USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Wenham > Wenham in World War II : war service of Wenham men and women and civilian services of Wenham people > Part 25
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JAMES R. REYNOLDS resigned from the Wenham Board of Select- men and while secretary to Senator Saltonstall, was given a leave of absence, when he was sent to England to join the secretariat of Judge Charles Cabot, Secretary of the United States strategic bomb- ing survey.
NEIL RICE was chairman of the Massachusetts Blackout Division.
HAROLD STURGES served from December 30, 1941 to September 16, 1945 as Engineer in the Army Ordnance Department, assigned to the Boston Ordnance District.
His duties consisted of providing advice to Ordnance Contractors on engineering problems and production methods and coordinating design problems with various arsenals for uniformity in manufac- ture.
In July 1944 Mr. Sturges was made Boston Ordnance representa- tive on the Engineering Committee for the Browning Automatic Rifle.
It is interesting that the BAR (Browning Automatic Rifle), made famous by "Commando" Kelly's exploits in Italy, was wholly a New England product, except for the rear sight which was made in Chicago, Ill. All other parts were made in New England, and all parts were assembled and tested here.
In February 1946 Harold Sturges was commended by Chief of Ordnance for "outstanding performance of duty."
FREDERICK WINANT served with the U. S. Department of State :
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in Cairo, as U. S. representative to Middle East Supply Center; in Washington, as adviser, War Areas Economic Division; and in Berlin as Director of Trade and Commerce Division, U. S. Military Government.
CIVILIAN SERVICE IN LOCAL HOSPITALS
The labor shortage was keenly felt in all hospitals, particularly in industrial centers like Beverly, where more lucrative jobs were easily available.
The Beverly Hospital, the most accessible and the hospital more generally used by Wenham people, was able to keep its doors open and running to capacity by the untiring devotion of its remaining staff-the steady hand of its President, Frederick Ayer of Wenham who directed its policy, and the volunteer work given by its sup- porters.
To the doctors on the Home Front, we all owe a debt of gratitude : to Dr. Peer Johnson, working tirelessly in the operating room. Dr. Albert Parkhurst put in months that spread to years in constant service, as did Dr. John Corcoran, who came back from retirement to care for his former patients; there was no moment of relaxation for these men, twenty four hours a day, seven days in the week, they were ever on call.
It is rarely that the professional can look for, or expect relief from civilians ; it was the good fortune of the Beverly Hospital that Mrs. Gordon Prince of Wenham was equipped to change from a civilian to a professional status. She saw the need and put her previous training to use. Mrs. Prince graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1924, but, not intending to practice, did not take the Massachusetts State Board exams. Sensing the shortage of professional help in the hospitals, Mrs. Prince, after an interim of 19 years, took the examination in June of 1942, which she successfully passed. Licensed to practice, Dr. Prince immedi- ately volunteered for service in the Beverly Hospital, working in the Surgical and Female wards.
In 1943 she was given the title of assistant to the Staff; in 1944 she was changed to Ward Medical Service. These four years of exacting professional service were an outstanding contribution by a woman, who, during those four years, gave so unsparingly of her
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strength and professional skill. Wenham is justly proud of Dr. Prince and her service.
Volunteers also picked up the nursing shortage. Many women successfully completed the Red Cross Nurses' Aide course, and be- came Nurses' Aides in various hospitals* as well as relieving the labor shortage.
BEVERLY HOSPITAL
Ward Helpers
Mrs. George Scott Ann Rice Mrs. Emma Rice
Pantry and Kitchen
Mrs. Frederick Ayer (Worked for two years in this department)
Night Switch-board Volunteer Mrs. Ernest Gregory
Members of the Hamilton & Wenham Canteen gave a morning a week at the Beverly Hospital in pantry work, setting up trays, some- times cooking, and filling in wherever there was a shortage. From Wenham were:
Mrs. J. Donald Jeffers Mrs. Ray Knowlton
Mrs. John Nightingale Mrs. James Parker
Mrs. Richard Pedrick
Mrs. Louise (Roderick) Pedrick
Mrs. Everett Sears
Mrs. Horace Pauling
SALEM HOSPITAL
MISS KATHERINE GILL, R. N. did four months' floor duty, having volunteered the previous year at the Massachusetts General Hos- pital, during the Cocoanut Grove disaster.
Service Shop
Mrs. Fred C. Batchelder Mrs. H. O. Phippen
Central Supply Room
Mrs. William Herlihy
Mrs. Henry Wendt
CIVILIAN SERVICE IN HOSPITALS OUTSIDE OF WENHAM
HILDA AYER, JR. worked during summer vacation at Waltham Hospital.
MRS. HENRY ERHARD as early as 1938 took the Gray Lady course at the Boston Metropolitan chapter of the Red Cross. She was first *For Red Cross Nurses' Aides in Beverly Hospital, see page 270.
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assigned to the out-patient clinic at the Massachusetts General Hos- pital, where she assisted the Secretary and the Social Service worker.
She was then assigned to the front desk at the Eye and Ear In- firmary where she learned to help the secretary and staff. Here she continued until the autumn of 1945, when an accident so crip- pled her that she was forced to resign.
She served seven years, a total of many hundred hours in all.
MRS. EDWARD MACNICHOL was a nurses' aide in various hospi- tals and places wherever under war time conditions she found her- self living.
She worked at the Massachusetts General Hospital for several months ; Children's Hospital, Toledo; County Hospital, Butler, Pa .; a total of many hours in 1942-45, when volunteer service was vitally needed.
MRS. JOSEPH ROBBINS was a nurses' aide in hospitals on the West Coast. She was one year at Burlingame Hospital and for two years at Carmel, Calif.
BLOOD DONOR SERVICE*
Before the war Beverly Hospital had established a blood bank. This blood bank was used when proper blood was not immediately available; to this blood bank the patient when able made financial return or blood in kind.
During the war Dr. Anna Prince in addition to her other duties, worked in this department assisted by Mrs. Frederick Ayer and Mr. and Mrs. E. Preble Motley.
The lessons of the war have caused the State in cooperation with the Red Cross to assume responsibility by sending to all communi- ties for blood which is to be distributed to all hospitals. This gives all citizens the opportunity to aid in this humane effort.
WENHAM MEN IN RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
For obvious reasons there was little publicity of the development of new armaments during the war. It can be said with safety that the war was won with weapons undreamed of when the war began. These new weapons were the products of our great scientific labora- *For Blood Donors see American Red Cross, page 271.
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tories, where selected men labored on secret projects to produce un- rivalled weapons for our Army, Navy and Airforce.
Wenham is proud to have had a group of men who contributed to this research and development work.
WENHAM MEN IN INDUSTRY
We shall not attempt to name the men and women in the Army of Industry who daily left Wenham to work in the great industrial plants. Their efforts in the production of armaments completed the efforts of the men in the armed forces, who used them.
Some were attracted to industry by high pay, others undertook their jobs from a patriotic standpoint. To some this service in in- dustry was irksome, but their contribution given to the limit of their capacities, was valuable to the production front.
SOCIAL LIFE
On the surface the social life of the town seemed little changed, during these war years.
The holidays were quiet; there were no fireworks on the 4th of July.
Benefit card parties became a neighborly diversion.
The Village Improvement Society carried on its program for children, maintaining a supervised playground under the chairman- ship of Mrs. Frederick Ayer throughout this period.
The Historical Association made a special effort to interest the stay-at-home child.
The Myopia Hunt Club discontinued its traditional activities. Polo, the Labor Day horse-show and Fall Hunts ceased.
The 49-ers, whose semi-annual plays gave a pleasant diversion to town life, formally disbanded.
WENHAM TERCENTENARY 1943
During the peak year of the war, 1943, occurred our long antici- pated Tercentenary. The town had appointed a committee several years before, to make suitable plans for the celebration of this event. The committee consisted of Harrison Gardner, chairman, Ruth Tor- rey, secretary, Ray Knowlton, Melville Grey, Mrs. Fred Ashworth, Louis Dodge and Mrs. Edward Cole.
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This committee had formulated plans quite unsuitable to this war year-with the need of conserving man-power, materials and transportation.
Harrison Gardner, who had joined the United States Navy, re- signed due to the fact that he had been transferred to the Submarine Chaser Training Center at Miami, Fla .; and Ruth Torrey resigned to undertake technical work at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the Radar Laboratory. To replace these vacancies, Philip Horton Smith became chairman and Mrs. Fred Ashworth, secretary.
The observance which this committee planned lacked the carnival spirit of such occasions, but was friendly, dignified and in keeping with those war-torn days.
Of special interest was the unveiling of the temporary Honor Roll designed by Philip Horton Smith, and set in a suitable back- ground and planting contributed by the Hamilton and Wenham Garden Club and Jacob Barnes.
This temporary Honor Roll was Wenham's appreciation, not only to the men and women who had gone into service from Wenham, but to those in service who had moved elsewhere, but had been brought up in Wenham, or were connected with Wenham through their fami- lies.
The Honor Roll was unveiled by Mrs. James Ginty, widow of James Ginty, Wenham's first war casualty.
CIVIC AND PUBLIC SERVICE
The town of Wenham at its annual town meetings during these war years was ever mindful of its citizens in service.
The town expressed its sympathy to the nearest relatives of those who had paid the supreme sacrifice, by standing in silent tribute to their memory.
Further the town recorded a vote, that through the "Wenham Wanderings" it "express to those in service our appreciation of the splendid service they are rendering our country. Health, good luck, an early return home is our prayer for all."
The town of Wenham expended for the equipment and outfitting of the Home Defense groups the sum of $2,192.26. This amount includes Wenham's share in the expense of the Report Center and State Guard with some minor expenses for incidentals.
In addition to this expense, the town paid $528.64 for the con-
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struction of the temporary Honor Roll; the design for this Honor Roll was a gift from Philip Horton Smith.
CIVIC AND PUBLIC SERVICE GROUPS
Regular Town Officials-The reaction in all departments of the town administration was one of increased work and responsibility.
Fire Department-This department was forced to use many sub- stitutes and by the careful supervision of Chief Sargent was able to maintain an excellent auxiliary force. Chief Sargent kept a most- watchful eye on permits granted for burning, greatly reducing the number of fires.
Police Department-The work of this department under Chief Hall was increased by blackout tests and air-raid alarms, for which every officer was alerted for duty.
Welfare Department-This was the only department in town whose duties were lightened because there was always work for everyone able to work.
Board of Assessors-The work of this department was increased by the making of affidavits as to the legal residence of Wenham veterans in order that they might collect their state bonus.
Roscoe Batchelder of the Board has some interesting statistics as to alien residents. "In 1940 there were fourteen aliens-mainly from parts of the British Empire and no enemy aliens. In 1943 there were only seven aliens, as Canadians were in the war, and a Greek and two Italians had become naturalized. When Italy ceased to be one of our allies, the remaining Italians in town became technically, 'enemy aliens.' "
Wenham Post-Office-This department also had its war problems. From Pearl Harbor Day, December 7, 1941, the volume of mail in- creased by thousands. Postmaster Lucey employed women as assist- ants and though a small post-office, carried on the sale of War Stamps and Bonds to a most creditable amount.
Postmaster Lucey was always ready to assist in the directing and tracing of our veterans.
TELEPHONE SERVICE
Of vital importance was the maintenance of the telephone service. Observation Posts must be connected, Report Centers equipped, in order to summon every service, should the enemy appear. This
Wenham Wanderings
EQK
WENHAM, MASS.
SEPTEMBER 20, 1945
FALL ISSUE
DID YOU HEAR
Hello out there, or maybe by now you'll he right nearby, so fast are stations changing, assign- ments shifting, and men moving here there, and everywhere. AH of the notes below have been picked up since V-J day, but by the time you read them they may be very stale news. Anyway, let's get go- ing again with our roll call insofar as we have been able to check ir recent weeks.
John Armington
and is on the carrier Santee. He has seen action at Guam, the Phi- lippines, and Okinawa . . Winky Ashworth is now a QM 1/c, and was still on Ulithe, but that base may be closed at this writing Frederick Ayer, Jr., was called (Continued on Page Three)
CDR. ASHWORTH ON "A-BOMB" FLIGHT
It will be zeal news for all of you Wenhamites miles from home to learn that one of our own townsmen played a vital part in bringing the Jap war to its quick conclusion. That one was Cmdr. Fred "Link" Ashworth, USN., who was one of the Navy technicians on the Super- fortress that dropped the second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. Cmdr. Fred, who has been away from Wenham since he entered Annapolis quite a number of years ago, has been closely associated with the development of the Atomic bomb, it was recently announced. He worked with a technical staff of the Navy at Los Alamos, a little place about 95 miles from Santa Fe, New Mexico, tucked away among the mountains near some ancient Indian cliff dwellings. From this area, parts of the bomh were shipped to an unnamed Pacific
Dr. and Mrs. Rogers have two base where it was assembled for children, Rosemary, four years of (Continued on Page Three) age, and Peter, two.
WELL DONE, NEIGHBOR
Pearl Harbor, D-Day, V-E Day, V-J Day. Just a few brief words, but how they will stand out in the minds of all who have lived through this cra. - Between each there were times for all manner of human cmotion, as we experienced Anger, Fcar, Sus- pense, Anxiety, Joy, and Pride. But one great day remains before we close the book. That will come when each and every one of you stands personally before us to receive the thanks from those unable to go out with you. Until that great day, may we send to the far corners of the globe the united voice of your home town as it says with pride, "Well done, Neighbor."
is now wearing his bars, (Lt.j g.), DR. DANIEL ROGERS FOOTBALL AGAIN NEW DOCTOR HERE
After a period of nearly 30 Football is with us again, and for you who may be graduates years, Wenham once again has a practicing physician, as Dr. Daniel of Beverly High, you will be on its foresight. Rogers began practice here. He has pleased to know that Coach Charley purchased the residence formerly
Walsh over there on his second owned by Mrs. Stoddard at the year as coach has one of the best corner of Cherry and Main streets, clubs Beverly has sported in many and plans to eventually build an years. Opening the season with a office adjacent to his, home.
present, however, Dr. Rogers is under wraps, the club broke into holding forth in the office formerly print with a 7-6 win over a power- occupied by Dr. John Corcoran in ful Saugus club the following weck. Hamilton who retired from active Six days later Lynn English up to work on October first.
Dr. Rogers was horn in Adana, Turkey, the son of a medical mis- sionary. He graduated from Ilar- vard in 1936, and was appointed to a rotating internship at Beverly hospital. In 1937 he married the former Clarinda Moscr of Rocky Hill, Conn., and the following year he was appointed to the Children's Service at the Massachusetts
General Hosnital. He went to Clinton, N. Y. where he began
The game was a bitterly fought practice, continuing there for the onc, clean, and hard, with a power- past six years. Desire to be in ful Peabody line proving the de- this section of the country, and his ciding factor in a 6-0 win for the acquaintances in the Beverly hos- Tanners against the fast running, pital led him to return East, and and accurate passing Beverly ag- his setting up practice in Wenham is welcomed by all."
gregation. From here it looks as though Beverly might now go through the balance of the fall un-
(Continued on Page Three)
ALERT COMMITTEE BRINGS POST-WAR PROGRAM NEARER
Some months ago in our "Town Meeting Number", we wrote of the wide awake job our Town Post- War Planning committee had done in preparing a program which would provide Wenham with cer- tain much needed improvements once the time for such projects hecame suitable. Events in the past few weeks have shown the wisdom of such preparedness, and this town, one of the first in the state to have a sound practical public works program available for post- war action, has already cashed in
The Town Treasurer of Wen- ham has already received from the (Continued on Page Two)
WENHAM JOINED IN V-J CELEBRATION
The glad tidings of the war's end was received in Wenham as throughout the nation at 7 o'clock in the evening on Aug. 14. and only seconds after the voice of President Truman had made the announcement, the bell on the First Church began to ring out the good news. Firemen opened the sirens on the fire trucks, and youngsters for minutes afterwards fulfilled their life's ambition of sounding those shricking whistles and ring- ing the bells.
Persons gathered about the square, and for a brief period of a half hour or more, there was excitement in the center of town, although none of the wild doings of some of our neighboring com- munities were noted here. Many house parties were staged on a few moments notice, and over in the East end of town, a private bonfire was touched off on one of (Continued on Page Two)
Editor DEL KENNARD
Treasurer and Assistant-Editor MRS. WILLIAM CAMPBELL
PUBLISHED FOR THE PURPOSE OF BRINGING WENHAM CLOSER TO OUR MEN AND WOMEN IN THE SERVICE
Circulation MRS. ERNEST GREGORY MRS. W. ARTHUR TROWT
FACSIMILE OF "WENHAM WANDERINGS" Headpiece drawn by Ellen Quincy Kennard.
CATCHES OUR EYE
At 20-0 victory over Danvers, playing
then considered a powerful club was snowed under 27-6, after the Orange and Black had spotted them a touchdown in the first period. Riding high, and leading class B, and with hopes of the first undefcated season in years, the Beverlyites took on a Pcabody cluh, itself undefeated in 18 con- secutive games and defending title- holder of the state Class A honors for 1944.
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must be accomplished by small crews, using only priority material. As a result of these extra demands, civilian service was curtailed. During the period of the war, many Wenham homes, some very iso- lated, were unable to have telephones installed.
Telephone service has become so much a part of our daily living, we do not always realize what it has meant in these war time years to keep the service uninterrupted. There have been great storms crippling the whole system which was restored by the small crews of repair men, working under severe weather conditions for long hours without rest.
The uninterrupted conduct of our local telephone exchange was the achievement of Chief Operator Jetta Roberts. Lacking much needed additional equipment, and despite a constant change of opera- tors, and the training of new operators, our town has had good serv- ice, augmented by Miss Roberts' friendly interest, in completing servicemen's calls, by tracing the whereabouts of home people, tem- porarily absent. Such service and her emergency work has relieved many an anxious home, and was always an aid to the morale of the serviceman. Miss Roberts' service merits a grateful record.
NEW ACTIVITIES OCCASIONED BY THE WAR
WENHAM WANDERINGS"
"Wenham Wanderings" which brought Wenham a little closer to the boys in the service during a four year period was the result of the cooperative effort of many persons. The idea originated with Rev. Frederick W. Vaill, then pastor of the First Church, late in the fall of 1942, when he suggested to the Young Methuselahs, a church organization of young people, that they send a mimeographed letter to all boys from the town known to be in the service.
Willard Smyth, a teacher in the Center School, took over this project, and Volume One, Number One, came out in October, 1942, as a small two page mimeographed sheet which was sent to 104 Wenhamites. The second issue did not come forth until February, and with this the idea seemed doomed to fall by the wayside.
Two months later, however, desiring to produce a printed sheet, Delano Kennard took over the project with Mrs. Donald Jaquith as circulation manager. On April 1, Number Three of "Wanderings" came forth as a one page printed sheet described by the editor as "the same friend in a new dress." A column "Did You Hear" in-
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cluded one line excerpts from letters from servicemen of the town, and bits of news about Wenhamites' activities in all parts of the globe. The printed sheet made it possible to include much more material than had the mimeographed original, and the idea found rapid favor.
The Salvage Committee was asked to contribute from money raised on salvage drives to defray the cost, and the printing plus mailing of this issue totalled $17.26. Mrs. Jaquith had the diffi- cult task of locating addresses and mailing the paper, no small pro- ject with the locale of Wenhamites changing so frequently.
On May 1 and June 1, this type of paper went forth, and hundreds of letters were received telling of the warm feeling this "news from home and friends" brought our boys in all corners of the world. Pictures appeared in the June issue, and then the editor hit upon the idea of a souvenir edition to mark the town's Tercentennial. July and August were combined into a four page affair, replete with pictures and a complete story of the Tercentenary celebration held in July, 1943. Through this medium Wenhamites far from home were able to visualize the 300th anniversary program.
In October, Number Eight of "Wanderings" appeared with high- school football scores and sports pictures to bring back peacetime memories and assure the boys that those at home were trying to carry on. In fact every issue of the paper had for its main purpose the bringing of Wenham closer to the boys, and an attempt to main- tain morale by picturing home-front activities as nearly normal as possible.
Home-front activities, however, became so complicated that the two members of the staff found the task of publishing and mailing too difficult to maintain during the next few months, and publica- tion was suspended during 1944 until November. Then because of a tremendous demand from the boys for "more copies of 'Wander- ings,' " Mrs. William Campbell agreed to take over the difficult job of maintaining the ever changing mailing list, if Mr. Kennard would again write the paper. Assisting her were Mrs. Ernest Gregory, Mrs. Joseph Harrington, and Mrs. W. Arthur Trowt.
Thus "Wanderings" was reborn in November, 1944, and continued every other month until the end of the war. In a new dress of four pages similar to the Tercentenary issue, this home town news went forth with the mailing list growing to well over 200.
Every issue featured pictures and the "Did You Hear" column, the latter increasing in proportion to the letters received direct from
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the boys. Snow scenes in the midwinter issue of 1945 brought in- teresting letters from the boys on Pacific islands, and the March town-meeting number likewise proved popular. In May, a V-E issue went out, and with salvage funds running low, Mrs. Campbell organized a drive for donations that brought close to $100 into the treasury during the next few months.
In July, war-time restrictions being lifted, "Wanderings" pub- lished its first lists of points where Wenhamites were stationed, and this proved the means of bringing a number of local boys together for joyful meetings thousands of miles from home.
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