkland.
12 Descendants posted this lovely photograph of the Kirkland family to both ancestry and Find A Grave. One indicated that it could be used for non-commercial purposes. We thank them for making it available to us, as it is such an important element of this story. “Announcement,” Abbeville Herald, (Abbeville, Alabama), June 25, 1942, page 1, Newspaper.com (accessed: May 16, 2025); “1950 United States Federal Census,” database, ancestry.com, (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/62308/records/80881103: accessed April 2, 2025), entry for H Margaret Kirkland and family.
13 George E. Cressman Jr., “Camp Blanding Station Hospital in the War Years,” The Florida Historical Quarterly, Spring 2015, vol. 93.4, 554 and George E. Cressman, Jr., “Camp Blanding in World War II: The Early Years,” Florida Historical Quarterly, vol. 97, No. 1, 68. According to Cressman, the 1st, 29th, 30th, 31st, 35th, 43rd, 63rd, 66th, and 79th, trained at Camp Blanding, and the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment activated there.
14 “Army Enlistment Records,” database, fold3.com, entry for Leonidas Kirkland; George A. Fisher, The Story of the 180th Infantry Regiment, (University Park, PA: Penn State University Libraries, 1947), 15, accessed April 2, 2025 https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=pst.000032560855&seq=15. Unit nomenclature such as “Infantry Division” and “Infantry Regiment” are commonly abbreviated as “ID” and “IR,” respectively. Among servicemembers, veterans, and military historians, regiments are often shortened to the number designation only (180th, 509th, etc.). This biography will include both applications of these unit shorthand conventions.
15 “Leonidas Kirkland Killed In Action,” Abbeville Herald.
16 “Leonidas Kirkland Killed In Action,” Abbeville Herald.
17 Norbert Salpeter and Carl Salter, “180th Infantry: a regiment of the 45th Infantry Division,” in World War Regimental Histories, (United States Army, 1945), 13-22.
18 Cameron Zinsou, “Forgotten Fights: Operation Dragoon and the Decline of the Anglo-American Alliance,” The National WWII Museum, August 17, 2020, https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/operation-dragoon-anglo-american-alliance: accessed April 2, 2025.
19 Salpeter, “180th Infantry,” 25.
20 Salpeter, “180th Infantry,” 25.
21 Fisher, The Story of the 180th, 261-262.
22 Darrell Bishop, “Through the Frozen Mountains,” 48, https://shareok.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/546d7770-11c0-48d7-bd4f-ec909f382cb2/content.
23 Salpeter, “180th Infantry,” 28.
24 Jeffrey J. Clark and Robert R. Smith, Riviera To The Rhine (Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, United States Army, 1993), 195.
25 Fisher, The Story of the 180th, 281-282.
26 “U.S. WWII Hospital Admission Cards Files”, database, fold3.com, (https://www.fold3.com/record/705563341/kirkland-leonidas-us-wwii-hospital-admission-card-files-1942-1954: accessed April 2, 2025), entry for Leonidas Kirkland, service number 34910653; “Leonidas Kirkland Killed In Action”, Abbeville Herald. He posthumously earned a Purple Heart for his injuries.
27 Bishop, “Through the Frozen Mountains,” 54.
28 Salpeter, “180th Infantry,” 29.
29 Bishop, “Through the Frozen Mountains,” 57.
30 “Uhrwiller Church – 103rd Infantry Division Plaque,” American War Memorials Overseas, https://www.uswarmemorials.org/html/monument_details.php?SiteID=3021&MemID=4138, accessed April 15, 2025.
31 Bishop, “Through the Frozen Mountains,” 58.
32 “U.S. WWII Hospital Admission Card Files,” database, fold3.com, (https://www.fold3.com/record/705563340/kirkland-leonidas-us-wwii-hospital-admission-card-files-1942-1954: accessed April 2, 2025), entry for Leonidas Kirkland, service number 34910653
33 Bishop, “Through the Frozen Mountains,” 58.
34 Salpeter, “180th Infantry,” 33-36.
35 Salpeter, “180th Infantry,” 41.
36 Salpeter, “180th Infantry,” 39.
37 “ Leonidas Kirkland,” American Battle Monument Commission (https://weremember.abmc.gov/#!/details?id=179514 : accessed April 05, 2025), entry for Leonidas Kirkland.
38 “Hochfelden Temporary Cemetery Marker,” American War Memorials Overseas, Inc. (https://www.uswarmemorials.org/html/monument_details.php?SiteID=258&MemID=468 : accessed April 05, 2025).
39 “Headstone Inscription and Interment Records for U.S. Military Cemeteries on Foreign Soil, 1942–1949” database, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/9170/records/34256: accessed April 15.2025) entry for Leonidas Kirkland, service number 34910653.
40 “Alabama, U.S., Deaths and Burials Index,” database, ancestry.com, (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2543/records/1187154?tid=57380971&pid=310012054265&ssrc=pt: accessed April 15, 2025), entry for William Wilson Kirkland; “U.S., Find a Grave Index®,” database, ancestry.com, (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/60525/records/97866778?tid=57380971&pid=32540818806&ssrc=pt: accessed April 15, 2025), entry for Lucy Kirkland.
41 “Armstrong-Kirkland marriage is announced” The Birmingham News (Birmingham, Alabama), August 8, 1937, page 36, newspaper.com, (accessed Mai 16, 2025); “1950 United States Federal Census,” database, ancestry.com, (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/62308/records/80961192?tid=57380971&pid=310028720183&ssrc=pt: accessed April 15, 2025), “Doris K Armstrong” The Palm Beach Post (West Palm Beach, Florida), February 4, 1977, page 40, newspaper.com (accessed May 16, 1925).
42 “News About People…: Kirkland-Riley,” Abbeville Herald, (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/62116/records/91605416: accessed April 2, 2025); “Veteran Affairs BIRLS Death Files” ancestry.com, entry for Jack Kirkland.
43 “U.S., World War II Army Enlistment Records,” database, ancestry.com, (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/8939/records/6650950?tid=57380971&pid=310012054268&ssrc=pt: accessed April 15, 2025), entry for Charity W Kirkland.
44 “U.S., Find a Grave® Index,” database, ancestry.com, (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/60525/records/98228762?ssrc=pt&tid=57380971&pid=310012054268: accessed April 15, 2025), entry for Charity William Kirkland.
45 “Obituaries,” Abbeville Herald, (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/61843/records/847915399?tid=57380971&pid=310012054269&ssrc=pt: accessed April 15, 2025), entry for James Edgar Kirkland.
46 Maragret’s obituary mentioned that she married Robert Llyod Burton in 1949, however the wedding announcement in the Orlando Sentinel and the Florida marriage index both indicate their wedding year as 1951. “Marriage Announced,” The Orlando Sentinel (Orlando, Florida), October 5, 1951, Newspaper.com (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/62116/records/330408571: accessed April 2, 2025); “Florida, U.S., Marriage Indexes,” database, ancestry.com, (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/8784/records/1583052: accessed April 2, 2025), entry for Hattie Margaret Stinebaugh Kirkland.
47 After their mother remarried, the children took the name Burton. “U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs BIRLS Death Files” database, ancestry.com, (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2441/records/8895026: accessed April 2, 2025), entry for Robert Lloyd Burton. “Robert Lloyd Burton,” Find a Grave, accessed May 20, 2025, https://fr.findagrave.com/memorial/72317901/robert-lloyd-burton.
48 “Obituaries, Services, Memorials: Burton, Hattie ‘Margaret’ Stinebaugh,” The Orlando Sentinel, June 23, 2013, page B7, Newspaper.com (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/61843/records/653415926: accessed April 2, 2025).