Yesteryears:Nov 11, 1991 Vol 1 No 23

·~ U.S. POSTAGE ;:r LJ BULK RATE PERMIT NO. 119 SALEM, OH 44460 11 ~~i. i:~! 4, Flying in 1930s had element of danger Wilbur Wright's Flyer is steadied by a team of horses as his "aerial carriage" hums overhead in this 1908 photo taken in Berlin. Wilbur and Orville Wright were pioneers in flight which, by the Airshows have fascinated Americans for time young Gibson was thinking about flying lessons was coming into its own. decades since the legendary event advertised above firs_t brought the public's attention to T HAPPENED AT 2:50 on a placid Saturday Christmas; retrieved worn baseball mitts and oiled "daredevil" flying. I afternoon in May of 1939 -'-- the sunny skies rusty roller skates, looking ahead to the warmer and warming breezes had lured the householders. days without scarves, galoshes and mittens. had returned to his outside chores; now, though, along Salem's South Lincoln Avenue outdoors. The Gibson boys, Charles and George, had left he was taking a brief respite and stood in his Through with their week's work inside closed-up the house shortly after breakfast and their father, driveway, immersed in conversation with a friend, plants and. offices, men tidied up yards and gar G. R., knew that part of their day would be taken G. F. Keyes who had stopped by. ages neglected during the long winter now behind up with their flying lessons - both of his sons The sound of a propeller whirred overhead, and them, and mothers draped blankets and carpets were clocking hours toward getting their licenses, Gibson glanced up to see a light monoplane hover over clotheslines to give them a good spring airing. flying out of Russell Miller's Flying Field at North ing above the house. Recognizing Miller's plane, a Youngsters, too, hurriedly slicked up the already Benton. · shiny . bicycle~ a.nd scooters they'd gotten for After a break at noon for a sandwich, Gibson Turn to FLYING on page 3 . ~~·-'"'.'······~~-- ~~-~ >f(-·rv:-t ---=-......?;;)~·-.~:b·~ ·tf~,.,~f ,.- (i'l'~ t, . , ., ::?/ 2_;" . c. , ,r•. , . -; '.I.;. .,. .,,·,., "" , • ;, , _; es erqears , c. " 2 ~ , ~ ~ ·1.;., ·y "'.f__ . " -,, c ~ ~ . '1, ~~ 7 -~ ':] • - '.J ..:>}' ~~ 'Jvfonday, 'l{pvetrJer 11, 1991 -"' :J .:>Ji ~ · :,,~ c...: . -=-- · Veterans hit rock bottom By Lois Firestone The day World War I ended, on Monday, Nov. 11, 1918 was a glorious one for Americans, recorded on the front page of the Salem News which appears as this issue's front page from the past. T~e- issue is a rarity, because it's not among. the ed1t10ns stored at the Salem Historical Museum. The veter~ns came home in triumph, welcomed as heroes who had brought a lasting peace. Four teen years later, however, in the midst of the Great Depression, these same veterans would be treated with c~nte:n:pt by the U.S. government; their wives and children cut down with tear gas, bayonets and machine guns by the Army they had once served. Even worse, once they were driven out of Washington, D. C., they were labeled as unruly Communist rabble-rousets by the people who shunned them in one state after another. This shabby chapter in the history of this coun try came to a head at 10 o'clock on the sultry, humid morning of Thursday, July 28, 1932 when 25,000 starved and penniless World War veterans begged for help. They'd arrived in May and were encamped in district parks, dumps, abandoned warehouses and empty stores. These shelters ·were pitif.ul affairs: packing crates, chicken coops, wrecked touring cars, lean-tos. To the frightened 'is rare photo was taken in the mid-1930s and slww's William H. Bradley worki11g at his Hoover administration they were a humiliation, Sunoco Service Station on the New Garden Road, near the present-day bypass of Roate 45. Tire not to mention an eyesore. station operated for ten years, from 1930 to 1940, and housed a small grocery store wlziclz The press had dubbed the veterans "the Bonus stocked a wide variety of pe'nny candy. East of the station was the Bradley home. Batiz build Army" and ''.the bonus marchers" but they called ings still stand today, but the station ha~. long since been remodeled into a house. themselves the Bonus Expeditionary Force. What they were after was immediate payment of sol promised one of the bonus leaders that if they River in southeast Washington. diers' bonuses which the government had author were to- be forced from the camps, they would be ized in 1924 with the Adjusted Compensation Act. allowed to retire with dignity. Naively, the veter For the vanquished veterans ·and people every Although the bonuses weren't due to be paid until ans believed that if the Army arrived they would where in this country, it was the beginning of the 1945, they would receiv~ about $500 if the money help them; it was inconceivable that soldiers would descent of people from the middle class - among was paid in 1932. attack. But they did, although at the last minute unskilled laborers building- a Missouri reservoir were a farmer, a school principal, and a bank . They came to Washington to appeal directly to unsuccessfully Hoover tried to stop the final drive the president, but Hoover refused to talk with their into the main camp on the far side of the Anacostia president. delegation, saying he was too busy. Reporters duly reported the president's ensuing actions: he became a virtual recluse, cancelling plans to visit the Senate and hiring police to patrol the White House around the clock. He had the entry gates to PERSONAL RECORDS the executive mansion chained, and barricades were erected on all sides of the mansion, shutting off all traffic. "Hoover Locks Self in White House" &PLANNING BOOK was the front page headline of one issue of the New York Daily News. Hoover brought Army Chief of Staff Douglas MacArthur,. the only four-star general in the mili Manufacturers and Designers of tary, into the situation. MacArthur had falsely Injection Molded Plastics "We mold service 'Yesteryears as wen as quality A weekly historical journal Published by the Salem News accounts, insurance papers, Select the funeral you wish Founded June 8, 1991 in our pro-ducts." lists of friends and relatives down to the smallest details 161 N. Lincoln Ave. with ph0 ne numbers and Relieve' your family Salem, Ohio 44460 addresses, plus your last of worry and costs at future requests. time of stress. Phone (216) 332-4601 DO this for the ones you love. Thomas E. Spargur publisherI general manager - Your Funeral Pre-Need Spec1a/1sts 332- I I Arbaugh-Pearce .· Funeral 4401 . reent.~<!11 Home Ray J. Greenisen G J6 J 7 fast State Street (FORMERLY WARREN MOLDED PLASTICS) 800 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, SALEM, omo 216-337-9961 A WORTHINGTON INDUSTRIES COMPANY ~~;v~==~----~-=~e------~-.· I ,: 011 ____ ._ I [l'lofonnatm lollatioo-Proof Funeral Pr~Plan ----------1 The Free Enterprise System at Work 0 lnlormalm alnrt lroeral lllSI~ pr~ Address C1ly I I o --on SOCia! Sentlly & Medicart · . I L-----------------s~I.:.---~~----~"!.·----' Young people of the 1920s and 1930s were in awe of the exciting possibilities open to people through flight. Wealthy eastern boys banded_ together to buy a plane, thus sharing the heavy costs. The rugged airmail fliers, however, were the glamorous fellows wlzo thrilled the hearts of a generation or two of young women, as evidenced in this poster advertising ainnail delivery. rently noticed Gibson and Keyes standing in the ed landing gears. C. G. Taylor had produced his driveway back of his home. He lost the vital air easy-to-fly and maintain Cub, a simple aircraft Charles Gibson in his class photo taken from speed after he banked to circle the house. which William Piper marketed. The Piper Cubs The Taylorcraft 50 machine, built in Alliance, became the most successful light planes of the per the 1934 Salem High School Quaker, tlze year had been equipped with two sets of controls iod; unfortunately, Taylor had been eased out of he graduated. because Miller was using the vehicle for dual what was a highly ·profitable business mainly instruction at his field. He had paid $1,900 for the because of Piper's marketing techniques. vehicle, but hadn't insured it, so the loss was com However, Taylor bounced back with his own· plete. Miller, a manual training instructor at company and produced the Taylorcraft, one of sev Alliance High School, owned the planes and oper eral popular models of aircraft manufactured at the ated the airport at North Benton, the only one time, including the Rearwin, Porterfield and Aer registered in the area. onca. At the beginning of World War II, four civil . The accident had happened on May 27, and, two Model D Taylorcrafts were acquired by the Army days later, Thomas H. Smith would fly a similar Air Force under the designation Y0-57, and small new Taylorcraft 50, he knew it must be one of his plane across the Atlantic Ocean. However, another numbers of civil Voyagers were were used by the sons in the cockpit. Suddenly, as the pilot went · brand-new Taylorcraft 50 owned by Miller crashed Army Air Force. Later, the U.S. bought 2,000 Tay into a steep turn and banked vertically, ne lost air three months later, on. Aug. 23. This time, though, lorcraft L-2 Grasshoppers and TG-6 craft. speed and the airplane spiraled and twisted tow two young men died in a tragic accident. ard the ground. The right wing was low as the . Flying was coming into its own in the United Twenty-year-old Wayne Hoopes was bringing States.

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