By Tracy F. Seelye, Express editor
editor@whitmanhansonexpress.com
WHITMAN – It was, to say the least, a busy Sunday on Temple Street.
The members of Whitman Fire Department observed Firefighters’ Memorial Day, with ceremony at the fire station and parade to Colebrook Cemetery to place memorial wreaths in honor of firefighters lost in the line of duty.
Once back at the fire station, color guards were included in a solemn rededication of the WWI Memorial Arch, after it’s face lift courtesy of restoration stone cutters. At the same time, entrants in the 5K road race were arriving and registering for the event that sounded the starting gun after the rededication ceremony ended.
This was the kind of life-affirming energy that moved the planners of the Arch to place it here – next to the fire station, and under which the town’s young baseball players would have to pass to arrive at the ball parks where the Armory and the American Legion are now located.
Historical Commission Chair Mary Joyce introduced the speakers and thanked those who made the ceremony possible.
“No project is done alone,” Joyce said.
The event was attended by all five Select Board members, with Shawn Kain giving the main address as the liaison to the Historical Commission. Past Veterans Agent Shannon Burke and current Veteran’s Agent Declan Ware, Al Howe who helped with the research that went into the biographies of the men whose names appear on the arch.
Joyce also thanked the voters of Town Meeting who approved the funds for the restoration work.
“It may be difficult to remember the history that you learn in the classroom,” Kain said. “Facts that you memorized about WWI sometimes feel distant and not too relevant, but our ancestors that stood on this ground 100 years ago went to great lengths to make sure we remember.”
They wanted to remember the names of 21 men who sacrificed their lives abroad for their community back home. So, when the war ended, the Legion dedicated the arch to bear their names as a lasting memorial.
“But stop and consider why they chose this location,” he said, noting there were other prime locations in town, including Whitman Park. “They chose to place the arch here – and it was a deliberate choice. At the time, the Fire Station was built, but the armory and the Spellman Center weren’t there yet. Those were baseball fields.”
The fire department has been a pillar of the community and a symbol of public service throughout its history.
“They wanted the children and families of our community to walk beneath the arch on the way to a Little League game,” he said. “That is a powerful image and a beautiful gesture. Today we remember. We remember the names of the sons of Whitman who made the supreme sacrifice, so that our children can listen to the national anthem and have a safe place to play.”
Asking for an observation of silent respect, Kain slowly recited the names of the soldiers honored in bronze plaques on the arch.*
On the east side
- Peter Paul Brown, KIA – Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, Belleau, France;
- Leo Joseph Buckley, accidental drowning – buried at sea;
- Vernon Kendal Churchill, MD, influenza – Melrose Cemetery, Brockton;
- • Albert Henry Cook, influenza – Colebrook Cemetery, Whitman;
- Robert Lester Hain, influenza – Aulenbach Cemetery, Reading, Pa.;
- Charles Timothy Haynes, influenza — St. James Cemetery, Whitman;
- Warren Haven Joyce, KIA three weeks before armistice – Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery, Lorraine, France;
- Hezekiah Rufus Lombard, KIA – Oise-Aisne American Cemetery, France;
- John Duncan Matheson – influenza, Colebrook Cemetery, Whitman and
- Raynor Bassett Nye,, MD, influenza – Colebrook Cemetery, Whitman.
On the west side - Martin Richard O’Brien, KIA -Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, Belleau, France;
- Walter Pease, influenza; Robert J. Pillsbury, influenza;
- George H. Simmons, influenza – Colebrook Cemetery – Whitman;
- James McNeil Smith – Dominion Cemetery, Hendecourt-les-Cagnicourt, Departement du Pas-de Calais;
- Julian Mozart Southworth, KIA near Cunel, France – Union Cemetery, Carver;
- Elwin Sweney, KIA – Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery, Lorraine, France;
- Shirley Sampson Thayer, influenza – Colebrook Cemetery, Whitman;
- William MacIntosh Warwick, KIA with 1st Canadian Cavalry – body left behind, no burial site – Belgian Croix de Guerre;
- Leeson Albion Whiting, influenza – Mount Vernon Cemetery, Abington and
- Dwight Clifford Wood, influenza – Colebrook Cemetery, Whitman.
Fire Chief Timothy Clancy spoke of Whitman’s pride.
“We’re proud of who we are and what we do and where we came from,” he said, thanking the CPC for funding the restoration. “To sit here and watch, while we were coming and going, the restoration of the arch, was truly a feat, They meticulously worked on the arch to secure it, they made it safe, it was quite a feat and I’m proud of it.”
Ware put the dangers facing U.S. Servicemen heading for France in 1917-18 in context.
“I’m going to bore everybody with a history lesson, but it’s important that we know our history,” he said.
In what was to be the final year of WWI, the Russian Revolution of 1917 ensured things would become more dangerous for the powers of the Entente – who, except for Italy, would be known as the Allies in the next war – as Germany could focus its full attention to the Western Front. The armies of the Entente were already badly bloodied.
In 1916, the French Army suffered 400,000 casualties defending Verdun, that same year the British and Commonwealth forces suffered 57,000 casualties in the first day alone of the Battle of the Somme. They needed an infusion of fresh troops by 1917 and, when the United States entered the war in April 1917, they got them, and by 1918, the American troops were at full strength with 2 million men in France. Ware spoke of one of them, Pvt Peter Brown of Whitman
Just two months after enlisting, Brown was already on the front lines in France, where his 77th Division fought in the 100-Days Offensive. He was killed on Aug.26, 1918.
“Today, we rededicate this Memorial Arch to the brave servicemen like Pvt. Peter Brown,” Ware said. “Their sacrifices must never be forgotten. Not only must we honor the fallen, but we have a duty to remember the heroes of the American Expeditionary Force. They were regular people, just like you or I – they held jobs, they had families. They were members of the community.”
*Editor’s note – Select Board member Shawn Kain did not read out the cause of death or final resting place [as was printed in the Historical Commission’s program]. All these men were heroes who, after three years of viscous trench warfare and the German use of mustard gas, were well aware of what they were heading into – one of which was influenza, known then as the Spanish flu. Many of them had survived the shooting war, only to succumb to influenza at American bases when they were sent home, many military doctors and nurses also died after prolonged exposure while treating ill servicemen.