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TEMPLE, NEW HAMPSHIRE . IN
WORLD WAR II
TEMPLE HISTORICAL SOCIETY TEMPLE NEW HAMPSHIRE
CENFALOCN
GEN
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
15
3 1833 01275 5184
GENEALOGY 974.202 T24TE
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TEMPLE NEW HAMPSHIRE in WORLD WAR II
TEMPLE HISTORICAL SOCIETY, TEMPLE, NEW HAMPSHIRE
COPYRIGHT 1951
Photo by Haydn Pearson Courtesy of the Boston Herald
TEMPLE COMMON
OFFICERS TEMPLE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
1949-1951
President, ANNA H. WAHLSTROM
First Vice-President, JOHN E. COLBURN
Second Vice-President, CHARLES P. DILLABY Treasurer, HERBERT A. WILLARD Secretary, ABBIE KENDALL
Custodian, ABBIE KENDALL
1951-1952
President, ELISE M. WILLARD
First Vice-President, GERTRUDE H. BENOTTI Second Vice-President, ORLO J. FISKE Treasurer, HERBERT A. WILLARD Secretary, ABBIE KENDALL Custodian, ABBIE KENDALL
EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
CAROLYN B. HILL CLAYTON O. DAVIDSON GLADYS C. DAVIDSON
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
During the period of World War II, Mrs. Alberta Hagar of Milford, New Hampshire, prepared scrapbooks of clip- pings about Temple Servicemen, from The Milford Cabinet. These clippings were of real value in preparing this book.
Appreciation on the part of the Editorial Committee is extended to Mrs. Hagar.
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PREFACE
The strength of our nation, its moral fibre and its spirit of patriot- ism is nowhere more striking than in the small towns of the country. We of Temple are one of the smallest towns of the State, but need to yield to no community, whatever its size, in the record of patriotic service to the nation in all times and periods of war since Washing- ton's day. Temple's part in the Revolutionary War was outstanding, the same is true of the war between the States and the Spanish War and World Wars I and II.
I believe it to be an historic fact that in the Civil War and in World War I we contributed a greater proportion of our sons to the Service than any other community in the State of New Hampshire.
In World War II we furnished about 20 per cent of our popula- tion in young men who entered the service. It will be a long time before Temple overcomes the sense of poignant grief that we felt in the supreme sacrifice paid by our three Temple men in World War II. They loved Temple and its environment, just as we do. Their memory will be imperishable in the hearts of those of us who lived through that war. We have often heard those words in Latin, "Dulce et decorum est, pro patria mori," "It is a sweet and beautiful thing to die for one's country."
But to us who live on, there comes the obligation to live for our country, to strive to make it a better country and to lift the level of the age which we inhabit.
So, proud of the heritage of Temple and its contribution to the nation in times of crisis, we salute the valiant sons who have laid down their lives for their country, and will honor them best as we live our lives, by consecrating ourselves to the service of our country. And we know that our dead, who sleep today, would join us in the prayer, which is in every heart in these trying times, "God Bless America."
U. S. SENATOR CHARLES W. TOBEY
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"The Hills of Home"
"It was good to hear of a Sunday service in Temple. I can visualize the shady roads of forenoon and the sweet tone of a church bell, I can almost hear. Nowhere in the world is there a church bell with so much meaning and tone for me as in Temple.
I have listened to it from afar most of the Sundays of my life; from the mountainside or from the hills, from the fields or the meadows, and thrilled to its message.
And I was glad to be reminded of the broad and beautiful Connecti- cut placidly dividing the good states, Vermont and New Hampshire, and yet uniting the two states more closely than any others in com- mon things. One summer I crossed that stream at Bellows Falls many times while trucking lumber into Vermont. I loved the early morning hours for the start of the trip past the fine farms of Westmoreland to Walpole. Since then I have made several pleasure jaunts in the Green Mountains and the greener narrow valleys of Vermont.
There is little I can write about things over here but all is well with me. New Hampshire would indeed be a vision here in Sicily with those thickly leafed maple trees, the green fields, rocky cow pastures and interesting fields beyond. And the laurel; did it bloom as lavishly this season as last? Indeed I miss much when away. Although the vicissitudes of war cannot be sidestepped, I try to take into my life those things of beauty along the way that nature provides."
MAURICE STONE
From a letter to Mrs. E. G. Merriam, August 11, 1944, Wilton, New Hampshire.
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Introduction
In close to two centuries as a township, Temple has not greatly changed. We are a New Hampshire hilltown spread out in rocky hollows under the shadows of the Monadnock Range. Our population in 1940 was 256. The few summer residents are in no respect a colony. They are people brought together from all parts of the United States because of their passionate love of this countryside; the spring clouds of fruit blooms, the quiet roads taking their way to our dooryards regardless of any more important destination, the splendor of maples and oaks in the fall. Our summer people desire to stay in Temple all the year, and when housing can be obtained they become all-year residents.
Thus we stood at the outbreak of World War II. We were a small New England town at perfect peace.
Facing a green Common are a white-steepled church and chapel, a town hall, a general store, an inn, the ancient blacksmith shop, one of the best-stocked small libraries in the State, and a ranking district school where the boys and girls do a janitor's work for which the town pays them as it would a janitor. These wages our boys and girls have used for a radio, a projector and other needed equipment.
We had a twenty-five piece band in 1940, brasses and reeds, that played for Memorial Day exercises which to us are real home-coming days, for concerts and rallies in and out of town; also a small orchestra playing for revivals of square dances. The War broke up our music although we did have musical services of a sort during the years.
We have a large number of healthy, good-looking, intelligent child- ren, and the parents of five or six boys and girls look upon all the town's children as their responsibility also. A visiting physician and nurse take care of our child health as well, if not better, than city schools do.
No rails, not even bus tires, track our roads; we walk or drive, sometime a horse and buggy, when we have to leave town. Only grudgingly does Highway No. 101 run through part of Temple, re-named, or rather called Horace Greeley Highway, entering from the Wilton side and passing over Temple Mountain into Peterborough. Our roads, cemeteries, public buildings and farms deteriorated during the war years, but show much improvement since our men returned. Since 1912 we have kept Good Roads Day in Temple, a day of work by volunteers on a bad piece of road close to a homestead that needs
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transportation. All able-bodied men and boys give their labor and in return receive all the apple pie and sundries they can eat, served by our ladies at the town hall.
When World War II broke our boys were helping their fathers carry on Temple's limited industrial activities; apple culture, poultry- raising, dairying and the running of two portable saw-mills. The majority had finished high school, a few had university degrees, a minority were graduates only of our district grammar school.
We had no share in national politics, in the planning of a world war. Government by town meeting, which constitutes complete local self government, had been good enough, had worked out satis- factorily for us these two hundred years. Town officers were a modera- tor, the town clerk, the town treasurer, three selectmen, a tax collec- tor, a road agent, two auditors, a wood surveyor, and a lumber sur- veyor. One town meeting a year covered town administration and finances. If we had infrequently a town debt incurred for needed road equipment, it was paid by three or four yearly notes of equal amount. Mail that started from Temple for the nearest railroad by snowshoe needed a cleared road for the finish.
If the term rugged individualist has any remaining significance in American life, that describes us from 1758 to now. We make a living out of rocky terrain. Our patriotism lies too deep, having its roots in Revolutionary days, for paying heed to political machinations. We were, are, native Americans of high pride and intolerance of inter- ference in matters of town administration. What Temple has made of itself is something enduring in national life, we believe.
The 1940 census of our town changed but little during the period of World War II. The greatest change came about through the ab- sence of forty-two Temple men who served with distinction in all the theaters of operation. Wartime percentages measure little in relation to the heartaches of those left at home, the tragedy of our three who did not return. But Temple ranked high in the percentage of service. The records of our veterans of World War II follow.
HERBERT WILLARD, Town Clerk,
Temple, New Hampshire.
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*
Roll of Honor
DEAD Murray M. Day David H. Quinn Leon W. Blood
RETURNED
William E. Carr
Clayton O. Davidson
Carroll Allen
Donald F. Davidson
Ralph E. Drew
Royal E. Edwards
Francis C. Eaton
Hervey F. Davidson
Lawrence R. Hill
Warren E. Davidson
Harold N. Kullgren
Donald Brown
Howard B. Kullgren
George W. Pajanen
Robert P. Kullgren
Richard T. Pajanen
C. Taylor Maynard
Harold V. Edwards
Albert H. Phillis
David H. Bigelow
Paul E. Young
Phillip Quinn
Frederic W. Swift
Norman F. Rockwood
Charles N. Soule
John D. Marr, Jr.
Royal V. Strong
John A. Mazza
Martin C. Young, Jr.
Maurice W. Stone
Wallace R. Blood
Charles L. Stone
Amos W. Flemings
Albert A. Quinn
Malcolm L. Holt
Warren W. Quinn
Charles H. Young
Lawrence C. Young
Everett Drew
* As recorded 1945 on memorial tablet, Temple, New Hampshire
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MURRAY MACLELLAN DAY Killed in U. S. bombing of the Oryoku Maru, 1944.
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MURRAY MACLELLAN DAY, son of Viola and Murray G. Day, was born August 24, 1917, in Boston, Massachusetts. He was educated four years at Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, New Hampshire, and four years at Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, at which place he majored in Military Science (ROTC).
Upon graduation at Princeton in June, 1940, he automatically became a Second Lieutenant in the Field Artillery in the Reserve Corps. He spent the summer of 1940 at instruction camp, Pine Plains, in upper New York State. After camp he spent much of the time in Temple, New Hampshire, and was taken into the army the third of March, 1941, and assigned to Battery D, 156th Field Artillery, 44th Division, as Motor Officer at Fort Dix, New Jersey. All his life he had been very much interested in automobiles, tractors, etc., and when he had a chance to go to Fort Wayne near Detroit, Michigan, for an intensive course in the operation and maintenance of tractors, automobiles, trucks, etc., he accepted at once.
While he was stationed at Fort Wayne, there came a request for volunteers for the Philippine Service and a classmate who was married
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said he could not go but he thought that his classmate, Murray Day, would like to. On returning from his tour at Fort Wayne, Murray signed up to accept the service.
His orders were badly mixed up and he finally got them so late that he had to leave by air from Boston on July 11, 1941, to catch the ship in San Francisco. As it so happened, he got the S. S. President Coo- lidge which was afterwards sunk by the Japs. He reported to head- quarters in Manila on or about the 1st of August, 1941, and from there we take up his life in his letters.
Murray was a member in good standing of the Grange in Temple, the Elm Club in Princeton and the Military Order of the Loyal Legion which he inherited from his great-grandfather, General Hannibal Day.
Decorations and Citations: First Lieutenant Murray MacLellan Day: Distinguished Unit Citation with two Oak Leaf Clusters (Highest Unit Citation)
Purple Heart
American Defense Medal with one Bronze Star
American Theater Medal
Asiatic-Pacific Medal with two Bronze Battle Stars
Philippines Defense Ribbon
Philippines Liberation Ribbon Victory Medal
Extracts from letters received from First Lieutenant Murray Day from the Philippines. Received August 1942.
Written to his Aunt, Alice L. Day, sister of Murray G. Day, dated February 24, 1942.
"The war we thought about and talked about really came to pass and the first results may have surprised many. Now, how- ever, we know that we are not forgotton and by the time you get this we will be chasing the Japs into the sea. We hear all about the world affairs on our radio and compare Pro-Axis, Anti-Axis to see if by careful sifting a little truth may be gleaned.
I hope that you are not too much worried about me. My health is O.K. and so far I have no holes in my hide other than those induced by getting mixed up with some barbed wire fence. I don't know how the columnists are treating us but I hope you will save some of the clippings.
There is really very little news that I can give you. I have
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been promoted once and now have quite a job in what is termed 'one of the outfits that saved our necks,' by some."
Written to his parents. Dated February 24, 1942.
"On a thought that there may be some mail through to the States someday I am going to write a line or so. You probably know more about the war than I do although one of the cars in my outfit has a radio. I can't tell you what outfit I am in now or what job I hold but I will tell this, that it is an outfit which has cost the Japs plenty. I am really proud to have been chosen in it. . . .
I was pretty healthy the earlier days of the war but a couple of attacks of dysentery with a little malaria have bothered me slightly. Don't worry about me-I am just as safe as the average pedestrian in New York. When our planes come it won't take any time before we run these Japs off into the ocean,-and I mean that literally. The little Jap brother has spread himself over too much territory and I expect before you get this that the picture will change very greatly.
I have a V-8 which, if it lasts the war, I'll bring home. It has been shelled once, bombed once and machined gunned once but still it goes. It is a battle scarred veteran now."'
Written to parents. Dated March 6, 1942.
"We are going to beat the Japs before we get done so don't be worried. I am in an outfit which has already had an enviable record and will improve it soon. I have already been promoted once which you may have seen in the Army & Navy Journal. Don't believe the Jap propaganda; we are O. K. here and getting along finely. I have been in some funny places since the beginning of the war and will be in some funnier ones before it is over. The Japs are not happy and if we blow a few more thousand up they will be even more unhappy.
I am living in the open with a tarpaper shack over my head and enjoying good health. We are in the tropical jungle but there are very few mosquitos and other varmints. There are various kinds of lizards, etc., but they only holler at night."
Written to parents. Dated April 22, 1942.
"I am still in the Philippines under the American flag. Things have moved very quickly since the first of the month. With the fall of Bataan things became different.
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However I am still eating and sleeping. I did lose everything I owned except my wallet and glasses but I got more or less re- outfitted and am ready to go again.
I had a pretty bad siege of malaria-temperature 105-but after about five days of shaking it went away until the next time. By keeping full of quinine I believe I can keep ahead of it. ...
When I get back after this I will have a lot of stories maybe about the campaign in Bataan, etc. We hope that Tokio contin- ues to be bombed and that the campaign all over the world starts up and starts whipping the Axis powers (and they) get pushed back into the hole they came out of. Don't worry about us out here. We will get along somehow. Give my regards to all . . . "
Excerpt From Letter Written By Major R. G. Davey. Dated May 16, 1946.
"I have always been interested in the New England area and he told me many of the things to see and do if I ever got into that area. I remember that one of his plans when he got home was to go into the maple syrup and sugar business. Until I lost my address book, when our ship was sunk, I had his address so I would be able to get some syrup from him. He had really done a good job of selling while he was in camp, and I know that he would have sold a lot of syrup to us.
Your son commanded a Battery of Self-Propelled 77mm guns under Major Ganahl, who is mentioned in General Wainwright's Story, in the Philippines, and did a very good job with them. Because of their high mobility they got the brunt of the fighting. There may be some specific questions I could answer for you, if you have any. I have found that usually when the families of my friends ask me questions, it calls back to mind events and things that have happened."
Excerpt From Letter Written in Washington, D. C. By Captain Alan McCracken. Dated March 26, 1947.
"I knew your son well at Davao for 19 months and had many interesting discussions with him on impersonal subjects. You will find reference in my book to an imitation 'Information Please' often held at the hospital. Your son sat on the Board of Experts several times and he was seldom stumped by any questions."
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Excerpt From Report of a Visit By a Friend to Sergeant Charles Johnstone at Walter Reed Hospital.
"Murray had made a snakeskin wallet and carved himself a pipe. He had a vegetable garden of which he was very proud- tomatoes, radishes, etc., and he had worked out a scheme to make a lot of money out of maple syrup! He always said he wanted to settle down as soon as he got home, which seemed unusual to me (the sergeant) because most of the fellows were so sick of being confined they wanted to do nothing but roam around and see things."
Excerpt From Letter Written By R. C. Strong, Jr., from Headquarters, Seventh Naval District, DuPont Building, Miami, Florida. Dated February 19, 1946.
"I knew from my contacts with Lieutenant Day, even under the conditions of imprisonment, that he was a splendid Army officer. Whatever hardships were imposed upon him, his deep, quiet voice never became excited, nor did his manner lose its calm quality."
Excerpt From Letter Written By Major Donald H. Wills. Dated Feb- ruary 18, 1946.
"I admired him because he was always cheerful and interesting to talk to. He never let prison camp get him down. No matter how bad things got he never became discouraged and always had a good word or joke. That is the impression I had of him. He was interested in people and was always willing to get into a dis- cussion. He read a lot of the few books we had. His mind was very active."
Excerpt From Letter Written By W. H. Montgomery.
"I only know that Murray was a particularly jolly soul who wore that beat-up campaign hat at a jaunty angle and always had a good word for everyone he met."
Letter From Major Alvin J. Bethard. Dated February 18, 1947.
Re: MURRAY M. DAY
First Lieutenant, Field Artillery, U. S. A.
"He was stationed at Fort Stotsenburg, Philippine Islands, prior to the start of the war. Shortly after war started he was placed in command of a Battery of Self-Propelled Mounts (S.P.M.) and sent to North Luzon to fight delaying action and
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harass the enemy. This mission he performed in a superior man- ner, winning for himself and members of his command several medals.
I did not know him very well until we were both sent to Davao Penal Colony (Philippine Military Prisoner of War Camp No. 2) in November of 1942. Like the majority of us, he was sick quite a lot with vitamin deficiency diseases, pellegra, beri-beri, etc. He spent quite a lot of time in the Hospital Compound. He and I used to discuss the Civil War for pastime.
He would at times tell me about the maple syrup from New Hampshire and the fine apple cider they made up there. We stayed at Davao Penal Colony until June 6, 1944 and then were returned to Camp No. 1 at Cabanatuan. Murray worked on the farm there along with most of the others. We stayed at Cabana- tuan until October 12, 1944, and then were taken to old Bilbibid Prison in Manila where we stayed until we started our ill-fated trip on the Oroyku Maru.
Murray was at all times an officer and a gentleman. He never broke down under our hard life and if he had not been killed by our own bombs on December 9, 1944 he would probably have lived to return.
From his conduct and character displayed as a prisoner of war I am sure that he would have been offered a commission in the Regular Army of the United States."
Excerpts From Conversation With Colonel Curtiss on February 6, 1950.
"About a month before the fall of Bataan, Murray was pro- moted to Executive Officer of the First Provincial Group FA (Field Artillery) SPM (Self-Propelled Mounts).
About September 1, 1941, Murray was sent to Camp Del Pilar where he was in charge of instruction in motors at the Field Artillery School of the Philippine Army which had about 2600 students, and about ten old wrecks to work on. Here he had Philippine assistants. The Field Artillery School broke up around December 1 and Field Artillery officers were assigned to different divisions as instructors. This lasted about three or four days. The night before the war started they were ordered back to Fort Stotsensberg. That day each officer was given command of a battery. There was one American officer to a Battery. The rest were Philippines.
General King wrote a letter regarding the SPM's and spoke
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very highly of them. He said that if it were not for the work of these men they probably never would have been able to withdraw from Bataan, for these men held the line. During the fighting Murray was up in North Luzon and then came back.
Murray was also made executive to Major Ganahle who is men- tioned in General Wainwright's Story.
The Distinguished Unit Citation with two oak leaf clusters was awarded this Philippine Unit, the two clusters meaning it was awarded three times to the unit and every man is entitled to wear it. No unit in the entire war got more than three awards."
GENERAL HEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES ARMY FORCES, PACIFIC OFFICE OF THE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF
APO 500 25 October 1945
Dear Mr. Day :
My deepest sympathy goes to you in the death of your son, First Lieutenant Murray M. Day, who died in action against the enemy.
You may have some consolation in the memory that he, along with his comrades-in-arms who died on Bataan and Corregidor and in prison camps, gave his life for his country. It was largely their magnificent courage and sacrifices which stopped the enemy in the Philippines and gave us the time to arm ourselves for our return to the Philippines and the final defeat of Japan. Their names will be enshrined in our country's glory forever.
In your son's death I have lost a gallant comrade and mourn with you.
Very faithfully, (Signed) DOUGLAS MACARTHUR
Murray G. Day
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DAVID H. QUINN Killed in action November 20, 1943.
DAVID HENRY QUINN, fourth son of Kittie E. and George W. Quinn, was born in Temple March 18, 1919. He attended grammar school at Temple, New Hampshire, and was graduated March 1941 from Appleton Academy, New Ipswich, New Hampshire. He en- listed in the U. S. Marine Corps, for training in amphibian warfare.
Sergeant Quinn left for Boston to join the U. S. Marine Corps March 24, 1941. He was sent to Paris Island, South Carolina, to start his training. After a few weeks he was sent to Quantico, Vir- ginia; then for training at Canton, Ohio. Later he was returned to Quantico, Virginia. In a few weeks he was sent to Dunedin, Florida, where he was in training for eight months. There the Marines were stationed in a large hotel. After Florida he was assigned for training at the great Marine Base at San Diego, California. He studied hard and became First Sergeant after attending the Sergeants' School.
I received a letter from him written October 20th before he went on maneuvers somewhere.
David went overseas in October, 1942, and was stationed on islands somewhere in the Pacific. He was married to Zoe Margaret Boeson
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at Wellington, New Zealand. Then he left for Tarawa. He wrote his last letter to me November 18, 1943.
He was killed or severely wounded in action the first day of battle at Tarawa, November, 1943. We did not receive a telegram from Washington reporting David's death, until January 5th, 1944. His body was lost at sea.
March, 1944, at a meeting of Miller Grange, Temple, New Hamp- shire, a committee was appointed to work with the selectmen of Temple and the trustees of trust funds in planting a tree as a me- morial to the town's first war casualty, Sergeant David Quinn, U. S. Marine Corp Reserve.
On June 6, 1944, the dedication of a tree in memory of David Quinn, Leon Blood and Murray M. Day was held on the Temple Common. This tree, a rock maple taken from native stock, was transplanted to a spot on the Common in front of the Congregational Church under supervision of the selectmen. The Reverend Timothy G. Paddon, in charge of the Congregational Church, offered the prayer of dedication. Joyce Kilmer's Trees was rendered by Ruth Holm- gren of Concord, New Hampshire. After the playing of America, the Marine Hymn and Anchors Aweigh by the Peterborough, New Hampshire, band, the Reverend David Railsbach of Greenville pronounced the benediction. The music included vocal solos by Ruth Holmgren and a trumpet duet by Alvin W. Holt, Jr. and Her- bert Willard. Lawrence Hill was organist. The children of the Temple district school gave recitations and songs.
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