Topsy McDevitt
| Date and Place of Birth: | Date unknown Chester, PA |
| Date and Place of Death: | October 31, 1918 Base Hospital No. 53, Langres, France |
| Baseball Experience: | Semi-Pro |
| Position: | First Base |
| Rank: | Private |
| Military Unit: | Company B, 1st Engineers US Army |
| Area Served: | France |
John A. “Topsy” McDevitt, son of James and Rose McDevitt, was born in
Chester, Pennsylvania. McDevitt gained prominence in Chester in baseball
and soccer. He played soccer in the County League with the Catholic
Literary Institute team and played first base with Knights of Columbus
and Hamilton in the City League. He also played semi-pro baseball with
Eddystone in the Independent League.
McDevitt worked as a moulder at the Penn-Seabord Steel and Ordnance
Company. He was drafeted by the military on March 6, 1918 and left
Chester for Campe Meade, Maryland. He later served at Camp A.A.
Humphreys, Virginia, and went overseas with Company B, 1st Engineers on
July 14, 1918.
Hit by machine-gun fire, Private John McDevitt died from wounds at Base
Hospital No. 53 at Langres, France on October 31, 1918. Chaplain J.A.
Nesbitt wrote to McDevitt’s mother, Rose, explaining that her son was,
“indeed a brave and patient sufferer” and that his body had been buried
in a small plot of ground near the hospital where he had died.
His remains were later transferred to St. Mihiel American Cemetery in
Thiaucourt-Regnieville, Lorraine, France.
Sources
Chester Times, March 16, 1912
Chester Times, April 2, 1914
Chester Times, June 27, 1914
Chester Times, March 11, 1915
Chester Times, May 31, 1915
Chester Times, August 26, 1915
Chester Times, June 11, 1918
Chester Times, July 2, 1918
Chester Times, November 26, 1918
Date Added September 8, 2013
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