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Home , April 1917, December 1917, Robert Conroy, Sergeant Stubby

Connecticut Irish-American Historical Society Vol. XXX — No. 4 — November-December 2018

John Hatheway Marguerite Sullivan Fred Walton Charles Mulligan Connecticut’s Irish in

his 16-page issue of our newsletter commemorates the New . She was born in Pittston, , in 1892. In T 100th anniversary of the armistice which ended World War I , the month the entered the war, she vol- just 100 years ago. The United States was in the war for less than unteered in the Reserve Nurse corps. She cared for sick and two years, but the mobilization of the nation was so huge that al- wounded service men and women as a Red Cross nurse for 10 most every family was involved in some way. The different stories months at the U.S. General Hospital in City. After the war, of the four Connecticut Irish-Americans pictured here are typical. she returned to New London and four more decades of nursing. The rest of this issue tells similar stories of several dozen of the Fred Walton, 23, was a son of Julius E. and Nora O’Connell Walton state’s thousands of Irish men and women who were involved. of Chatham. Fred was a railroad fireman on the New York, New John Hatheway, 28, of Ellington was the son of Dwight Hatheway, Haven & Hartford. He enlisted in and was in com- a farmer, and his Irish wife Hannah Donnally. John was mustered bat at St Mihiel and in the Meuse-Argonne offensive. In , into the 328th U.S. in . He was killed in action he was transferred to the 3rd Army Composite Regiment which in the Argonne Forest on Oct. 18, 1918. In a letter to his parents, his marched in victory parades in , London and New York. commander wrote: “With a reckless disregard for his own safety, he Charles Mulligan. 22, lived in Hamden and was the son of James took charge of a section when its sergeant was killed and at the risk and Maire Mulligan of New Haven. He was an employee of the New of his own life organized his group and consolidated its position.” Haven Gas Light Co. He enlisted in the Navy in April 1917, and was Marguerite Sullivan, 27, the daughter of William and Mary Gilli- a gunner’s mate on the USS Aeolus making six voyages in convoys to gan Sullivan, was a night nurse supervisor at Lawrence Hospital in (Please turn to page 2)

Hartford Red Cross nurse served amid bombardments

ong before the United States went to patients had to be moved to a place of safe- L war, a Hartford nurse was in the ty until the bombardment was ended. thick of the fighting in . Born in “The hospital is often busy far beyond its 1884, Agnes M. Ward was the daughter of capacity and after a heavy engagement, the Michael T. And Mary Ward, both natives of doctors and nurses are able to do little ex- . Michael rose to the rank of captain cept give first aid treatment. It is so near of Hook and Ladder Co. 1 in the Hartford the fighting lines that the soldiers are often Fire Department. brought there with their wounds still gap- Agnes graduated from the St. Francis ing.” Hospital Training School for nurses in Hart- In of 1918, the Courant commented ford and took postgraduate courses in on the fact that more than three years after nursing at St. Luke’s Hospital in New York arriving in the war zone, Ward remained City. on duty. “The group of nurses and doctors In , she was with a group of had contracted to serve for an interval of about 30 nurses and doctors who sailed for six months,” the Courant explained. The France. Upon arrival, she was assigned to a nurses “gradually dropped away until Miss field hospital in De Panne, . Ward alone remained.” Located on the coast of the At the end of one year, Ward traveled near the French border, De Panne was rav- across France. Later she joined the Ameri- aged during the war. A nearby cemetery can Ambulance Corps in which she served contains the remains of almost 4,000 sol- Agnes M. Ward for the rest of the war. When the war ended diers killed in that area. she was stationed at Neuilly near Paris. In an article on Nov. 14, 1915, about “Miss Ward and others in her hospital could In the summer of 1916, she went on leave wartime activities, the hear the shells shrieking high overhead with two other nurses and traveled to Paris Hartford Courant commented: “Ward has with half of their 20-mile trip completed. and , where they had an audience had more than her share of thrilling experi- The town of De Panne has been bombarded with Pope Benedict XV. several times and many of the shells have ences, as she has been under fire a number On Feb. 26, 1919, the Hartford Courant found their way to points close to the hos- of times and has long since grown so used reported, “Capt. M.T. Ward of No. 261 Park pital in which the American nurses are to the sound of heavy guns in action that Street announces the marriage of his serving. they do not disturb her.” daughter, Miss Agnes M. Ward, to Lt. Roger During the war, bombarded “In one of the last bombardments a shell Petler of the Lafayette Escadrille in Paris on nearby Dunkirk with its “Lange Max,” the fell within 150 feet of the hospital and tore Feb. 13. Madame Petler sailed for France on largest artillery weapon in the world at that a hole large enough to serve as the founda- , 1916.” tion of an ordinary dwelling house. The time. “When the Germans bombarded Dun- Sources: Hartford Courant, Nov. 14, 1915, May 10, rush of air which followed the explosion kirk with 42-centimeter shells recently at a 1918, Feb. 26, 1919; www.ancestry.com: 1900 U.S. range of 20 miles,” reported the Courant, broke every window in the hospital. The Census, Hartford; 1920 U.S. Census, Hartford..

State library has large collection of World War I records

(Continued from page 1) war, an index was created of all state resi- pated. The library has the original collec- France. He was at sea 363 days. He died of dents who served, including their dates of tion, but it can be found also on ances- spinal meningitis in the Naval Hospital at induction, their units and dates of dis- try.com. On ancestry, the names are sorted Norfolk, Virginia on Aug. 16, 1918. charge.. The state library has all three vol- alphabetically by towns. Over the past sev- Records of Connecticut soldiers, sailors, umes of the index. They can be viewed also eral years, the library has sponsored a cen- airmen and nurses in Word War l are nu- on www.archive.org, free of charge. tennial project titled, Remembering World merous and available in many town and After the war, the state library put togeth- War One. The centerpiece of the project is city libraries and museums. The Connecti- er a collection of those who served. The the compilation of similar records and pic- cut State Library has a large collection. As library encouraged all veterans, men and tures provided by descendants, relatives the war began, the state compiled an index women alike, to participate by filling out a and acquaintances of World War I partici- of nurses and of men who might be availa- brief summary of their service and includ- pants. ble to serve. In addition, at the end of the ing photographs. Many thousands partici- For information: www.ctstatelibrary.org

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Sgt. Stubby and Cpl. Conroy went off to war

homeless dog who hung around the Stubby was taken aboard a day or two be- them with his barking. A Yale football stadium in New Haven fore departure and hidden in the ship’s coal Conroy wrote that during combat, in the summer of 1917 became a national bin. When the ship reached France, Conroy “Stubby was always on his own, never tied hero with the help of his comrade, an Irish- tucked Stubby in his overcoat and carried up. He seemed to know that no one could American recruit from New Britain. him successfully down the gang plank with bother with him during action and that he The doughboy was James Robert Conroy, some of his buddies huddled around him. had to stay quietly under cover.” one of thousands of recruits who spent that Soon after reaching , according to On , 1918, at Seicheprey, Stubby summer in basic training in a city of tents author Ann Bausum who wrote a biography was wounded in his breast and leg by scattered in the fields around the Yale Bowl of Stubby, the powers that be admitted shrapnel. An ambulance took him to a field on the edge of New Haven. what they probably already knew was go- hospital and he recovered. Into that bustling scene ing on and decided to put In the Meuse-Argonne campaign in late of drilling, marching, tar- an end to it. But, she wrote, September, when the enemy was reeling get practice and inspec- “before Conroy or his furry from allied attacks, Stubby captured a Ger- tions, there wandered a friend could be reprimand- man soldier. Versions of the story have the bull terrier puppy, ed or punished, Stubby, by dog chasing his victim toward the American apparently without a mas- then a well-trained observ- line where he surrendered or running him ter, but with plenty of er of military protocol, had down and clamping his jaws on the seat of curiosity and a healthy sat back on his haunches, his pants. Whatever the case, the incident appetite. For a while, he reared up from the ground, seems to have won the New Haven dog the came and went, but grad- raised his right paw and honorary title of Sgt. Stubby which stayed ually settled in encour- given the critical a with him permanently. aged by the abundance of doggy salute. That did it. Stubby’s fame grew by leaps and bounds food scraps and the many Stubby was pronounced an after the war. Along with Conroy and the soldiers who stopped to official mascot for his unit, rest of the 102nd Infantry, he sailed home. pet him and scratch his and he and Conroy were Arriving in Boston in , Sgt. Stub- ears. The soldiers noticed allowed to proceed without by led the regiment in the victory parade of that wanderer’s tail had rebuke.” the Yankee Division. During the spring and been almost entirely cut The fact that the outfit’s summer, Conroy and Stubby starred in vic- off, and someone began higher ups were impressed tory celebrations throughout Connecticut. calling him “Stubby.” by Conroy’s talents and In November that year, they attended the Stubby was described as assigned him to the head- first convention of the newly formed Ameri- “not quite two feet tall ... quarters company may can Legion. and two feet long from Cpl. Conroy and Sgt. Stubby have been a factor in pro- In 1920, Conroy moved to Washington, snout to tail … sandy tecting the dog. During the D.C., to attend law school at Catholic Uni- brown color, streaked with waves of dark- winter of 1917-18, he was a dispatch rider versity. Stubby went along and became er fur … and patches of white on his chest, mounted on a horse with Stubby trotting mascot of the university grid team. A year face and paws.” alongside as they delivered messages from later, Stubby and Conroy attended a party Pvt. Conroy, the soldier who paid the headquarters to regimental outposts. for wounded veterans at the most attention to Stubby was one of six One newspaperman wrote without much where they were received by President children of James and Alice McAvay Conroy exaggeration, “Stubby’s history overseas is Warren Harding. In 1921, Gen. Per- of New Britain. Known as Bob, Conroy was the story of almost any average doughboy.” shing presented Stubby a medal for his a clerk for a New Britain company. He had The once homeless New Haven bulldog was work as a rescue dog in the war. spent two years in the Connecticut National so generally accepted that like the troops Stubby died on March 16, 1926, his obitu- Guard, then enlisted again just three days themselves he wore a dog tag fashioned by aries appearing in across the after the United States declared war on his comrades, with the inscription “Stubby, United States. The Smithsonian Institution Germany on April 4, 1917. 102nd Inf., 26 Div.” and Conroy’s name and mounted his remains in a plaster cast and The story might have ended then and serial number — 63254 — just in case. he is on display there now. Conroy died in there except that the soldier and the terrier Conroy had a special gasmask made for 1987. Stubby, and saw to it that the dog had bonded so well that Conroy smuggled Stub- Sources: Ann Bausum, Sergeant Stubby, 2014; Online: by aboard the train which carried the enough training with it so he would not try Connecticut Military Department, The Story of Stubby; 102nd Infantry from New Haven to New- to shed it. It was claimed that with his keen Hartford Courant, April 8, 13, 1919, May 23, 2018. port News, Virginia. There in cahoots with a sense of smell Stubby would recognize a crewman from the S.S. Minnesota, gas attack before the soldiers and alert

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With roots in , Lafferty got into the fight early

red T. Lafferty was one “sappers,” the battalion ar- German divisions which attempted to drive

F of the first Connecticut rived in France just in the British into the North Sea. At Villers- Irishmen to serve in World time to fight in the first bretonneux on the Somme, the Canadian War I. He enlisted in the Cana- major British campaign of sappers dug trenches, wrote Lafferty, “in dian armed forces almost a the war, the Somme Offen- frenzied haste and still farther north dug year before the United States sive. The campaign drag- again … in the last line of defense between entered the conflict. Lafferty ged on just north of the the Germans and the Channel.” was born in 1893 in Belleville, Somme River from July to During -25, the town changed Ontario, an industrial town with the hands twice. It was taken first by four Ger- near the eastern end of Lake allies suffering an appal- man divisions in an attack that featured the Ontario. His parents, Edwin ling 650,000 casualties. In first ever tank vs. tank fight. Then in a night and Marian Lafferty, were a letter to his family on attack, it was recaptured by allied troops. In children of Irish emigrants. In New Year’s Day 1917, August, the First Battalion, said Lafferty, 1897, the Laffertys emigrated Lafferty wrote: “Nobody “had its part in the offensive which … for to New York State, then moved realizes what war is until three solid months … was busy fighting and again to East Hartford where they are in it. It means a Fred T. Lafferty is buried marching … and when the armistice was Edwin found work on the New in St. Mary’s Cemetery in lot of hardship and suffer- signed it was far up in Belgium.” York, New Haven & Hartford East Hartford. ing. If you only saw what On March 10, 1919, the Hartford Courant, Railroad. we see here.” reported, “With souvenirs from the battle- In his teens, Fred became a trainman on In spring 1917, the sappers were trans- fields of France, Fred Lafferty, the first man the same line, but in , he went ferred to the salient, a small area of from East Hartford to see action overseas, back to the country of his birth to enlist in Belgium where trench warfare and the use arrived home after three years.” Canada’s Overseas Expeditionary Force. He of poison gas began by the Germans. Laffer- Sources: Hartford Courant, Feb. 9, 1917, March 10 served for the better part of three years. He ty was gassed while at Ypres and also was & 11 1919. ancestry.com: 1910 U.S. census, East was assigned to the First Battalion of Royal wounded by a piece of shrapnel. He sur- Hartford; 1871 Canada census, Edward Lafferty; Canadian Field Engineers, an outfit that vived to fight in the last major German Canada WWI Attestation Papers, Fred Thomas constructed bridges and railways, and dug campaign in spring 1918. The withdrawal Lafferty; Connecticut Military Questionnaires, trenches and tunnels for mines. Known as of from the war had freed up 50 1919-1920, Alfred Thomas Lafferty. Jim Bancroft photograph on Find-A-Grave; Martin Gilbert.. Picketing White House in wartime: patriotic or treason?

n April 2, 1917, President Wilson police did nothing in the way of interven- O asked Congress to declare war on tion.” The harassment continued and on Germany so that the world “be made safe Aug. 17, Flanagan was among a group of for democracy.” Some Americans — among suffragists arrested, charged with obstruct- them a 20-year-old Hartford Irish- ing traffic and unlawful assembly, and sen- American activist named Catherine Mary tenced to 30 days in jail. Flanagan — thought the president’s request Public opinion, even within the suffrage hypocritical because American women movement itself, was sharply split. The could not vote. That summer Flanagan went National Woman’s Suffrage Association and to Washington and picketed at the White its Connecticut affiliate opposed the picket- House asking Wilson to take care of prob- ing at a time when the nation was at war. lems on the homefront before trying the Some Connecticut suffragists stood by save the world. Flanagan and her fellow protestors. Mrs. The picketing, which began in Thomas Hepburn, president of the state 1917, was at first ignored by the admin- association, said, “I admire Miss Flanagan istration. By the time Flanagan arrived, the very much for being willing to go to jail for government had lost patience with the her convictions. It is more than most people pesky women. Flanagan described the situ- could even conceive of doing for an ideal …” ation: ”On Aug. 14, we were attacked by A sailor and a policeman accost Cathe- Sources: Bridgeport Herald, Sept. 23, 1917; Hart- sailors in uniform and by government rine Flanagan at the White House. ford Courant, Aug. 18-25, Sept. 13-16, 1917. clerks who tore our banners from us. The

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Ansonia native among nation’s first female sailors

orld War I opened the door for 25: “The enlistment of Miss Marion R. Phe- W women to serve in the United lan, the first woman in Connecticut to enroll States military and Irish women in Connecti- in the Naval Reserve, and of six other women cut stepped right up to help end the Navy’s in this city who followed her … have been men-only rule. rejected by the Navy Department, which has The abrupt about-face in policy was due in notified the enlistment office here that no part to Germany’s decision in women will be received into the naval re- to conduct unrestricted warfare serve in any capacity. The applications of in an effort to bring to its knees. By several other women received after the new March, German were sinking order came were rejected by the local re- hundreds of thousands of tons of shipping cruiting force.” not only of its enemies, but also of neutral The on-again, off-again handling of the nations including the United States. issue may have been the result of a slow The situation became so dangerous that moving bureaucracy in Washington. Or, it President authorized im- may have been that some high-ranking offic- mediate construction of 60 submarine chas- ers in the chain of command fought a last- ers and an increase of Navy manpower to a minute battle to save the longstanding tradi- wartime level of 87,000. The quick enlist- tion of an exclusively male Navy. ment of 6,500 male sailors that followed was Whatever the case, the new policy caught encouraging, but left the Navy undermanned. on and by mid-summer the staff of the Naval In mid-March, Secretary of the Navy Jose- Coast Defense Reserve in New London con- phus Daniels instructed naval commandants sisted of 10 young women with the rank of at shore stations and all recruiting officers Ellen V. Houlihan was among many yeoman. To distinguish the females, the Navy “to be prepared to enlist women in the actual Connecticut women who answered gave them a rank of “Yeoman (F).” naval service …” Daniels said the judge advo- the call when the U.S. Navy opened its If the Navy dragged its feet a bit, it quickly cate general had ruled that women could be ranks to women during World War I. changed its mind about the value of women enlisted under the laws regulating recruiting. Born in Ansonia in 1899, one of seven in uniform. By the spring of 1918, it was ad- “While it is not intended to place women children of Maurice and Nora Hogan vertising, “40 qualified women stenogra- aboard ships,” he said, “they may be utilized Houlihan, she enlisted in the U.S. Na- phers, preferably with business experience for shore duty in connection with coast de- val Reserve on March 28, 1918, and are wanted at New London and Newport, fense work.” rose to the rank of chief yeoman in R.I., to relieve male yeoman for active sea A Navy rank of yeoman would be awarded the anti-submarine at New duty.” to women who qualified as stenographers, London. Discharged in , she Later that year, the Navy base in New Lon- clerks and typists, as well as those with skills became chief clerk and stenographer don was publicizing the benefits available to in radio telegraphy and other communica- at the U.S. Submarine Base. female yeoman. Pay was $32 a month, and tion work. “By filling the posts on shore with since there were no barracks yet for women, coast defense department. She received a women,” Daniels said, “the department ex- a stipend of $60 for their room and board. In temporary assignment in the intelligence pects in time of emergency to relieve the addition, they were eligible for government division.” men for fleet service and sea duty.” insurance of up to $10,000. The added that Katherine T. Nationwide, the first enlistee was a young “The Navy needs every available man for McCartin, a clerk in New Britain had Irish woman, Loretta Walsh. She enlisted at duty afloat,” said a press release from the sent a letter to the Naval Service Recruiting the Navy recruiting station in , base, “and they are being sent across as soon Station in Hartford. “I learn that a law has fittingly on March 17, St. Patrick’s Day. as they can be relieved from shore duty over been passed where women are eligible to In Connecticut, it immediately became ob- here. Every woman who finds it possible to enter the naval service as stenographers, vious that women were not only interested, enroll in the service should feel it her patri- typists, etc.,” she wrote. “Will you kindly but anxious to do their part in the war effort. otic duty to respond to the call.” send me some information regarding same, A few days after the enlistment in Philadel- such as if I have to enlist for a certain time, phia, the Hartford Courant reported that an Sources: Hartford Courant,, March 21-25, July 29, salary, etc.?” Irish woman had enlisted in Connecticut: 1917; April, 24, May 20, July 15, Oct. 18-19, 1918. As it turned out, the enthusiasm of young “Miss Marion R. Phelan, a on a Bridge- National Archives, “The Story of the Female Yeomen women to be sailors was a few steps ahead of during the First World War,” by Nathaniel Patch, port newspaper … has yielded to the lure of the Navy’s willingness to allow that. The Fall 2006, Vol. 38, Nr. 3, Genealogy Notes. the salt sea. She enrolled in the Park City Courant reported from Bridgeport on March yesterday in the United States naval reserve 5

Medals and monument honor Fair Haven Irish lads

ut near the Yale Bowl in New Haven On Oct. 25, the company commander, Lt. O stands a bronze monument of a Harold Carruth, was seriously wounded. World War I soldier in an unusual pose. The next in command, Lt. Barney Egan and Recognizable by his round tin helmet and Sgt. Clayton Squires, were huddled behind a his puttees, the doughboy is neither charg- a low hill trying to figure out a way to si- ing into battle nor leveling his rifle to fire at lence the enemy machine guns when an the enemy. Instead he appears to be scrib- artillery shell landed near them, killing bling with a pencil on a piece of paper Egan and wounding Squires. That left which he rests on his thigh. Ahearn as the only non-commissioned of- The monument depicts an actual critical ficer in the company. moment in the military career of the sol- He had both the good sense and courage dier, Cpl. Timothy Francis Ahearn, and his to rise to the occasion. Fishing a letter from comrades in the famous Yankee Division. home out of his pocket, he wrote a message Ahearn was born in 1898 in the largely on the envelope and sent it off to regimental Irish Fair Haven neighborhood of New Ha- headquarters. The message read: “To com- ven, the son of Patrick and Bridget Ahearn, manding officer, 102nd — From: C Compa- both natives of County Limerick. Patrick ny commander — Have made two skeleton emigrated in 1886, Bridget in 1887. They platoons of four squads apiece. Pvt. Keeney were married in St. Francis Church in 1892. is made 1st Sgt. — Am ready for any duty I As did many New Haven Irish, Patrick am called upon to perform. Am ready for worked for the New York, New Haven & replacements.” Hartford Railroad. Throughout that day, Ahearn actively and After attending St. Francis School, Tim aggressively commanded what was left of entered the McKeown Business College his troops, and the thin line held. Late in the where he learned stenography, and then day he went to the rescue of a wounded found employment as a clerk for the Marlin officer and succeeded in bringing him into Firearms Co. He was a charter member of a place of safety through terrific machine- the Maples Athletic and Canoe Club which The statue at Derby Avenue and Ella gun fire.” was organized in 1916. He was known as a Grasso Boulevard in New Haven depicts On the evening of Oct. 28, the battalion stalwart of the Maples football team. Cpl. Timothy Ahearn writing a message was relieved by troops from the 104th In- When the United States sent troops to the informing 102nd Regiment headquarters fantry. Then with but a few days rest, the Mexican border in to chase down that he and the few soldiers left were division moved back into the frontlines Gen. Francisco Villa, Ahearn was in the carrying on even though all the officers where it was on Nov. 11 when hostilities ranks with his National Guard unit. After and sergeants of C Company were killed. ended with the armistice. several months of searching for the elusive For his actions on Oct, 25, Ahearn was Villa, the guardsmen returned to Connecti- awarded the Croix de Guerre by the French cut. In early October, the Yankee Division was government and the Distinguished Service pulled from the front lines, reorganized and A year later, Ahearn and many of his Ma- Cross, the second highest U.S. military sent to the Verdun sector with orders to ples A.C. friends were back in uniform when award. The citation for the latter read: prevent the Germans from sending rein- the United States went to war with Germa- “After all the officers and sergeants had forcements to the northern section where ny in the spring of 1917, and they enlisted become casualties, Cpl. Ahearn took com- the allies had mounted an offensive. in Co. C of the 102nd Infantry Regiment. mand of his company, leading it throughout That summer thousands of Connecticut On Oct. 24, 1918, the 102nd was one of the remainder of the day’s action with great young men were mustered in and trained at several regiments which attacked the ene- bravery and ability. a tent city in the area around the Yale Bowl. my along a ridge that skirted Belleau Wood. Ahearn was the only New Havener to The attack ran into determined resistance Shipped to France by way of , the fight in all of the regiment’s battles. He was from the Germans, and their machine-gun 3rd Battalion arrived at in early gassed twice and wounded once. At the fire took a heavy toll on the attackers. Com- October 1917. The 102nd Regiment was in time of the armistice, he was being treated pany C of the 102nd was reduced to 40 combat at , Toul sector, at an army hospital at Revigny. men and of that remnant, 20 including Cpl. Seicheprey, Aisne-Marne offensive, Chateau The regiment arrived in Boston in April Ahearn, were assigned to protect the left -Thierry, St. Mihiel offensive, Marcheville 1919 and Ahearn was discharged on April flank of the regiment. Raid and Meuse Argonne offensive.. 28 at Camp Devens, Massachusetts..

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In 1920, census returns show Ahearn he refused to go to the rear, but volun- In discharging his duties as the party re- living with his family in New Haven and teered to act as a runner and repeatedly sponsible for the delivery of rations to the again working as an office stenographer. carried messages through the enemy bar- front line, Sgt. Higgins demonstrated deci- Later, Ahearn’s exposure to mustard gas rage. Later the same day, he voluntarily sively that he possessed the qualities of contributed to lingering health problems. joined a platoon and fought with it in a suc- courage, bravery and fidelity to a marked He drifted to the West where he became a cessful attack against the enemy’s lines.” degree.” Higgins was gassed twice during migrant agricultural worker. He died in In the 1930s, Dillon was chairman of the his time in France and spent two months in on Jan. 29, 1925, and was Yankee Division Association committee that 1917 in the base hospital. He returned to brought home to New Haven for burial in proposed a monument in honor of their the United States and was discharged in St. Lawrence Cemetery not far from the comrade Tim Ahearn. The monument, fea- April 1919. In the Connecticut veteran’s monument at Ella Grasso Boulevard and turing an eight foot tall statue of Ahearn, questionnaire he filled out, he wrote of his Derby Avenue, which honors his memory. was constructed under the auspices of the tour of duty: “I voluntarily enlisted … and Sgt. John T. Dillon Federal Art Project program in the govern- am very proud of having the distinction of A schoolmate, fellow Maple Athletic Club ment’s Works Progress Administration being of service to the United States.” member and comrade in arms played a during the Depression. John Jr. and John Sr. Fitzpatrick large role in the decision to make Ahearn Sgt. Francis J. Higgins One of the saddest stories of the 102nd the subject for the monument honoring all Ahearn and Dillon were not the only Irish Regiment was that of a father and son, Cpl. of New Haven’s World War I soldiers. doughboys in the 102nd Regiment honored John Dennis Fitzpatrick Sr. and Pvt. John Dillon was born in 1895 in Ennis, County for heroic actions. A Meriden native, Sgt. Dennis Fitzpatrick Jr. Clare, son of Timothy and Nora Dillon. He Francis J. Higgins was an unlikely candidate John Sr. was born in New Britain in 1872. came to Connecticut a year because he was a mess ser- In 1894 he was married in New Haven to later with his parents. He geant., Higgins was the son of Mary J. Reilly. Their son John Jr. was born attended St. Francis School Irish immigrant parents. Like in 1895 followed by two daughters, Mary in and was known as a skilled many other soldiers of the 1896 and Agnes in 1897. wrestler and football player. 102nd Infantry, he served In 1916 both father, a machinist at F.B. After graduating, he worked first in the 1916 campaign in Schuster Company, and son, a machine as a clerk at the Knights of , and in 1917 enlisted hand at Winchester Repeating Arms, served Columbus national head- as a private in Co. L. where he with the Connecticut National Guard in the quarters in New Haven be- became a cook. Mexican campaign. fore enlisting in the 102nd In , he pre- Father and son enlisted again in Septem- Infantry in 1917. pared meals for the company ber 1917 in Co. D of the 102nd Regiment. In France, Dillon kept a during the combat at Chateau- They fought shoulder-to-shoulder through diary in a little three-inch by Thierry, St. Mihiel and Ver- all of the first engagements of the regiment five-inch book. His daily en- dun. How he managed to get until July 18. “My boy was placed in my tries chronicled Co. C pro- involved in the fighting itself company,” said John Sr., “and was my part- gression ranging from in- was explained in his citation ner. We were making a charge at Chateau- spections and drills on the for a Distinguished Service Thierry. My boy was with me in the dash. voyage from Montreal to life Cross: “Mess Sergeant Francis Then he got struck in the head with a ma- in the trenches and deadly J. Higgins, then a cook acting chine gun bullet and a grenade.” combat.. One entry in late mess sergeant of Co. L, 102nd “It was a tough blow to me but I had to May tells of the toll of com- U.S. Infantry, during the occu- put up with it. I buried Jack, my boy in a bat and the loss of good pation by the regiment of little French town called Mandran. Near friends: “We held this line all their position in the sector him are the other brave boys of our outfit.” Sgt. John T. Dillon morning under a heavy bar- north of Verdun, always ac- rage in which Cederholm companied the 3rd Battalion Sources: “The Timothy Ahearn Memorial in New was killed also 3 more of our men … also ration train to the front and on numerous Haven, Connecticut,,” posted online by Theo Mayer wounded Corp. Lohnoiss, Pvt. Jacque, Devio, occasions was in charge of the entire train. in 100 Cities / 100 Memorials; Daniel W. Strick- J.F. Sullivan … It was here I learned my two The distance from the kitchen to the front land; “Connecticut Fights: The Story of the 102nd Infantry,” 1930; New Haven Register, March 18, pals Jim Coleman and Joe Roach were pris- lines varied from six to eight kilometers 1919; May 3, 1936; July 10, 1988; Mary Clare oners of war … It was said Jim was wound- and the route traversed was continually Ahearn, “Col Timothy Francis Ahearn, First Gener- under heavy shell fire. ed and tried to get through the barrage … It ation Irishman”; Cpl. John T. Dillon, diary, picture sure is lonesome without them …” “Sgt. Higgins never failed to accomplish and papers, courtesy of his son. John T. Dillon; Promoted to sergeant in July, Dillon was his mission on any trip to the lines. After Connecticut Military Questionnaires, 1919-1920, awarded the Distinguished Service Cross arriving at the front line on one occasion he Meriden Francis Higgins; New Haven, John Fitz- for his bravery at Chateau-Thierry on July volunteered and acted as a stretcher bearer patrick Sr. and Jr., online at ancestry.com; Laura A. 22. His citation read: “After being wounded, searching for and bringing in the wounded. Macaluso, “New Haven in World War I,” 2017. 7

Daring young men in their flying machines

erial warfare is one of the many mili- tor for the Oregon Railroad and Navigation England, on Jan. 16, 1917. Under the cate- A tary innovations that came of age in Co. which operated a rail network of 1,143 gory of special qualifications, they indicate World War I. Some scoffed at the very idea. miles throughout the northwest. that he was a “wireless operator.” One British general commented, “Aviation In 1912, Howard once again followed his The records contain the comment “unfit is a useless and expensive fad advocated by wanderlust, heading north into Canada, to for any service” for the months of June and a few individuals whose ideas are unworthy the city of Cranbrook, British Columbia, 50 August that year, but that may have meant of attention.” Such shortsighted skepticism miles above the U.S. border. Cranbrook was only that he was in training because by was quickly dispelled as planes and the a boom town after the Canadian Pacific , the records state, “since join- aviators who flew them proved invaluable Railroad in 1898 made it a stop on its line ing , flown SE5, 186 not only in locating the enemy and as- through the Canadian Rockies. Howard hours as an artillery observer.” The SE5 — sessing his strengths and weaknesses, but became a telegrapher for the railroad. Scout Experimental 5 — was a single-seat in bombarding him with explosives fighter developed by the Royal Air- dropped from high in the sky and with ma- craft Factory. It was stable, maneuverable chine gun bursts fired during tree-top and fast, and a favorite of British pilots. dives. Howard won praise for his daring. On one Murray Leo Howard mission, a dispatch of the war office stated, Murray Leo Howard was one Connecticut “A German battery consisting of four gun Irishman who fit the description of a daring emplacements hid behind a fine cluster of young man waging war in a flying machine. hedges was bothering the Allies for some Born in New Haven on Oct. 10, 1891, time. Lt. Howard mounted his machine and Howard was the son of John Michael How- soon found the location of he enemy. After ard and Agnes McCabe, who herself was the taking photographs of the battery he daughter of Thomas McCabe, a native of dropped a few shells, which not only de- Ireland, and his wife Agnes. The 1900 cen- stroyed, but obliterated all trace of it. After- sus returns show Murray Howard, age 9, ward, the locality was again photographed, and a brother, John Howard, 6, living with but there was not even a blade of grass to Charles and Susan Caffrey in the town of show where the hedges were … Nothing but Orange. Charles, age 60, was a native of bare ground with shell-holes.” England and a railroad worker; Susan, age On Aug 25, 1918, Howard was on patrol 55, was of Irish birth. near Seclin, a town near the Belgian border Murray Howard was an energetic young in northeastern France when he was en- man. At the age of only 15 years, he was gaged by two German Fokker planes. He attacked and shot down one, but, according making a living in the high tech industry of Lt. Murray L. Howard the early 1900s as a telephone operator for to the report of the engagement, “was then the Western Union company. He was in- Apparently, Howard also met his wife to attacked from behind … and received a bul- volved, too, with the Knights of Columbus, be — Margaret A. Drummond — in Cran- let through the back … in spite of his severe in New Haven, the city where that fraternal brook. They were married there on March wound he landed safely and was taken to organization was founded in the 1880s. 16, 1916. However, the Canadian census No. 1 Casualty Clearing Station, Pernes, Howard was filled with wanderlust and that year lists them as living in Blairmore, a where he succumbed to his injuries at 3:30 in 1909, he put his experience as a tele- town in southwestern . The census p.m.” He was buried in the British military phone operator to good use when he enlist- lists Howard as 25 years of age and Marga- cemetery at Pernes. ed in the U.S. Army’s Signal Corp. His enlist- ret as 19. Both are listed as of Irish descent James Patrick Murray ment took him halfway around the world. and Catholics. James Patrick Murray’s aviation career In 1909, he was a military telegrapher sta- Also that same month, , there spanned a half century. He learned to fly in tioned in , the capital of the Philip- is a military record that indicates Howard single-man, open-cockpit planes in World pine Islands, which were occupied by the enlisted in the Canadian Flying Corps. The War I. In the 1920s, he was a pioneer in the United States after the Spanish-American enlistment document shows his residence U.S. transcontinental airmail service. And in War. A year later, he was at Fort McDowell at Blairmore, Alberta, but Cranbrook, Brit- World War II, he played a significant role in on Angel Island, Calif., in Bay. ish Columbia, as his wife’s address as next- making the four-engine, 10-crewmen B-17 By 1912, Howard had been discharged of-kin. the workhorse of the American . from the army, but instead of returning to Howard’s service records indicate that he Murray was born in Norwich in 1892, the New Haven, found work in Baker City in arrived at the Royal Flying Force aero- son of Patrick Murray, a woolen mill fore- northeastern Oregon, as a telegraph - drome at Brooklands in County Surrey, man and his wife Margret Donovan. James 8

was a go-getter. He earned a bachelor’s railroad station at Rock Ridge 14 miles the B-17 Flying Fortress bomber, Murray degree in three years at College in away and telegraphed Cheyenne. A crew bargained with the Air Force chief, Gen. Hartford and taught for several years. He sent to recover the plane was said to have Henry ‘Hap’ Arnold and his second in com- went to in 1917, enlisted in the located the site by backtracking the steps of mand, Gen. George H. Brett. In one session, Royal Flying Corps and was promoted to a bear that had followed Murray as he Jablonski wrote, “Brett complained, ‘If we lieutenant. He arrived in France in late walked out of the wilderness. could only get a little cooperation from 1918. When the war ended, he flew mail Murray continued to fly the 930-mile leg , maybe we could do a little busi- from England to the Army of Occupation in of the airmail route for eight years until the ness.’ His Irish up, Murray responded, ‘If we Germany. government discontinued the airmail oper- could only get a little cooperation from the In 1920, Murray was selected to fly the ation. He is said to have flown 7,000 hours, Air Corps …’ At that point, wrote Jablonski, Omaha to Cheyenne to Salt Lake City leg of more than any other airmail pilot. “Brett ordered him out of the office.” the first U.S. Postal Service attempt to deliv- “Boeing Air Transport took over the Chi- Arnold intervened and the negotiations er airborne mail from to San cago-to-San Francisco mail route from the continued until a price per bomber that was Francisco. On Sept. 9 that year, the Chey- Post Office and ‘inherited’ Jim Murray, mov- acceptable to both parties was reached. enne Leader reported: “Begrimed with ing him to Washington, D.C.,” according to The B-17 became the workhorse long-range grease and smoke from the engine of his bomber of the U.S. Air Force in World War DeHavilland Four airplane, J.P.Murray … at II. “It proved efficient enough to be used in 5:51 o’clock Thursday afternoon swooped every theater of the war,” according to the down on the Cheyenne landing field … In National World War II Museum, “legendary the rear cockpit were packed 11 pouches for its ability to sustain heavy damage in containing 400 pounds of letters … 16,000 battle and bolstered by its nearly self- separate pieces of mail … sufficient firepower.” “About 50 persons were at the field to Murray retired from Boeing in 1962. welcome the first airmail ship … They first When he died in Washington on Jan. 22, observed the trail of smoke from the air- 1972, wrote, “While at plane’s exhaust. A moment later, the ship Boeing, Mr. Murray was credited with being itself became visible at first as a mere instrumental persuading the armed forces speck, but quickly assuming the outlines of not to drop the development of the B-17 a bird with outspread wings. Flying Flying Fortress after initial test trouble. The smoothly, the ship slanted down to the field B-17 went on to be a mainstay of American and landed with hardly a perceptible jar. bombing tactics during World War II.” Murray, who had flown from Omaha since 12:55 p.m. covering 453 miles in 236 Sources: for Murray L. Howard: Ancestry.com: minutes … showed nothing to indicate 1880 U.S. Census, New Haven, Agnes McCabe; New nervous strain from the journey.” A few Haven birth record, Murray Howard, Oct. 10, 1891; days later, Murray had the honor of deliver- 1900 U.S. Census, Orange, CT; U.S. 1910 Census, Saulalito Calif.; 1916, Alberta, Canada Census; ing the first airmail to Cheyenne from the James Patrick Murray British Columbia, Canada, Marriage Index, 1872- west when he landed Plane Nr. 71 from Salt 1935; Canada, WWI Attestation Papers, 1914- Lake City. the Wyoming Aviation Hall of Fame. “In 1918; Find A Grave, Lt. Murray Leo Howard; Can- It soon became obvious that delivering Washington, Jim dealt with the Commerce, ada War Graves Registers, 1914-1948; UK, Royal airmail the 2,700-plus mile width of the War, Navy and State Departments. Appoint- Air Force Airmen Records, 1918-1940; Canada, nation was not only a worthwhile service ed a Boeing vice-president in 1931, he led Ledgers of CEF Officers Transferring to Royal but a dangerous business. After just 10 the efforts in the Washington political arena Flying Corps. Knights of Columbus, San Salvador Council Monthly Bulletin, , p. 4. months, 21 pilots and eight mechanics lost for Boeing defense programs, including the Sources for James P. Murray: British National their lives in accidents. Murray himself B-17, B-47, B-52 and Wyoming’s own Min- Archives, AIR/76/366, James Patrick Murray. uteman missiles.” came very close to disaster. Ancestry.com: 1910, U.S. census, Norwich, CT; On Oct. 20, flying east in a blizzard from In his book, Flying Fortress, Edward Ja- James P. Murray, U.S. World War I Draft Registra- Salt Lake City at 100 mph trying to com- blonski describes the difficult negotiations tion Card. A.E. Roedel, “The Mail Must Go,” Annals plete his route before nightfall, he lost his between Boeing and the government re- of Wyoming, Jan. 1945, Vol. 17, No. 1. Peter Knapp, bearing and crashed into a hill 95 miles garding production of the B-17 long-range “Pioneer of Transcontinental Airmail Service,” west of Cheyenne. Fortunately uninjured, bomber of the U.S. Air Force in World War Trinity (College) Reporter, Spring 2001. Cheyenne State Leader, Sept. 8-14, Oct. 20, 1920. Edward he built a fire with sagebrush and huddled II. “It fell to James P. Murray,” wrote Ja- Jablonski, “Flying Fortress,” “James P. Murray, New blonski, “to contend with the assorted forc- by the wreckage of the plane overnight. York Times, Jan. 22, 1972. es he was to encounter in the old Munitions With no sign of a rescue plane the next morning, he walked 17 miles to the tiny Building. It was a frustrating assignment …” village of Arlington, hitched a ride to the In negotiations over production costs of

9

K. of C. offered soup and solace for friend and foe alike

t. Mihiel, a strategic town on the S Meuse River in northeastern France was captured by German troops in Septem- ber 1914. Its capture left a German salient within French lines, a triangular wedge of land that for most of the war blocked rail- road transport between Paris and the east- ern front despite repeated Allied attempts to recapture it. Finally in September 1918 in a four-day battle during which foul weather turned the trenches and fields into mud, American troops drove the Germans from the salient. The battle, in which a young American of- ficer, named George Patton won his first laurels as a tank commander, was im- portant because it greatly lifted the morale and confidence of the doughboys. A small but interesting story told about St. Mihiel involved what one report de- scribed as a strange little vehicle “that puffed along jogging determinedly close on A uniformed Knights of Columbus “Casey,” left, doles out hot soup to doughboys gath- the heels of the flying Yankees who oblite- ered around a mobile soup kitchen in France. At right, a wounded soldier is fed. rated the salient.” The first German prisoners were being the latter part of the 19th century. tance to the troops, the K. of C. raised an marched up toward the American prison When World War I broke out in August initial $1 million to establish recreation cages when the vehicle arrived “snorting 1914, K. of C. councils in Canada teamed up facilities in military camps throughout the and grunting as it struggled along … smoke with Catholic chaplains to provide money nation and overseas. As the U.S. involve- curling upward from the funny little stack and personnel to meet not only the spiritu- ment in the war grew, the investment mul- that topped it. On across no-man’s land the al, but also the social and recreational tiplied to $3 million and eventually $14 vehicle lurched and dipped with shells al- needs, of Canadian troops. Then, in the million with 150 huts in the United States ways falling just to leave the thing un- summer of 1916, the K. of C. established and another 150 in Europe. Sometimes the scathed.” It was said the German prisoners half a dozen independent rest and recrea- huts were stationery and sometimes mobile shied away from the contraption thinking it tion stations for United States troops sent as was that at the battle of St. Mihiel. might be a torture chamber where they to protect the southwestern border against The motto adopted by the K. of C. for its Mexican military excursions. would be tormented. huts was “Everybody Welcome, Everything In fact, the strange wagon was not only When the United States entered the war Free,” a slogan which won admiration and in 1917, K. of C. leaders committed the or- harmless, but a vehicle of rest and relaxa- respect from soldiers of all denominations ganization to a huge expansion of its efforts tion for battle-worn soldiers. It was one of and even from German prisoners of war to aid the troops. Supreme Knight James A. the mobile soup kitchens provided by the like those who got a cup of hot soup after Flaherty of New Haven wrote: “We did Knights of Columbus during the war. At St. the four days of battle at St. Mihiel. Mihiel, the soup was served not only to the something for the spiritual comfort and for To staff its huts, the K. of C. hired many of doughboys but to the German POWS who, it the recreation of the National Guard along its own members and also a number of was said, “tasted it timidly at first, then … the Mexican Border last year. The call now Catholic and Irish women. They all were with less show of fear as they noticed that comes from all over the country that this known as “Caseys,” from the affiliation with the soup given them came from the same work shall be continued and enlarged …” the K. of C. boiling pots from which the doughboys Expecting at least 100,000 of its 400,000 were drawing their steaming ration.” members to serve in the U.S. armed forces, Another aspect of the organization’s pro- grams for the troops was the provision of Founded in 1882 in New Haven by Father the K. of C. assured President Wilson of its Michael McGivney and a group of Irish lay- “unconditional support.” Recognized by the sports gear and equipment. Sent overseas men, the Knights of Columbus grew and government in Washington as “the repre- were 14,772 , 2,286 sets of boxing prospered throughout the United States sentative Catholic society of the United gloves and 1,687 football. One of the Caseys and Canada as a fraternal benefit society in States” to provide religious and social assis- who went to France and helped promote

10

on off-duty time was Johnny Evers Hayes, Hartford; Walter S. Holden, Meri- Norwich; Edward J. O’Hearn, Waterbury; a Hall of Fame player on the 1914 Boston den; Matthew Joseph Howley, Norwalk; Jeremiah J. Ormond, Stamford, Edward Red Sox champions and a member of the Michael J. Keyes, Bridgeport; Thomas Ed- John Real, Waterbury; Fred J. Riler, Tor- Knights of Columbus in Troy, New York. ward Kiley, New Haven; Thomas M. Lafin, rington; George J. Riley, New Britain; John From Connecticut alone, the K. of C. Ca- Windsor Locks. W. Scully, South Norwalk; Michael Henry sey volunteers included: Daniel William Also. Mary Langdon, Hartford; James B. Scully, Waterbury; Albert F. Sullivan, Brennan, New Haven; James A. Buckely, Madigan, Wethersfield; Patrick Andrew Bridgeport; James Francis Sullivan, New Bridgeport, Peter H. Campion, New Haven; Marren, Derby; James Joseph McGillicuddy, Haven; Edmond Patrick Wall, Torrington; John F. Cavanaugh, Thompsonville; Jeremi- Hartford; Rev. P.J. McGinney, Bridgeport; Leo M. Whelan, Bridgeport; Thomas A. ah J. Coffey, New Britain; Marie Katherine Michael McKiernan, Bridgeport; Michael F. Wigmore, Greenwich. Daly, Hartford; Michael J. Dineen, Thomp- McMahon, Hartford; Frederick W. Miller, Sources: Joseph Pronechen, “K. of C. Service in the sonville; Madeline Maria Doyle, South Nor- Waterbury; James Gilmary Moran, New Great War,” Columbia magazine, May 2017; Rus- walk; Julia A. Egan, Wethersfield; George Haven; Michael J. Morkan, Hartford; Wil- sell Council, New Haven, monthly bulletin, De- M. Fahy, New Haven; George D. Fitzgerald, liam P. Mulville, Greenwich; Alexander cember 1918, Laura A. Marcuso, New Haven in World War I, 2017. Hartford; James W. Fitzpatrick, Waterbury; Murphy, New London; Patrick Edward

Thomas J. Gibbons, New Haven; Patrick G. O’Brien, Thompsonville; John E. O’Connell,

Sailor from Roscommon wrote aboard

t least one sailor- can be found And is caused by a sound some folks A among the many Connecticut Irish don’t like. who did their duty in World War I. But to me it’s a grand refrain. Born in Strokestown, County Roscom- For it twangs in my heart, a vibrant note mon, in 1888, John Kenny left his job at the Blend of pride and joy and pain. Underwood Typewriter Co. in Hartford in It comes after days with a convoy March 1918 to enlist in the U.S. Navy. He Days of pitch and roll and lurch left behind his wife Theresa Ward, who also Standing four on and four off was of Irish birth, and four children. Hearing things you don’t hear in church.

After training at Philadelphia, Kenny It comes when your convoy’s inside the spent time at the U.S. Navy Station in nets, Queenstown, better known as Dun Laoghai- And the troops are lining the rail, re near , and at the U.S. Navy Station And your boat slips by on an easy bell, in County Wexford. From to Within easy reach of a hail. the end of the war, he was assigned to the crew of a destroyer, the USS Downes. To a destroyer man it’s like word from In the papers he submitted to the Con- home. necticut Military Questionnaires, 1919- Or like meeting a pal from a wreck; 1920, Kenny describes briefly the mission It’s a good old hearty Yankee cheer of the USS Downes. He said the destroyer Busting out from the troopship’s deck. patrolled the in search of German submarines which were sinking numerous John Kenny It’s the army’s thanks to the navy, Allied ships. Fireman First Class It means that they’ve come to fight; He explained that during his time aboard It means they are glad to have met us the Downes had “dropped 41 depth charg- And it shows that their hearts are right. es.” He added that twice — once near Liver- “There are memories of childhood, past pool and once “off the northeast coast of and gone, It’s the soldier’s goodbye to a sailor, Ireland,” the depth charges “brought oil to That make strong men’s eyes grow wet. As again he is heading to sea; the surface,” indicating that the explosives There’s love for the flag and thoughts of To stand between subs and those had struck submerged enemy subs. home Doughboys Sometimes contract your throat. Seems like an honor to me.” Kenny, who was discharged in April 1919, But to me there’s a feeling naught else wrote poems, the one here suggesting he can beat Sources: Connecticut Military Questionnaires 1919 greatly enjoyed his time in the Navy: That I’ve felt ashore or afloat. -1920, Hartford, Box 9, p. 687.

11

Windsor Locks cited for extraordinary valor

By Philip R. Devlin night, he went all over the shell area, giving ew people are aware of the heroism aid.” F of a Windsor Locks native, Captain Lawler was soon promoted to captain Daniel H. Lawler, during World War I. following his citation for valor. Captain Born in Windsor Locks on May 1, 1887, Lawler continued to serve throughout the Lawler lived on 3 Grove Street and attend- autumn until the end of the war on Nov. 11, ed local schools. His father, James Lawler, 1918. He remained in France until April 2, Sr., had come to Windsor Locks from Ire- 1919, continuing to treat wounded soldiers land as a five- year-old boy in 1855. at Base Hospital Number 8. Lawler then Daniel then attended college at the Uni- returned home and was honorably dis- versity of Maryland and, later, John Hop- charged on , 1919. kins Medical School. Following medical Following his military service, Daniel school, Dr. Lawler interned for one year at Lawler and his wife, Eva, took up residence St. Francis Hospital in Hartford and later in . While working at the United served as house surgeon at the Children’s States Public Health Service in Baltimore, Hospital in Washington, D.C., prior to the Dr. Lawler suffered a near fatal injury at a war. Baltimore railroad station on June 17, 1920. He was the youngest surgeon ever ap- Lawler fell about 25 feet into a culvert off of pointed to the Johns Hopkins staff at the a path near the railroad station at Round time. Just prior to joining the Army, Dr. Bay near the Severn River. According to an Lawler married Eva Wright from Baltimore article in the Baltimore Sun, “Surgeons an- on June 16, 1917. nounced yesterday that his spine is injured Daniel Lawler — like the vast majority of Dr. Daniel Lawler of Windsor Locks was severely and that his recovery is doubtful.” the 179 men from Windsor Locks who battalion surgeon of Connecticut’s Dr. Lawler defied the odds and survived served in the Great War — was part of the 102nd Regiment during World War I. the fall, although he apparently remained 102nd Regiment from Connecticut. The partially paralyzed for the rest of his life. Following his recovery, Lawler continued 102nd was attached to the 26th Division, several months ago. At that time, it was to practice medicine in Baltimore until nicknamed the “Yankee Division.” reported among friends here that his condi- 1932. Lawler became the Battalion Surgeon for tion was grave.” In 1932, he moved to Barre, Vermont, the 102nd and served his country with Daniels’ brother, James Lawler of Bridge- where he practiced medicine for the next great distinction. He was wounded severely port, inquired about his brother’s condition five years. Following his work in Barre, Dr. on March 16, 1918, at the Battle of Chemin through the YMCA International Committee Daniel Lawler was appointed school physi- des Dames, where he was gassed. In a let- and received the following reply: “Replying cian for Hammond, Indiana, where he spent ter to his mother from France dated Aug. 1, to your telegram April 20, Lawler gassed the rest of his life. 1918, Pvt. Fred T. Koehler (future brother- March 17. Returned to regiment . in-law of funeral director Tommy Johnson) Cited on orders for ‘extraordinary valor.’” Dr. Daniel Henry Lawler, one of the most highly decorated servicemen in Windsor had this to say about Dr. Lawler: “By the Lt. Daniel H. Lawler received the Silver Locks history, died on March 15, 1947, fol- way, Drs. Lawler and Gettings were two of Star — the nation’s third highest decora- lowing a brief illness. He was only 59 years the heroes of our battle, dressing and tak- tion — with the following citation: “Lieut. old and had most likely suffered from the ing care of the wounded while under heavy Daniel H. Lawler, Medical Corps. He ren- long-term effects of being gassed in the shell fire. The two of them worked night dered first aid to more than 100 cases dur- Great War. His wife, Eva, survived him for and day.” ing an unusually intense gas bombardment another 18 years, dying on Jan. 2, 1965, at The Bridgeport Post published the follow- in sector occupied by the 102nd Infantry, age 76. ing article on then Lt. Daniel H. Lawler in not only in his aid post, but going out to a the fall of 1918: “Lt. Daniel Lawler of the point where a large number of casualties Both were survived by their two daugh- 102nd Ambulance Corps was mentioned had occurred due to the concentration of ters, Sarah Frances (Lawler) Lyon and Mary for distinguished service with the 102nd German fire. This trip was made to render Katherine Lawler. Dr. Lawler and his wife Infantry, Third Battalion as Battalion Medi- relief to men before they could possibly be were buried in Section 111 in Arlington cal Officer … It will be remembered that Lt. brought to any aid station. Throughout the National Cemetery, a fitting location for a Lawler was on the severely wounded list war hero.

12

Manchester native skilled with both scalpel and pen

illiam Patrick Stuart Keating en- “After two days rest we marched five gunners, the raid was successful. W listed in the Connecticut National miles to another cave or chalk mine very “While I was up at the first line we lost Guard in 1913 and served until 1919. He much the same … In this neighborhood a several men by accident due to flying was a doctor by profession, a surgeon in the terrific battle had been fought in 1914, late shrapnel and a cave-in. I can’t describe my 102nd and 101st Infantry Regiments and in the winter. I saw a number of wooden sensations the night I was called to give aid the 66th Field Artillery. After the armistice, crosses in a graveyard and read the names to a wounded soldier. The German big he cared for soldiers who had been in a of the Coldstream Guards and Connaught guns were shelling the hills where we were German prisoner of war camp. Rangers and the First Irish Regiment ... and the shells were eating up the ground all Fortunately, Keating, a native of Manches- “On the night of the fifth day we marched around but I pushed on and heaved a sigh ter whose practice was in Willimantic, was up to the first line trenches to relieve a of relief when I reached the dugout where as talented with pen and paper as he was company of our regiment. It was quite an the man was. I did not return until late in with scalpel and stethoscope. His legacy exciting trip in the dark as the Germans the night. …. Our return to the reserve line included a number of letters that he sent were throwing over a few shells to welcome was made at night through muddy shell home describing in detail the everyday life us. We had to proceed in groups of 15 or 18. torn roads. It took us five hours and we of doughboys. “Some of the shells burst near us and we reached the camp at midnight ... We expect In , he wrote: “This is the had to duck into the dugouts which were on to move back 100 miles or so in a week; way they moved us in France. Toward noon the roadside. After an hour and a half’s then we will get our 10-day furlough.” the men put on their packs and moved out march, we reached the point from which On June 24, Keating wrote: “After being through the muddy country roads. … We the men were distributed to their various out of the front lines for seven days … I re- hiked about 10 miles when we arrived at positions. The main station was an im- turned to the front with my regiment … the the ‘camions’ on the railroad siding … The mense chalk mine and was used as a battal- sector we occupied was a little better than box cars you are put into are marked ion hq. It was … a large underground city our former one … We were better protected “Hommes 40, Chevaux 8,” — 40 men, 8 and would hold probably ten thousand from the big gun fire of the Germans. our horses — but these cars were never con- men. It was all arranged with connecting battalion and station was an underground structed for American soldiers or horses. A streets on which were many chambers the cave and was well equipped for all emer- compromise was made on 30 men … The enlisted men occupied … You walk along gencies and in case of gas attack would ac- men piled in and tried to make themselves narrow passageways which were propped commodate 500 people. The roads in our comfortable which was impossible … A up with timbers, each passageway had a vicinity were constantly being shelled ... troop train never moves on schedule ... It name so you could not get lost. In this cave “The first night three of our men were usually starts five hours late and well into was our main medical dressing station, killed by shell fire. The second night, Fritz the night ... eating quarters for the men and a can- gave us plenty of mustard gas and 20 of our “We were two nights and days on the teen .... men had to be sent to the hospital. I was road. We finally reached the town where “To reach our first aid station you had to slightly gassed and experienced considera- we were to detrain. It was afternoon and pass through muddy trenches, broken by ble trouble with my eyes and received a raining. We marched from here to our re- German shellfire at many points. At these slight burn from the gas ... serve line. The mud was ankle deep making broken points we had to walk in the open. It “On June 2, the side of my dugout was it hard for the men with their heavy packs. was there a German machine gunner would blown in by a big shell and two other offic- “All towns we marched through were pour over four or five shots, this meant ers with me were knocked out of their totally destroyed and deserted. The fields drop down in a muddy shell hole … It had bunks by the force of the explosion. We were one mass of shell holes and communi- been a German first aid station on the Hin- received scratches from flying sand and cating trenches, barbed wire entanglements denburg line, facing a ravine just across gravel. I had a piece of shell pass over my and dugouts. from the German lines. It was rather an head and sank in the wall above my bunk. “Just at dusk, we reached a quarry or big exposed dangerous spot. Several times Shells were coming over all around us, but cave, which had been occupied by the Ger- while passing … machine guns opened up, we folded up our bedding rolls and made mans up to October 1917 when they were but I escaped injury. for the underground dugouts. During the driven out by the French. It was a wonder- “One of our companies was in on that night another shell hit our dugout and ful place and would hold a division of raiding party … which captured 19 German caved it in. It was well for us we left.” troops. It had numerous passageways and soldiers and two officers. These soldiers chambers that were occupied by the men … have been awarded the Croix de Guerre. Sources: Hartford Courant, , July 23, 1918; There were small side rooms for the offic- None of our men were injured, but one www.ancestry.com, Connecticut Military Question- ers. An electric light here and there lit up French soldier was killed. Thanks to the naires, 1919-1920, Windham, Box 58, p. 112 ff. the cavern. wonderful artillery barrage put over by our

13

Kilted Hartford warrior died at Amiens

adies from Hell” was the nickname of Canadian and British World War I units whose troops “L wore kilts. For centuries, knee-length woolen kilts were worn by Gaelic men in Scotland’s highlands in peace and war. The tradition of kilted warriors was brought to America in the French and Indian War of the 1750s. Among the British units in that war was the 42nd Royal Highland Regi- ment of Foot, known as the Black Watch. Three battalions of kilted Black Watch troops fought in the Canadian Expeditionary Force in World War I. It is little wonder that a Hartford young man named Robert Lavery Jr. would choose to serve in the Black Watch. He was born in Scotland in 1897, the son of parents Robert Sr. and Sarah Gibson Lavery, both born in County Antrim, Ireland. Robert and Sarah immigrated to Scotland. In 1881, they were living in Glasgow where Robert Sr. was a foundry laborer and Sarah worked as a weaver. In 1909, the Laverys emigrated again — to Connecticut. In 1915, while war was raging in Europe, Robert Lavery Jr., 18, left his job as a machinist at Pratt & Whitney in Hartford, and loyal to his Gaelic heritage went to Montreal. There he enlisted in the 13th Battalion Canadian Black Watch, Royal Highland Regiment. The 13th had been sent to Europe in , one of the first Canadian outfits on the frontlines. Throughout the war, it was a workhorse battalion that suffered 5,881 casualties including 1,105 fatalities. It fought at Ypres, the Somme, Vimy Ridge, Chaulnes and Roye, earning the nickname of “Ladies from Hell.” Lavery was wounded four times. Then, on Aug. 8, 1918, he was killed in action along with many comrades on the first day of the Battle of Amiens when the 13th Battalion attacked German ma- chine gun nests that were holding up the Allied advance in an area known as Hangar Wood. Sources: Hartford Courant, Aug. 20, 1918; ancestry.com: 1910, 1920 U.S. census, Hartford

Doctor aided reconstruction in , Albania

hen his first hitch ended at the end of World War I, Lt. John Reynolds signed up for another. He W left his hometown of New Britain in 1917 for Fort Devens, sailed to France in and did not return until . Reynolds attended St. Mary’s parochial school and graduated from New Britain High School in 1910. While in high school he was captain of the basketball team. He then entered the Fordham School of Medicine. He served his internship at St. Mary’s Hospital in Brooklyn and entered the Army Medical Corps in 1917. He sailed to Europe in July 1918 and was on the staff of a base hospital in France until the end of the war. After the signing of the armistice, Dr. Reynolds re- ceived a call from the American Red Cross to assist in reconstruction work in Serbia and Albania which had been devastated during the war. Interviewed after his return to New Britain, he expressed confi- dence that the future looked bright “because the people of these countries are sturdy and ambitious.” Source: Hartford Courant, Oct. 25, 1921

Driving a Cadillac 8 efore the war, Daniel J. Kennedy of Hartford was a partner in B a grocery business with his Irish-born father. His job appar- ently involved motor vehicle deliveries for when he enlisted in , the army picked him as a driver. He was promoted to sergeant and after he arrived in France in 1918, he was assigned to the 1st Motor Supply Train and drove troops, ammunition and supplies to the front line in the Toul sector. He later was reassigned to the headquarters troop of the and when the war ended he drove the “Cadillac 8” in the picture chauffeuring officers of the Army of Occupation to meetings, parades and ceremonies. Source: Connecticut Military Questionnaires, Hartford, Box 9, p. 669.

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Joy and sorrow mingled when armistice ended the killing

uring the first week of November During World War I, his daughter Hilda

D 1918, Americans held their breath was a leader of the Red Cross in Hartford. in the hope that an end to World War I was She had come to Paris in late autumn 1918 in sight. to visit nurses and Red Cross personnel On Nov. 7, a false rumor of an armistice already there. She and others with her were set off premature celebrations in the United preparing to return to Connecticut. States, but in France, doughboys waited She recalled vividly the morning of Nov. anxiously in their trenches, fearing that 11: “We went down to the Prefecture of they would be commanded to go over the Police to get our passports … The streets top into the enemy’s line of fire just one were still quiet … The city looked grave. more time. The last rumors we had heard were that the A 22-year-old Wallingford soldier, Ed- armistice would be rejected. We went up ward J. Quinn, enlisted on April 17, soon three flights of stairs to the Prefecture and after Congress voted to go to war. He was were, all nine of us, seated on a long bench assigned to the 103rd Battal- waiting our turn … when a big jovial official ion. He shipped to France that autumn and came along calling out ‘L’armistice est fought with the 103rd throughout 1918. He signe!’ was lucky a couple of times, wounded but Immediately the whole place went wild. only slightly on July 27 and Oct. 10. After Then we could hear the cannon, the signal the armistice became a reality, he told of On Nov. 11, 1918, while the world gave that was to tell the news and everyone the tension just before it: “For several days thanks for peace after four years of war- crowded to the windows to see the flag go prior, we held the lines and the 11th hour of fare, a chaplain buried the remains of Sgt. up on Notre Dame … We got through the the 11th day of the 11th month found us in Thomas Donovan of Hartford, above, in forms quickly (and went) to Notre Dame. … no-man’s land going over the top and about Belgium. Please turn to page 16. The bells were ringing and ringing over our to bust, or try to, the Boche front lines. heads. You heard the sounds of cheering “It was pretty hard going that morning. all sides … and singing from outside. But inside there We had hiked, full equipment, throughout “Auto trucks were crammed with people were very few people as yet — and these the night before, leaving one position for and even hanging from the fenders, hood, mostly widows. They knelt before the little another and only had a couple of hours top, sides or any place that a hold could be shrines sometimes whole rows of them. trying to repose in shell holes when our had if even for only a few minutes and “There were a few American soldiers too barrage opened up and we were told we shouting, singing, waving flags and having and some of other nationalities but none of must go over. With no breakfast and some fun in general. At night the crowd started to the cheering crowd was left. They must’ve pretty hazy thoughts of the coming armi- feel extra gay and then the wildest time I dashed outside to see the fun ... As we went stice, we started … We advanced but a few ever witnessed in my life. Cannon were out a girl stood at the door and gave us each hundred yards when — wow — not a gun hooked onto taxis, trucks and all crowded a violet “pour la victoire” … We had a long was firing. We stopped where we were, not with soldiers waving flags ... talk on the corner with three American a word, just looked and wondered … When “About 10 of us … started parading officers just returned from 29 days in the the truth dawned on us, we built a fire right through the streets doing the lockstep, hol- front line trenches and we all had a little there, sent a detail to scout some food and lering, singing and enjoying ourselves … private thanksgiving because America had remained until the next day.” while crowds would gather and watch us, helped. In Paris, where Cpl. Frank J Moriarity of … before long we had about as mixed a “There was joy and excitement every- New Haven was stationed, the scene was bunch of people as you ever saw. French, where and yet through it all and behind it joyful chaos. “At 11 o’clock Nov. 11, all the Belgians, English, Australians, all in a line all one had the consciousness of the appal- whistles, bells, sirens, the booming of can- with our lockstep parade …” ling suffering that has been left. It was not a non, noise-making contrivances doing their An Irish-American woman from Hartford crowd mad with pride of victory alone, al- utmost to make themselves heard … And saw the celebration from one of most his- ways there was the sadness behind it … the crowds started to form parades of every toric of Paris landmarks: Notre Dame cathe- with the bells booming above and the description. By noon the streets were black dral. She was Hilda Keller, the daughter of crowds singing heard dimly from the street with people and in many places it was George Keller who knew something about and the widows praying before the brightly blocked for hours, little or no relief and landmarks. A native of County Cork and an lighted shrines.” architect, Keller had designed the soldiers impossible to go one way or the other ... The Sources: Meriden Record, Dec 18, 1918; New Ha- United States flag was as prominent as the monuments at Gettysburg and Antietam ven Union, Dec. 8, 12, 1918; Hartford Courant, Dec. French and ‘Vive L’Amerique’ was heard on after the . 13, 1918.

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Sgt. Thomas Donovan buried in Belgium on Armistice Day

n Armistice Day, Nov. 11, 1918, U.S. with a broken crucifix containing his name moved to Hartford several years later. O Army Chaplain Calvin R. Smith bur- and address … I secured permission to have Thomas’s father, a machinist by trade, died ied the remains of Sgt. Thomas Timothy him buried in the Catholic churchyard at in 1909 or 1910. Donovan of Hartford in a small town named Bevere and the grave was dug by a detail of Before Thomas enlisted, he was a metal Bevere in Belgium. Donovan was severely his fellow soldiers, also a detail carried his lather. He trained at Camp Devens, Massa- wounded on Nov. 3 as his unit, the 362nd body on a stretcher to the grave and he was chusetts. On Oct. 29, 1918, he wrote a letter U.S. Infantry, Third Battalion, was on the buried with full military honors. A large telling his mother that he was in Belgium offensive in the final days of the war. crowd of soldiers were at the grave. I gave a and going to the front the next day. In a letter to Donovan’s sister, Ellen, a short talk and decorated the grave and put Smith wrote, “Your brother was buried nurse in Hartford, Chaplain Smith said he up a marker. Secretary McCullough of the on the day the armistice was signed. I hope found the sergeant’s body in a foxhole “at Knights of Columbus made a cross of shell the fact that his death helped to bring about the foot of a little knoll on which stood a and engraved Sgt. Donovan’s name on it …” peace and freedom will console you.” windmill. He was one of the attackers and Donovan was born in Wethersfield in Sources: Hartford Courant, February 4, 1919; apparently had been shot as he was climb- 1887, the son of William and Katherine www.ancestry.com: Connecticut Military Ques- ing over the crest of the hill ...” Hurley Donovan, Irish emigrants from tionnaires, 1919-1920, Hartford, Box 7, p. 359; Smith added that he found “a small purse County Cork. They emigrated in 1882 and 1900 U.S. census, Hartford.

The Shanachie

Published quarterly by the President George Waldron Connecticut Irish-American Vice President Vincent McMahon Historical Society Secretary Patricia Heslin “We have kept faith P.O. Box 185833 Treasurer Mary McMahon with the past; Hamden, CT 06518 we have handed Membership Chairperson Joan Murphy (203) 392-6126 a tradition Shanachie Editor Neil Hogan www.ctiahs.com to the future.” Webmaster Finbarr Moynihan [email protected] https://www.facebook.com/ In Ireland, a Shanachie is a folklorist, Padraic Pearse ctirishamericanhistoricalsociety historian and keeper of the traditions of the people.

Connecticut Irish-American Historical Society P.O. Box 185833 Hamden, CT 06518

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