ARMY & NAVY: Going Higher

ARMY & NAVY

The long-drawn-out, embarrassed “Lichfield trials” at last produced the conviction of an officer. Before the court at Bad Nauheim, Lieut. Granville Cubage of Oklahoma City, accused of ordering “cruel and unusual” punishments on G.I. prisoners at the Lichneld Reinforcement Depot, had pleaded that higher officers were to blame. The court-martial fined him $250 and issued a reprimand. The wrist-slapping indicated that the heat was to be turned on the higher-ups.

Colonel James A. Kilian, former Lichfield commandant and the first higher-up arraigned, threw the court into uproar with contentious motions. He had appealed to President Truman for an inquiry into the trials. He called General Joseph T. McNarney, the Army’s boss in Europe, to the stand. Higher-ups were going to be hard to get.