B _ a. A Publication of the Ramsey County Historical Society Spring, 1994 Volume 29, Number 1 1 9 4 0 Ramsey County History awarded AASLH Certificate of Commendation, The ‘Fighting Saint’ — The U. S. S. St. Paul and Its Minnesota Connection Page 4 K 2X E "f - : P I : Women from the Yokosuka, Japan, Folk Dance Association perform Japanese folk dances for U. S. S. St. Paul crewmembers as the heavy cruiser prepares to leave Yokosuka for the United States on July 6, 1962. See arti­ cle beginning on page 4. D-Day Remembered By Seven Who Were There RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY Executive Director Priscilla Famham Editor Virginia Brainard Kunz RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY BOARD OF DIRECTORS William S. Fallon CONTENTS Chairman o f the Board Joanne Englund 3 Letters President John M. Lindley 4 The ‘Fighting Saint’— First Vice President The U. S. S. St. Paul and Its Minnesota Connection James Russell Treasurer Tom Bolan Sidney P. Abramson, Arthur H. Baumeister, 9 D-Day Remembered By Seven Who Were There Jr., Thomas Boyd, John Brown, Marshall Hatfield, John Harens, Liz Johnson, Judge 13 The Harlem Renaissance— Margaret M. Marrinan, Dr. Thomas B. Mega, An Age of Miracles, Excess, Satire’ Laurie Murphy, Richard T. Murphy, Sr., Thomond O’Brien, Robert Olsen, Darrell John S. Wright Rooney, Evangeline Schroeder, Mark Stein, Jane Thiele, Richard A. Wilhoit and Laurie 14-15 The Harlem Renaissance Revisited Zenner. 16 Growing Up in St. Paul EDITORIAL BOARD Yankeedom: Goal of the 19th Century Immigrant John M. Lindley, chairman; Thomas H. Boyd, John W. Larson Thomas C. Buckley, Charlton Dietz, Thomas J. Kelley, Arthur McWatt, Laurie M. Murphy, 21 Books, Etc. Dr. Thomas B. Mega. 27 Contributors HONORARY ADVISORY BOARD Elmer L. Andersen, Coleman Bloomfield, A Message from the Editorial Board Olivia I. Dodge, Charlton Dietz, William Finney, Clarence Frame, Otis Godfrey, Jr., The Ramsey County Historical Socie­ Ronald Hachey, Reuel D. Harmon, Robert S. ty recently lost a loyal and long-time sup­ Hess, Ronald M. Hubbs, Fred T. Lanners, Jr., porter when Lester B. LeVesconte, a Don Larson, George Latimer, Lewis Lehr, grandson of Heman and Jane Gibbs, died A David Marsden, Robert B. Mirick, Samuel H, Morgan, Marvin J. Pertzik, J. Jerome in Illinois. In 1849 the Gibbs family es­ n . Plunkett, Peter S. Popovich, James Reagan, tablished the pioneer farmstead that to­ Rosalie E. Wahl, Donald D. Wozniak. day we know as the Gibbs Farm Muse­ um. Lester LeVesconte, whose mother RAMSEY COUNTY COMMISSIONERS was the Gibbs’s daughter, Lillie, was in­ Commissioner Hal Norgard, chairman strumental in working out in 1949 the ar­ Commissioner Diane Ahrens rangements by which the Gibbs farm be­ Commissioner John Finley Commissioner Ruby Hunt came a museum under the auspices of the Commissioner Warren Schaber Ramsey County Historical Society. Commissioner Brenda Thomas Le ste r Le V e scon te Commissioner Richard Wedell The Society’s debt to Lester LeVes­ conte extends beyond the Gibbs Farm sey County history extended to the Socie­ Terry Schütten, manager, Ramsey County. Museum because over many years Mr. ty’s broader plans, which included this Ramsey County History is published quarterly LeVesconte actively promoted the publi­ quarterly magazine, Ramsey County His­ by the Ramsey County Historical Society, 323 cation of historical material about the tory. Landmark Center, 75 W. Fifth Street, St. Paul, Gibbs family and Ramsey County. Thus We honor Lester LeVesconte’s mem­ Minn. 55102. Printed in U.S.A. Copyright, 1994, Ramsey County Historical Society. ISSN he helped support financially the Socie­ ory and his many contributions to the Number 0485-9758. All rights reserved. No ty’s publication of his mother’s book, L it­ Ramsey County Historical Society. We part of this publication may be reprinted or tle Bird That Was Caught, about Jane are inspired by his example and his vision otherwise reproduced without written permis­ Gibbs’s experiences as a young pioneer in for history. sion from the publisher. The Society assumes no responsibility for statements made by con­ the wilderness that became Minnesota. -John M. Lindley, chairman, tributors. His advocacy of the publication of Ram- Editorial Board 2 RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY The Greatest Waterborne Invasion in History D-Day Remembered by Seven Who Were There ifty years ago in June, 1944, the peared from nowhere. We formed a circle great Armada of American, British around him. He gave us last minute orders, and Allied forces landed in Nor­ stated the password again to make certain Fmandy in the greatest waterborne invasion every man knew it, the chaplain said a in history that opened the long-awaited prayer and we moved off to our assigned “second front in Europe” and the beginning planes. of the end of Hitler’s Fortress Europe. As the C-47s left the ground we were on Seven men from the St. Paul area, who our way to make history. Our “stick” of were among more than two million British about thirteen men was silent. I was a bat­ and American troops massed for the at­ talion radio operator assigned to a crack tack, have shared their memories of D- demolition team. The silence in the plane Day with Ramey County History. was suddenly broken by German ack-ack Private William D. Bowell is now “Cap­ guns. Flak was bursting all around us, tain Bill, ”and owner o f the Josiah Snelling, small burning pieces piercing the fuselage Jonathan Paddelford, Anson Northrup and of the plane. Underneath the plane, hang­ the Betsy Northrup, excursion boats that ing from the bomb racks, were six bundles ply the Mississippi out o f St. Paul and Min­ of explosives. neapolis. On the night o f June 5-6,1944, Abruptly the plane seemed to do a back Bowell jumped into Normandy with the flip; then it was steady, but we seemed to 507th Parachute Regiment o f the 82nd Air­ be losing altitude. “Stand up and hook up;” B ill B o w e ll a s a young paratrooper in borne Division, commanded by General every man rose mechanically. This was the London in 1944 and as he is today. All Matthew B. Ridgway. For the action in photographs used with this article have moment for which we had all waited and Normandy, Bowell was awarded a Purple been loaned by the D-Day veterans them­ trained for two years. There was a funny Heart, Bronze Star and CIB and a selves. sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. There Presidential Unit Citation. were murmured prayers, “May God be Bowell kept a diary throughout the war, with us.” At that moment, we received a but because soldiers were not allowed to bad hit, the plane gave another lurch and carry diaries into action, Bowell recon­ began to vibrate. It was going down. We structed his experiences in a long account were very low. written while hospitalized back in En­ ‘Go,” the jump master gave the signal. gland. The following is excerpted and I was the eleventh man in the stick. Num­ adapted from this narrative published in ber 7 slipped and fell, then 8; the rest of us 1989 in The>Static Line, a newsletter for fell on our knees. Somehow we managed the regiment’s veterans. to get out the door. We were all weighted It was 11 o’clock in the evening, June 5, down with ammunition and heavy equip­ 1944. Standing there in front of a mam­ ment. Some of us crawled out. moth hangar, somewhere in England, I felt The tortuous but welcome opening a little on the weak side. I was anticipating shock of the ’chute had no sooner come the excitement of the next four or five when I hit the ground with a thud. We must hours. The bright moonlit sky enabled me have jumped from 150 feet. It was 2 a.m., to distinguish row upon row of army trans­ the early hours of D-Day. Looking port planes. Men were lying everywhere around, I could see that the landscape was in front of me. Their faces had been dark­ heavy equipment and the tightly strapped a mass of shadows. No one moved. I ened with burnt cork. Each man had parachute, it was a difficult task to move or whispered the password. No answer. grenades and ammunition attached or in walk around. Again, only louder. Still no answer. I gave bandoliers around his waist. With all their Our battalion commander suddenly ap- the password once more. What a welcome RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY 9 relief as the countersign came back. It was one of the men in our stick. Two more figures came up. Again I challenged. This time I got an immediate reply. The four of us moved out, slowly creep­ ing and crawling. At any minute we ex­ pected the German anti-airborne squads to come upon us. A steady stream of tracers was coming over our heads. Periodically, the sky was lit with flack as more planes came over. One plane burst into flame and went down in a slow glide; it hit the ground and exploded. Because of our premature jump, we decided we were nowhere near our planned jump area. Somehow we had to orient ourselves and find our position on the map. It was the fate of some of the 82nd’s regiments to be scattered about the Nor­ mandy countryside, miles from their drop zones and floundering in marshes flooded by the Germans. It wasn’t long before day began to break Robert T. Carr, his D-Day crew and their C-47 in June, 1944.