Military Monday (January 5, 2015) -- U.S. Naval Reserve and U.S. Maritime Service IDs from 1951

In September 1951, as a graduate of the United States Merchant Marine Academy - Kings Point, and as an officer in the Merchant Marine, my father also had a U.S. Naval Reserve appointment as a LTJG (USNR) following his service during World War II. His USNR identification card is shown above.

In December 1951, my father was still actively employed as an officer in the Merchant Marine. His identification card from the U.S. Department of Commerce, Maritime Administration, UNITED STATES MARITIME SERVICE is shown immediately above.

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Images scanned from original identification cards in the collection of the author.

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Copyright 2015, John D. Tew

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Military Monday (December 29, 2014) -- WWII War Zone Bar Awards to Arnold G. Tew, Jr.

I posted on March 18, 2013 about my father's WWII service in the U.S. Merchant Marine. That post can be seen here. I mentioned in the previous post that my father served in all the recognized theaters of war during World War II and included a photograph of his service award medals and bars. Recently the original War Zone Bar award cards were discovered amongst some family records.  Those original cards are now shown above.

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Scan of the original award cards in the collection of the author.

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Copyright 2014, John D. Tew

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Military Monday (December 8, 2014) -- A World War II Naval Reserve Commission

As I have mentioned elsewhere on The Prism, my father is a 1944 graduate of Kings Point, the United States Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) in Great Neck, New York. The site of the Academy is the former 12-acre estate of Walter Chrysler named "Forker House." 

Kings Point was dedicated on September 30, 1943 by FDR, who stated, "the Academy serves the Merchant Marine as West Point serves the Army and Annapolis the Navy."  From 1942 - 1945, Kings Point graduated 6,895 officers.  During World War II, 1 in 26 merchant mariners were killed while implementing the greatest sealift in history.  This made the percentage of war-related deaths for merchant mariners higher than the percentage in all the other U.S. services -- but the mariner death rate was kept secret during the war so that the enemy would not know what success they were having in targeting supply ships AND so that the nation could continue to attract mariners into service.  

Merchant Marine midshipmen have served in every major conflict in which the U.S. has been involved since WWII and as a result the Kings Point regiment is entitled and privileged to display a regimental battle standard; the USMMA is the only Federal Service Academy granted the right to do so. 

In addition to his service in the Merchant Marine in all the WWII theaters of war, my father held a commission in the Naval Reserve (as shown above).  He was later a LTJG in the Reserve.  

There has always been a special relationship between the USMMA and the U.S. Navy. The Navy has an interest in manning a viable merchant marine that can work in close cooperation with the Navy both in peacetime and while at war.  USMMA graduates have historically served as active duty naval officers in emergencies or during general mobilizations and as a result, the Navy has long maintained a Department of Naval Science at Kings Point staffed by active duty Navy officers.

These days, any applicant to the USMMA also applies for an appointment to the U.S. Navy Reserve -- or any other Reserve of National Guard unit of the armed forces -- and agrees to accept any tendered appointment for at least 8 years following graduation from Kings Point.

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Scan of the original commission in the collection of the author.

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Copyright 2014, John D. Tew

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Military Monday (October 13, 2014) -- Everett S. Carpenter in his Rhode Island State Guard uniform

This past weekend while visiting family in Pennsylvania, I had the opportunity to peruse boxes of family photographs and snapshots that my sister discovered after they had been stored away and forgotten for many years.  I spent several hours sorting and looking through them with my parents and siblings and my wife.  I now have a shoe box full of photos to begin scanning and preserving.  The result of these these efforts will undoubtedly be material for The Prism for some time to come, but today is the first reveal of many previously forgotten and undiscovered photographic treasures.

As posted here during some Military Mondays in September, my maternal grandfather, Everett Shearman Carpenter, served in World War I and then joined the Rhode Island Militia where he served for several years in a provisional company of the Rhode Island State Guard Reserve. He was promoted to the rank of Captain in the Militia/State Guard Reserve on June 3, 1943. In the recently discovered photograph shown above, Everett is seen in his Militia/State Guard uniform bearing on his left shoulder the insignia of the Rhode Island State Guard Reserve.  He also has the rank insignia of Captain. The original snapshot is dated June 20, 1944 on the back -- fifteen months before my grandfather was promoted to the rank of Major and nineteen months before he was honorably discharged on January 19, 1946.

Insignia of the Rhode Island State Guard
used from 1941 - 1947

The snapshot was taken in the backyard of what was then 551 High Street in Cumberland, Rhode Island, my grandfather's life-long home.  He is shown standing beside his Packard.

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Scan from the original snapshot in the family collection.

Image of the Rhode Island State Guard shoulder insignia from http://www.angelfire.com/md2/patches/stateguards.html

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Copyright 2014, John D. Tew

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Military Monday (October 6, 2014) -- Col. Thomas Carpenter of Rehoboth, Massachusetts

Thomas Carpenter III is my 5th great grandfather.  He was born October 24, 1733 in Rehoboth, Massachusetts the son of Thomas Carpenter and Mary Barstow. He was the great great grandson of William Carpenter who was born in England in 1605 and immigrated to Massachusetts in 1638. 

Thomas Carpenter III died in Rehoboth on April 26, 1807.  He was married to Elizabeth Moulton (1736 - 1804) and they had twelve children together, including my 4th great grandfather, James Carpenter (1767 - 1812).

Thomas and Elizabeth built their home in Rehoboth at what is now 77 Bay State Road. The home was completed in 1755. In 1983, the home was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The home is pictured immediately below.

The Thomas Carpenter House, 77 Bay State Road, Rehoboth, Massachusetts

  

Thomas Carpenter III was a colonel in the Massachusetts Militia during the Revolutionary War. He commanded the First Bristol Regiment (known as "Carpenter's Regiment") from 1776 - 1780. He had been elected in 1774 to serve as a delegate to represent Rehoboth at the Massachusetts Provincial Congress and in 1775 he was elected Deputy to the General Court of Massachusetts.

Col. Thomas Carpenter served under Major General Lincoln and marched to New York in 1776. In July 1778 Thomas was part of the Rhode Island expedition and he served for one month and nineteen days.  On August 18, 1778 he was ordered to Rhode Island and on the 29th of that month his regiment was involved in action where several of his men (residents of Rehoboth) were killed.  Thomas Carpenter himself was "distinguished for his activity and bravery" at that time. Later, Carpenter's Regiment served under Brigadier General Godfrey and in July and August 1780 he served at Tiverton. 

Col. Thomas Carpenter is the ancestor upon whom my membership in the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution (NSSAR) is based.

My descent from Col. Thomas Carpenter is as follows:

          Thomas Carpenter (1733 - 1807)                    m.    Elizabeth Moulton (1736 - 1804)

          James Carpenter (1767 - 1812)                       m.    Lucy Bliss (1769 - 1817)

          Joseph Carpenter (1789 - 1880)                      m.    Nancy Mason Bullock (1793 - 1880)

          Samuel Carpenter (1828 - 1904)                     m.    Ruth Ann Miller (1828 - 1893)

          Samuel Eber Carpenter (1853 - 1929)            m.    Sarah Etta Freeman (1858 - 1945)

          Everett Shearman Carpenter (1891 - 1962)    m.    Ruth Eaton Cooke (1897 - 1979)

          Shirley Carpenter (1927 -     )                         m.    Arnold G. Tew, Jr. (1922 -     )

          John D. Tew

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Photograph of headstone in Rehoboth Historic Cemetery 8 taken February 8, 2012 by Kenneth Zirkel "kickstand" of Find-A-Grave.  Used by permission granted by Mr. Zirkel at his membership profile (#47213883).  Thank you Mr. Zirkel!

Photograph of The Thomas Carpenter House is from the Historic American Buildings Survey and is the property of the Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, MA-394-1. The work is in the public domain as a work prepared by an officer or employee of the United States Government as part of official duties. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thomas_Carpenter_House.jpg

See, Thomas Carpenter III at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Carpenter_III

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Copyright 2014, John D. Tew

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Military Monday (September 29, 2014) -- Everett S. Carpenter in the Rhode Island Militia: Part III

On January 19, 1946, my maternal grandfather, Everett Shearman Carpenter, was thirty-four days away from his 55th birthday. He had been serving in the Rhode Island Militia for a number of years and had attained the rank of Major.  World War II was over and he apparently was serving as the Commanding Officer of N Section of the Provisional Company of the Rhode Island State Guard Reserve when he decided to discontinue his service with the Militia.  His "Honorable Discharge" from the Rhode Island Militia with the rank of Major is shown above.

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Scan of the discharge paper from the original in the collection of the author. 

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Copyright 2014, John D. Tew

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Military Monday (September 22, 2014) -- Everett S. Carpenter in the Rhode Island Militia: Part II

My maternal grandfather, Everett Shearman Carpenter, served in World War I as has been discussed previously here at The Prism. He served for a time in France and ended his service on a courier mission back to Washington, DC in July 1919.  He was honorably discharged with the rank of Sergeant at Camp Meigs in the District of Columbia on July 17, 1919.

After returning to his home in Rhode Island, my grandfather at some point joined the Rhode Island Militia. As the promotion paper shown above illustrates, Everett Shearman Carpenter was promoted to the rank of Major in the Rhode Island Militia on September 20, 1945 -- just over sixty-nine years ago.

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Scan of the original promotion certificate in the collection of the author.

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Copyright 2014, John D. Tew

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Military Monday (September 15, 2014) -- Everett S. Carpenter in the Rhode Island Militia

My maternal grandfather, Everett Shearman Carpenter, served in World War I as has been discussed previously here at The Prism. He served for a time in France and ended his service on a courier mission back to Washington, DC in July 1919.  He was honorably discharged with the rank of Sergeant at Camp Meigs in the District of Columbia on July 17, 1919.

After returning to his home in Rhode Island, my grandfather at some point joined the Rhode Island Militia. As the promotion paper shown above illustrates, Everett Shearman Carpenter was promoted to the rank of Captain in the Rhode Island Militia on June 3, 1943.

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Scan of the original promotion certificate in the collection of the author.

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Copyright 2014, John D. Tew

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World War I Discharge Document for Everett S. Carpenter -- Military Monday (September 1, 2014)

On January 20, 2013 I published a brief post here at The Prism about the World War I service of my maternal grandfather, Everett Shearman Carpenter (1891 - 1962).  Since that post in January 2013, I have discovered that among some old and unexamined documents gifted to me by my Aunt Roberta, the widow of my mother's brother -- David Otis Carpenter -- is the original World War I discharge paper for my grandfather.  The front and reverse sides of the discharge document are now shown immediately below.

The July 17, 1919 Army discharge paper for Everett S. Carpenter (front)

Reverse side of the the Army discharge paper for Everett S. Carpenter

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Scan from the original discharge paper in the personal collection of the author.

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Copyright 2014, John D. Tew

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Military Monday -- Heather's Honor Roll Project (Memorial Day, May 26, 2014)

Wallingford, Connecticut Town Hall

Among the Honor Roll memorials located on the grounds of the Wallingford, Connecticut Town Hall is one for "Fallen Men Of The Civil War From Wallingford."

The wording on this particular memorial is important to note because it points to the distinction between Memorial Day and Veterans Day here in the U.S.  While Memorial Day is a day of remembrance for the men and women who died while serving, Veterans Day celebrates those who served.

Originally Memorial Day was known as "Decoration Day."  Decoration Day was initiated after the American Civil War to commemorate both Confederate and Union soldiers who died while serving in the Civil War. The origins of Decoration Day and the claim to various "firsts" surrounding the holiday are varied if not controversial. You can read more about the background of Decoration Day and how the name for the holiday changed to Memorial Day beginning back in 1882 here at Wikipedia.  The name of the holiday was officially changed to Memorial Day by federal law in 1967 and in 1968 the "Uniform Monday Holiday Act" established Memorial Day as the last Monday in May each year.

In honor of Decoration Day/Memorial Day it is altogether fitting that this year's contribution to Heather's Honor Roll Project is a Civil War memorial located in Wallingford. Connecticut.  Credit for the photographs of the memorial go to  my cousin, Bruce Marquardt, who took photos of the Civil War, World War I, World  War II, Korean and Vietnam War memorials located on the grounds of the Wallingford Town Hall.  The World War I memorial was posted for Veteran's Day last year.  Future holiday posts will feature the memorials in Wallingford for World War II, Korea and Vietnam.    

There are 24 Wallingford, Connecticut men who died in service during the Civil War.  The names of  those who died are by rank and are not in overall alphabetical order.  While the name and ranks are clearly visible and legible in the photographs above, for purposes of searchability the names of the fallen transcribed below.

                           Arthur H. Dutton                                              Oliver S. Munson

                           George N. Bailey                                              John H. Boughton

                           Oscar Crusias                                                    Delevan W. Ives

                           Austin Phelps                                                    Patrick Condon

                           George V. Dagle                                                Edward B. Dolph

                           Bernard Dougherty                                            Demetrius S. Dowd

                           Patrick Dunn                                                      Edward Early

                           Edward Hazard                                                  William Maschmeyer

                           Frederick Mayer                                                Patrick Lynch

                           Thomas Lynch                                                   Harry Parson

                           Samuel Richards                                                Jonathan Swift

                           Edward Westerhood                                           William H. Moore

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Memorial Day image from http://nationalharbor.com/event/memorial-day.

All Memorial photographs by, and courtesy of, Bruce O. Marquardt.

Photograph of Wallingford Town Hall by the author.

Honor Roll name transcription by the author.

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Copyright 2014, John D. Tew

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Military Monday (February 24, 2014): Military Service and Genealogy -- Past, Present and Future

As noted previously here at The Prism, 2014 marks the 100th Anniversary of the start of World War I.  The "Great War" (sometimes referred to as "the war to end war") raged for four years -- from July 28, 1914 until November 11, 1918. It is said to be the fifth most deadly conflict in the history of the world with more than 9 million soldiers and sailors killed, but the deaths including civilian death from disease, starvation, and direct combat-related fatalities range from 15 million to 65 million. The war profoundly affected generations the world over, but it did not end war.

In genealogy, military service is accorded a significant place among the data points that every genealogy software application collects. In blogging it provides us all with an extremely popular and useful writing prompt such as "Military Monday" or some similar appellation.  Our military affects all of us -- directly or indirectly -- it always has and always will.  It is an important and even vital aspect of our national and world history, so it therefore is a part of the study of our genealogies. 

The military is a national necessity and thus it has both a demographic impact and an important economic expense, as this chart depicts for the United States from 1790 - 2006. 

The chart above provides us with an interesting -- if perhaps simplified -- snapshot of our military and economic history over a period of 216 years. At a glance, we can see that, as expected, the demands on our national productivity and wealth have mirrored demands on military service caused by war. The upward spikes represented by the Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam indicate dramatic increases in the percentage of our population that enter military service and the concommitant surge in the percent of our GDP that goes to support the military and our war efforts. World War II stands out as a supreme effort by what has been dubbed "The Greatest Generation." Whereas prior and subsequent generation(s) have only had about 3% of the population in military service, the World War II generation(s) were called to service at almost three times that percentage (about 8.5%). At the same time, those generations were called to devote more than one third of the national productivity to supporting that war (about twice the demand for WWI).

The world remains a very volatile and dangerous place. As the chart below starkly indicates, the necessity and importance of military capability -- and the cost to this nation and the world -- are not likely to go away any time soon. The beginning of this century has unfortunately seen a near constant state of war for the United States; this is so even as the percentage of our population serving in the military has shrunk to about one half of 1% and the percentage of our GDP devoted to military expenditures has been on a steady decline since the early 1950s from about 13% of GDP to a 2006 rate of just over 4% of GDP.

For those of us involved in genealogy, the need to research military service records is not going away, but the nature and extent of that aspect of genealogy research is going to change in the future if these charts have anything to tell us! 

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Image of Flanders Field from http://mapleleafmorning.com/Nov11.html

U.S. Military Personnel and Eexpenditures chart with permission granted at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:US_military_personnel_and_expenditures.png

Source for U.S. defense budget as compared to the next ten countries with the largest defense budgets in 2012 as shown in the chart.

For more information about the phrase "the war to end war," see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_war_to_end_war  

For more information about World War I, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I#Legacy

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Copyright 2014, John D. Tew

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Military Monday (February 17, 2014) -- CMTC (Citizens' Military Training Camps)

Between the world wars, the United States established a military training program for young men to provide basic military training without any obligation to serve on active duty.  This differed from the Reserves and the National Guard programs that carried with them the obligation for male citizens in the programs to serve if called upon.  The Citizens' Military Training Camps (CMTC) program was established by the National Defense Act of 1920 largely as a compromise to avoid establishing universal military training.

The CMTC program was an outgrowth of the camps that were set up by private citizens prior to the U.S. entry into World War I. The camps and the military training provided were on a voluntary basis and they were seen as a pre-enlistment program that was funded by the Preparedness Movement -- a group of American citizens that recognized the U.S. standing Army was much too small to contribute to the war should the time come.  Camps were first established by the Preparedness Movement in 1915 - 1916 as a way of quickly providing potential Army officers if the need suddenly arose. The largest camp that the Movement established was outside Plattsburgh, New York and as a result, the camps came to be generally known as "Plattsburgh Camps." Almost all the young men who attended the camps were college graduates and by the time the program was formalized into the Military Training Camps Association, some 40,000 men had attended Plattsburgh and other such camps to learn to march, shoot, and get physically fit for potential service. They did in fact later provide the nucleus for the wartime officer corps in World War I.

The CMTC camps, being voluntary with no obligation for service, did not have the same effect on the Army for World War II, but by the end of the program some 400,000 young men are believed to have been trained for at least one summer in a CMTC camp. The camps were a month long and were held at around 50 Army posts around the country.  The peak years were 1928 and 1929 when about 40,000 were trained.

Under the CMTC program, young men were able to receive a reserve commission in the Army as a 2nd Lieutenant IF they completed four consecutive summers of CMTC training, but this aspect of the program proved to be a disappointment because over the 20 years of the CMTC program (1921 - 1940) only about 5,000 reserve commissions were actually awarded. 

Among those who participated in the Plattsburgh/CMTC training programs were Chuck Yeager, Ronald Reagan, Harry Truman, Robert Penn Warren and . . . my father. The photo above is of my father at about age 16. It was taken during a summer at the CMTC established at Fort Adams in Newport, Rhode Island and was just about eight weeks before the devastating 1938 New England Hurricane drove up through Narragansett Bay.*

Fort Adams, Newport, Rhode Island (1936)

CMTC encampment at Fort Adams in the 1930s

CMTC Company A at Fort Adams in 1940, the last year of the CMTC program

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Photograph of Arnold G. Tew, Jr. at Fort Adams (1938) from the original in the collection of the author. 

*  See Item No. 5 in the September 28, 2013 "Saturday Serendipity" and the link provided there for more information about the Great Hurricane of 1938.  

Photographs of Fort Adams circa 1936, the CMTC encampment at Fort Adams in the 1930s, and CMTC Company A at Fort Adams in 1940 from http://www.oocities.org/jmgould39/adhistpt4.html

For more about the former Fort Adams in Newport, Rhode Island, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Adams .

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Copyright 2014, John D. Tew

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Military Monday (February 10, 2014) -- The Mystery of a World War I service medal presented to Everett S. Carpenter

Depicted here is a World War I service medal presented to my maternal grandfather, Everett Shearman Carpenter (Feb. 22, 1891 - Jan. 6, 1962).

This medal was presented not by the federal government, but rather by an organization called the "Barryville and New Village Relief Association." Thus far I have not been able to find out more about this organization other than the single hit obtained in a Google search for "Barryville and New Village Relief Association." The single search result is a link to WorthPoint.com where an identical medal is shown as having been sold at auction on December 10, 2006.  The auction listing states that Barryville is a town in Sullivan County, New York.  It sits on the Delaware River across from Shohola, Pennsylvania, but no information is available from the site about a "New Village."  With respect to the medal itself, the site states, "Scarce; this is the only one I have seen."

  

The reverse side of the medal reads as follows: "Presented to [above a blank engraving scroll] by the Barryville and New Village Relief Association in grateful recognition of his service in the WORLD WAR."  In very fine print at the bottom left and right are the words "W. & H. Co." on the left and "Newark, N.J." on the right. My grandfather's medal is in a heavy brown-paper folder that identifies the W. & H. Co. as "The Whitehead & Hoag  Co., Newark, N.J.  Fine Bronze Medals & Badges." 

This medal now presents a bit of a mystery because my grandfather never lived in the state of New York except for the short time he spent at Watervliet Arsenal north of Albany, New York -- which is almost 150 miles northeast of Barryville. This raises the question of why the "Barryville and New Village Relief Association" would present a World War I service medal to someone who was born, raised, lived and died in Cumberland, Rhode Island.

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Photograph of the World War I service medal is from the original medal in the collection of the author.

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Copyright 2014, John D. Tew

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Military Monday (January 27, 2014) -- World War I "Welcome Home Celebration" in Lonsdale, Rhode Island

My maternal grandfather, Everett S. Carpenter, served in World War I in the Army Ordnance Department. He enlisted on January 1, 1918 and was stationed first at Watervliet Arsenal near Albany, New York until May 10, 1918 when he was transferred to Camp Merritt, New Jersey to await transport to Europe. He sailed for France on May 26, 1918.

After landing at Bordeaux on Sunday, June 9, 1918, Everett served in France until July 1919 when he was ordered to Paris to receive reports he was to courier to Washington, DC.  He sailed with the reports from Brest, France on July 7, 1919 and arrived in New York on the 13th. He then took the night rain to Washington and delivered the reports with which he had been entrusted. He was honorably discharged from the Army at Camp Meigs in Washington, DC on July 17, 1919 with the rank of Ordnance Sergeant. Everett arrived home in Lonsdale (Cumberland), Rhode Island in the morning of July 18, 1919.

As the ticket above shows, a "Welcome Home Celebration" for WWI veterans was held in Lonsdale on September 13, 1919 -- two months after my grandfather returned home from his service in the war. [The formal end of WWI came with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles with Germany on June 28, 1919; however, the U.S. public objected to the Treaty of Versailles because of its creation of the League of Nations and so the United States did not formally end its World War I involvement until the signing of the 1921 Knox-Porter Resolution.]

The location of the Welcome Home Celebration banquet and dance was at Lonsdale Hall. Lonsdale is a village (and since 1984 a historic district) in Lincoln and Cumberland, Rhode Island. Originally the village of Lonsdale was part of the town of Smithfield, Rhode Island until the town of Lincoln was created in 1871 and named in honor of Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln's villages include Manville, Albion, Lime Rock, Fairlawn, Quinnville, and Saylesville as well as Lonsdale.

According to the February 20, 1984 National Register of Historic Places Inventory -- Nomination Form for Lonsdale Historic District, Lonsdale Hall was built in 1869 by the Lonsdale Company as a community meeting place and commercial center. It was the "social and commercial center of the village." The Lonsdale industrial village, which is now a historic district, was built between 1831 and the 1920s by the Lonsdale Company.

The Lonsdale Company was chartered in 1834 and grew out of the Lonsdale Water Power Company founded by the firm of Brown & Ives in about 1825. The Water Power Company began buying up water rights and properties along the Blackstone River in the towns of Cumberland and Smithfield and in 1831 started construction of its first mill (Lonsdale Mill No. 1). Subsequently, the company organized a village around its mill and named the village "Lonsdale." The mill village included a school, church, store, houses, tenements, and -- in 1869 -- the construction of a community social meeting place known as "Lonsdale Hall."

I have been unable to find a photograph of Lonsdale Hall, but the National Register Nomination Form referred to above describes the building (at page 12 of the form) as follows:

                    A long, 3 1/2 story, brick building; its cornice is bracketed and its windows set

                    under segmental arches between brick piers. [As of the date of the 1984 report]

                    the first floor has been modified with large plate glass windows and a stucco

                    covering. The Hall was built by the Lonsdale Company as a community meeting

                    place and commercial center. It housed the local library, club rooms, and a

                    meeting hall on the upper floors; small shops occupied the first floor -- in 1888

                    there were a drug store, barber shop, dry goods store, and bakery here.  

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Original September 13, 1919 "Welcome Home Celebration" ticket in the personal collection of the author.

For more information about the Lonsdale Company and its records, see the "Guide to the Lonsdale Company Records 1831 - 1946" (2009) by the Rhode Island Historical Society http://library.brown.edu/riamco/xml2pdffiles/US-RHi-mss9sg2.pdf 

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Copyright 2014, John D. Tew

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Military Monday (December 9, 2013)

Last Friday I posted a photo of my wife's grandfather, G. Douglas Jeffs, in his WWI Canadian Expeditionary Force uniform.  Today I post the Canadian Expeditionary Force Certificate of Service issued to George Douglas Jeffs, who was a physician and served in Canada and England with the Canadian Army Medical Corps (C.A.M.C.).  He served aboard the hospital ship H.M.H.S Araguya.

Dr. Jeffs was commissioned in the C.A.M.C. on May 2, 1917 and served until he was "STRUCK OFF THE STRENGTH" on July 9, 1919 "by reason of General Demobilization."
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Scan of the original Certificate of Service document which is in the family documents collection.

Image of the H.M.H.S Araguya from http://www.ebay.it/itm/AMBULANCE-SHIP-HMHS-Araguaya-Royal-Mail-Steam-Packet-Steamer-Co-postcard-/281161429197
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Copyright 2013, John D. Tew
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Military Monday (Veterans Day, November 11, 2013) -- WWI Military Honor Roll, Wallingford, Connecticut

Wallingford, Connecticut Town Hall

Among the Honor Roll memorials located on the grounds of the Wallingford, Connecticut Town Hall is one "Dedicated in Honor and in Memory of Those Men and Women of Wallingford Who Served in the World War 1917 - 1918."  As we are on the eve of the 100th anniversary of the start of the so-called "war to end war," which began on July 28, 1914, it is appropriate that on this Veterans Day 2013 photographs of the full memorial and panel shots of the names of those Wallingford, Connecticut residents honored for their WWI service are featured in today's post.

The wording on this particular memorial is important to note because it points to the distinction between Memorial Day and Veterans Day here in the U.S.  While Memorial Day is a day of remembrance for the men and women who died while serving, Veterans Day celebrates (as this memorial states) those who served.

In the British Commonwealth countries, November 11th is known as Poppy Day, Armistice Day, or Remembrance Day to remember the members of their service branches who died in the line of duty.  It is celebrated on November 11th to recall the cessation of the hostilities of World War I "at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month."  [That war formally ended with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles on June 28, 1919.  Over 9 million servicemen from all sides were killed during WWI making it the fifth or sixth deadliest conflict in world history!] 

Originally, November 11th was celebrated as "Armistice Day" in the United States too when President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed November 11, 1919 as a holiday so that "the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country's service . . . "  In 1938 Congress passed legislation making November 11th a legal holiday each year "to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as 'Armistice Day'."  Then, in 1945, a veteran of World War II (Raymond Weeks from Alabama) decided Armistice Day should be broadened to remember and celebrate not only those who died in World War I, but it should celebrate and remember all veterans who served in the armed services of the United Sates.  Dwight Eisenhower supported the idea of the expansion of Armistice Day and by act of Congress in 1954 "Veterans" replaced "Armistice" in the name of our November 11th holiday.  It has been known as Veterans Day ever since and its intent is to celebrate and remember all veterans and not just hose who died in World War I or other wars. 

World War I Honor Roll Memorial (Wallingford, Connecticut -- November 2013)

The following is an alphabetical list of about 560 men and women celebrated and remembered on the Wallingford, Connecticut World War I Honor Roll memorial. Every one of them is gone now, but they and their service are not forgotten!

Close-up photographs of the name panels on the memorial follow the list below, but be aware that the list is not entirely alphabetical as I have caught at least one error -- Lobb, Kenneth D. is out of order as he follows Myers, William H. on the name panels. Also, hard as it is to believe, there apparently are no veterans of WWI from Wallingford with surnames beginning with the letter "N."  

[As the photographs of the name panels clearly show, some of the names are preceded by a star.  The stars before a name indicate that the person named "died in service."  Those who locate a name of an ancestor or relative on the following list, should also consult the name panel photographs to see if the ancestor's or relative's name is preceded by a star and therefore he or she "died in service."]

Abbott, George C.                    Ahearn, Eugene J.                    Altschuler, Maurice

Ames, Joseph C.                       Anderson, Oscar                      Anthony, Henry W.

Anthony, Robert                       Apamoutec, John J.                 Artioli, Enrico

Atkinson, Percy                        Backes, Clifford B.                  Backes, Edward B.

Backes, Raymond                    Backes, Roger O.                     Bailey, John W.

Bakanas, Karl                           Balough, Alex                          Bandero, Louis

Bannell, Walter S.                    Barry, Edward S.                      Bartek, John S.

Beaudoin, William L.               Beaudoin, Zoel                         Beaumont, George B.

Beck, Jacob C.                         Becroft, Silas W.                       Beers, Philo E.

Bender, Bennie                        Benziger, Frederick C.              Berdofsky, Louis J.

Bernardo, Claudio                    Bertini, Ralph E.                       Bertini, William DEF.

Bevans, Joseph J.                     Beverly, Theodore S.                Blagbrough, Harry C.

Blanchard, Albert R.                Blanchard, Ralph H.                 Blinn, William L.

Bolton, Raymond W.               Bordeleau, William G.              Borghi, Ernest C.

Bossidy, Francis W.                 Bossidy, James E.                     Bossidy, Joseph T.

Bremer, Ernest                         Brennan, John F.                       Brennan, William J.

Bridgett, Frank E.                    Bridgetts, James H.                    Briggs, Carlton D.

Briggs, Morton D.                   Bronsord, William J.                  Brooks, Edward C. 

Brooks, Robert W.                   Brow, Arthur J.                         Brow, Robert R. 

Brown, Ray                             Bruton, George                          Bruton, Leo

Bryson, Robert                        Buckley, William                       Bullis, Carlton G.

Bullis, Clifford N.                    Bullus, George R.                      Burghoff, Harrold R.

Burke, Bryant L.                      Burns, James P.                         Burns, William T.

Butler, Edmund V.                  Butler, William V.                      Caples, Jeremiah

Carey, Jesse G.                        Carmen, Edward F.                   Carroll, Francis W.

Carroll, John F.                        Carroll, William J.                     Carty, James F.

Case, Harold L.                        Casey, Edward J.                      Casey, Frank W.

Cassin, Matthew J.                   Cavalieri, Anthony R.               Cavalieri, John                           Ceregioli, Peter                         Chapel, George                        Chase, Harry H.                         Chordas, Burton                       Clack, Albert E.                        Clark, Arthur H.

Clark, Louis N.                         Clarke, Felix W.                       Clement, Henry J.

Coffey, John G.                        Coffey, Richard J.                     Comerford, John E.

Comerford, Patrick J.                Condon, Joseph H.                   Condon, Robert W.

Cook, Frank D.                         Cook, George E.                       Cooper, James W.

Corcoran, Frank                        Cottrill, John R. Jr.                    Coughlin, Edward J.

Cowles, Philip B.                      Craig, G. Ludlow                      Crossley, William

Curran, Timothy E.                   Curran, William F.                    Cushman, Raymond J.

Daly, Edward T.                       Daly, George J.                         Daly, John E.

Davis, John T.                          Davis, Ralph L.                         Deghello, Alexander S.

Degnan, Joseph F.                    Delaney, Irving J.                      Delaney, Raymond E.

Delehanty, Helen                      Delehanty, Robert T.                 Della Vecchia, Michele

Del Rosso, Leo F.                     Del Rosso, Margaret V.            Del Rosso, Raymond L.

Dembizak, Charles                    Dembizak, John K.                   Dembroski, Teddy

Deming, Harry C.                      Des Jardins, Louis A.               Dineen, Gerald

Docker, William                         Doehr, William F.                    Dondero, Frank

Dontigny, George                      Dorau, Conrad O.                     Doty, Helen

Dougan, Clarence                      Dougan, John M.                      Down, Helen

Downey, George J.                    Downey, John E.                      Doyle, Frank P.

Driver, Wiliiam H.                     Drum, Francis P.                       Drum, Veronica

DuBois, Dennis O.                    DuBois, George A.                   DuBois, William D.

Dunn, Walter                              Dwyer, Michael W.                  Elovetsky, Stanley

Eriksen, Arthur                           Eylward, James E.                    Fassio, Bartolomio

Fassio, Mario                              Feinblum, Nathan                     Ferriere, Edward D.

Fields, Charles L.                       Filippo, Louis J.                        Filippo, Roxy

Fitzgerald, Edmund P.                Flechsig, Edwin A.                  Fleming, Joseph P.

Ford, Sidney                               Ford, William E.                      Francis, Edward B.

Francis, William H.                     Fredericks, David H.               Friderich, Roland C.

Fritz, Frank                                 Fritz, Harry F.                          Furniss, Clarence V.

Gallagher, Joseph F.                   Gallagher, Thomas P.               Gammons, Charles, W.

Gannon, John J.                          Gardner, Edgar E.                     Gardner, George A.

Gargaly, Frank A.                       Gargaly, Stephen J.                  Gariepy, Clifford J.

Gaudette, William F.                   Gawaski, Joseph B.                 Gentile, Vincent

Gibbs, William H.                       Gillooly, Thomas J.                  Gingras, Richard H.

Goff, Clarence H.                        Goldstein, Abe                         Granucci, Henry N.

Graser, Frank K.                          Grasser, Raymond F.               Griffin, James D.

Griffith, John                                Griswold, Harold M.               Gross, Henry J.

Gross, John A.                             Guilbeault, Gilbert                    Hackbarth, Robert R.

Hackbarth, Rudolph                     Hadrick, Joseph                       Hajdu, Albert

Hall, Randolph                             Hall, Theodore P.                     Hamill, Leroy F.

Hammerly, Herman J.                  Harrington, Raymond T.          Harrington, Timothy J.

Hartlein, George H.                      Hartman, Carl W.                     Hartman, Frank

Hassett, Charles                            Hassett, Ethel W.                      Hassett, George H.

Hayden, Frank L.                         Hayden, John E.                       Hayden, Raymond F.

Heath, Walter R.                           Heaton, William C.                  Heilman, Norman

Hemenway, Courtenay                 Hems, Robert P.                       Hennessy, John P.

Hennessey, Dennis J.                    Hennessey, Norinne J.             Hennessey, Robert

Herlach, Mathias A.                      Herr, Earl H.                            Heslin, Charles T.

Heslin, James F.                            Hill, George E.                         Hillbom, Erik A.

Hillbom, Ralph                              Hillbom, Waldo S.                   Hinckley, Clayton

Hinckley, Stanley R.                      Hiob, Emil R.                          Hodgkinson, Harold D.

Holroyd, William C.                      Hopkins, Charles                     Hopkins, Russell N.

Hotchkiss, Charles                         Houlihan, Robert A.                Houson, Maxwell M.

Howe, Ernest                                 Howe, George M.                    Howe, William L.

Hubbell, Harry R.                          Hunt, Stanley D.                      Ives, Clifford G.

Ives, Harold, R.                              Jacek, Martin                           James, Albert S.

Jeralds, Chester W.                         Jeralds, Louis B.                      Jionette, Harry

Johnson, Wilbur H.                        Judd, Howard S.                      Kane, Charles H.

Kane, Charles M.                           Kane, John W.                         Karpie, John

Keeler, Harold                               Kelly, Edward W.                    Kelly, Frederick B.

Kelly, James C.                              Kelly, John J.                           Kelly, John W.

Kelly, Robert P.                             Kelly, Thomas F.                      Kennedy, James G.

Kennedy, Michael F.                     Kenney, Michael J.                   Kenney, Peter

Kepes, Elizabeth B.                       Kershaw, Frank                        Kershaw, William H.

Killen, Albert E.                            Kirkby, Ernest                          Kiviatowski, Alexander

Knopf, William H.                         Knowlton, Norman B.             Knox, John B.

Konopka, Stanley                          Kowalski, Stephen S.               Kowalski, William J.F.

Krajewski, Benjamin                     Krajewski, William P.              Krupp, Harry A.

Kuczmarski, Joseph                       Kumnick, Frank A.                  La Course, Omar

La Croix, Arthur                            Lacy, James E.                         Laden, James J.

Lahaika, Iafrem                              Lane, Harold B.                       Lanquette, Daniel W.

Latham, Thomas J.                         Lathrop, Stanley P.                  Latourunes, Ambrose

Law, William H.                            Lengyel, Andrew                     Leonard, John A.

Leveille, Wilbrod J.                       Liedke, Walter W.                    Lindauer, Bernard J.

Logan, Robert J.                            Loiko, Vincent                         Loomis, Fred B.

Loughlin, Edward J.                      Loughlin, William P.                Lounsbury, Charles

Lucas, Orville, W.                         Lufbery, Raoul                         Lufbery, Rene N.

Lukazevich, Walter                       Maddocks, Harold J.                 Magatte, Joseph

Magee, George R.                         Malchiodi, Louis                       Malmquist, Almar C.

Malmquist, Eric C.                        Malmquist, Harold C.                Malmquist, Nils C.

Malmquist, Olof C.                        Manfreda, Maelis                      Mansfield, A. Irving

Mansfield, Woodford S.                Marc Aurele, Donald                 Marcewski, Roman

Marckoon, Paul P.                         Margolin, Benjamin                  Maxted, Thomas A.

May, John E.                                 McCune, Clarence C.                McDonald, Norval H.

McElrath, Leland F.                      McErlean, Laurance                  McGahie, Alton H.

McGahie, Douglas S.                    McGarra, Edward G.                McGarry, Edward H.

McGaughey, James D.                  McKenzie, Alexander M.         McKeon, James M.

McKerness, William J.                  McKnight, Arthur                     McKnight, Orren B.

McLaughlin, Francis J.                 McLaughlin, Thomas J.             McNulty, Patrick J.

Mellor, George W.                        Merchant, John J.                      Mezzel, Joseph

Michalke, Albert H.                      Milcke, Alan W.                        Milici, Salvatore

Mitchell, George C.                      Molinari, Guiseppe                    Moran, John J.

Morgan, Oscar                              Moulton, Guy E.                       Mounsey, William

Munson, Craig D.                         Murphy, James J.                      Murphy, John J.

Murphy, Thomas J.                       Murray, James                          Myers, Harold T.

Myers, Ray C.                               Myers, William H.                    Lobb, Kenneth D.

O'Brien, Frederick C.                    O'Brien, Robert E.                    O'Brien, William B.

O'Callaghan, John M.                   O'Connell, Benedict M.             O'Connell, Helen

O'Connell, Mark E.                       O'Dea, James                             Ohr, Andrew L.

Ollayos, Frank W.                         O.Neill, Maurice F.                   Paden, Thomas J.

Pagnam, Robert B.                        Pagnam, Thomas J.                   Parker, Sherman C.

Partridge, James P.                        Paskiewicz, Alexander              Passerino, John B.

Pattee, Katherine C.                      Patterson, James P.                    Patzkoska, Edward J.

Payden, Charles F.                        Payden, John F.                        Pender, David E.

Perry, Maurice R.                          Peterson, Reuben E.                 Phelan, Celestin G.

Phelan, Paul A.                             Philippi, John R.                       Phoenix, William J.

Pinsker, Joseph                             Poggio, Secondo                       Porter, Leslie A.

Porto, Francis                                Powers, John J.                         Powers, Maurice

Powers, Ralph H.                          Powers, William E.                   Powers, William J.

Prageman, Irving H.                      Pratt, William A.                       Prizzi, Alphonse

Quiggley, Francis H.                     Quinlan, John P.                       Quinlivan,  Thomas F.

Quinn, Edward J.                          Quinn, Harry T.                        Quinn, James J.

Quinn, William P.                          Reed, Albert                             Reed, Kenneth T.

Reilly, George                               Reilly, James C.                        Reilly, William T. 

Rice, Augustus A.                         Riley, Edward                           Riley, John J.

Riley, John Joseph                        Riotte, Harry C.                         Riotte, Joseph A.

Riotte, William P.                          Roberge, Romeo J.                    Robinson, John T.

Roche, Leo H.                               Roche, Robert E.                       Rogan, Charles V.

Rogan, John J.                               Rogan, William F.                     Rogers, Frank D.

Rogers, William J.                         Rohowsky, Albert                     Rosene, Hilmer

Roslund, Harry O.                         Rovegno, Frank P.                    Rowdie, Carime T.

Rushworth, Edwin                        Rushworth, William                  Russell, Donald G.

Russell, Donato                             Satton, John J.                           Scheffer, Carl W.

Schenker, Andrew                        Schmitter, Ernest                       Schultz, Albert J.

Schultz, August A.                       Schultz, Joseph P.                      Scott, Earl W.

Seichter, Adolph                           Self, Bert A.                              Semenza, Bernard

Semrau, Albert H.                         Shaw, John T.                           Shaw, Stanley

Sheehan, Albert T.                        Sheehan, Mark T.                      Sheehy, Henry P.

Sheehy, John J.                             Shipke, John                              Simon, Charles W.

Simone, Joseph A.                        Sinon, Thomas P.                      Sizer, S. Oliver

Skovinski, Paul P.                         Small, Harold A.                       Smith, Alfred

Smith, Charles E.                          Smith, Charles H.                      Smith, Clarence R.

Smith, Floyd                                 Smith, Howard L.                      Smith, Martin H.

Smith, Wilbur W.                         Smith, William                            Spolite, Dominick F.

St. Arnauld, William J.                 St. Cartier, Lucien F.                  Stearns, C. Edmund

Stearns, Harold T.                        Steele, George                            Steiniger, Joseph M.

Stevens, Maltby                           Stimpson, Charles                       Stimpson, Robert W.

Stone, Thomas D.                        Stone, William J.                         Stuart, Roy F.

Sullivan, Francis P.                      Sullivan, James F.                       Sutton, James J.

Szad, Carl C.                                Szad, Edward H.                        Talbot, Milton A.

Tassmer, Peter P.                         Taylor, Edmund P.                      Taylor, John H.

Terrell, Charles W.                      Terrell, Willard F.                        Tierney, Charles A.

Tierney, Patrick H.                      Torrey, Arthur F.                         Toth, John

Totz, Robert                                 Townsend, Bernard W.              Townsend, William W.

Trabold, Edward R.                     Turner, Fred I.                             Tuttle, Harry W.

Twing, Raymond                         Twiss, George R.                        Uniacke, Charles L.

Uniacke, Ralph R.                       Valenti, Alfred                             Vollhardt, Edwin C.

Vollhardt, Philip H.                      Wahl, Edward                             Wallace, Floyd

Wallace, Truman A.                     Ward, William W.                        Warren, William S.

Way, Chauncey O.                       Wendelken, Frederick                  Werner, Frederick

Werner, Gustave F.                       Werpechowski, Stanley               Wheelock, Richsrd L.

Whitehouse, Wilson H.                 Whiton, Edward L.                      Wilcox, Harry W.

Wilkes, Robert E.                          Wilkins, Harold S.                       Williams, Arnold

Williams, Frank B.                         Williams, Horace P.                    Williams, Russell F.

Wooding, Kenneth E.                    Wooding, Raymond F.                Wrinn, Charles M.

Wrinn, Edward C.                          Wrinn, Frank T.                           Wrinn, James E.

Wrynn, William F.                         Wustrack, Edward B.                   Wustrack, Frederick

Zagata, John                                   Zimmer, John

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Image of the Veterans Day poster for 2013 is in the public domain as a work prepared by an officer or employee of the United States as part of that person's official duties. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Veterans_Day_2013_Poster.jpg

All Memorial photographs by, and courtesy of, Bruce O. Marquardt.

Photograph of Wallingford Town Hall by the author.

Honor Roll name transcription by the author.

To learn more about World War I, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I .  To learn more about the history of Armistice Day and Veterans Day in the United States, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veterans_Day and the links there to Armistice Day and Remembrance Day in other countries.

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Copyright 2013, John D. Tew

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