Thursday, February 10, 2022

1940 June to December


On June 4, 1940 after the British completed the “Miracle of Dunkirk,” Prime Minister Winston Churchill addressed the British Parliament. The evacuation of 338,226 allied troops from France via over 800 vessels including Royal Navy destroyers, merchant marine boats, fishing boats, pleasure crafts and lifeboats was really a military disaster.

According to the website - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_shall_fight_on_the_beaches - Winston Churchill said in his famous speech: “We shall fight on the seas and oceans.” In this speech, Churchill had to describe a great military disaster, and warn of a possible invasion attempt by Nazi Germany, without casting doubt on eventual victory. He also had to prepare his domestic audience for France's falling out of the war without in any way releasing France to do so, and wished to reiterate a policy and an aim unchanged – despite the intervening events – from his speech of 13 May, in which he had declared the goal of "victory, however long and hard the road may be".

On June 14, 1940 German forces entered Paris. The next day France surrendered to Germany. Charles DeGaulle, leader of the French Resistance, told the French on the BBC to defy the Nazi occupiers. On June 22, 1940 France officially surrendered to the Nazis. Northern France was occupied by the Nazis and Southern France was established as Vichy France which collaborated with Germany. Adolf Hitler visited notable sites in Paris on June 23, 1940 - these included Napoleon's Tomb and the Eiffel Tower.



Hitler also ordered the destruction of a monument to a WWI French war hero and, more importantly to me, he ordered that the monument to Edith Cavell also be destroyed. Edith Cavell was a British nurse who had started a nursing school in Brussels.  During WWI she helped Allied soldiers escape German occupied Brussels - she helped injured German soldiers as well. She was eventually caught by the Germans and executed by a German firing squad. There are several biographies written about her. She was a true heroine.





June 16, 1940: The back of the above picture says Bob Comeau. Is he wearing a uniform? Is that a gas station in the background? The name seems familiar but maybe that is just from seeing it over the years. I couldn't find any information in Watertown about Bob Comeau. The closest I came was a WWII draft registration for a Robert Francis Comeau. His original address, 34 Channing Street in Newton, was crossed out and replace with 56 Richardson Street, Newton. 2 phone numbers were listed. This Robert Comeau was 20 years old - he was born in Lynn on March 30, 1920. The person who would always know his address was Mrs. Joseph Latty, 559 Western Ave, Lynn. His employer was Security Mills, Newtonville Avenue, Newtonville, Mass. Robert Comeau signed the form. 



Page 2 of the WWII draft registration reported that Robert Comeau was white, 6' 1", 156 lbs with blue eyes, brown hair and a light complexion. The local board seemed to be Newton City Hall, but there was no date. Well, the height seemed to be correct - in the picture he seemed to tower over my mother.




56 Richardson Street is located in Newton corner where the red icon on the lower left is - that is the newer address on Robert Comeau's draft register. He had previously lived at 34 Channing Street which you can see across the Mass Pike to the right of the Dunkin icon. Of course the Mass Pike was not there in the 1940s.



Below is a map showing Newtonville Avenue where Security Mills was located - Newtonville Avenue starts below the Barn Family Shoe Store - on the other side of the Mass Pike - and runs to Centre Street which is not labeled. 
So it is possible that this Robert Comeau is the fellow in the picture - he was living and working in Newton Corner - not so far from Watertown Square and Green Street.




There is a listing for Security Mills Inc in the 1940 Newton Street Directory - Leon Rubinstein president, Philip Rubinstein treasurer, 24 Munroe N, knit goods manufacturers. This is all I have for Bob Comeau!



These next three pictures were taken on June 28. Below is Eddie Storer - my mother wrote the date and his name on the back of the picture. Unfortunately she did not write down where it was taken. 



This next picture is Eddie Storer on the right. I have a note questioning if the other fellow is Harold Studley. Does anyone know? 


I couldn't find any census records in www.ancestry.com for a Storer family in Watertown in the 1930s or 1940s. But I did find 2 Edward Storers living in Newton in 1940. I dug back through the censuses, military records, street directories for both of them. If either of these young men are the Eddie Storer in the above pictures, I think it is Edward Harold Storer whose family lived on California Street in Newton. Let me show you what I found - let's start with the 1930 census.

35 year old Malcom Storer is paying $25/month to rent 308 California Street - he has a radio. He was 24 when he married. He and his parents were born in Maine. He is a truck driver for a construction company - I think it says he is a veteran. His wife Grace is also 35 years old - she was born in Massachusetts and her parents were born in English Canada. They have 3 sons who are all attending school - Ernest is 9, Edward is 8, and Charles is 6.




The red icon below shows 308 California Street where Eddie Storer lived with his family. It's only a mile or so from Watertown Square to the right.




This is 308 California Street in 2020 - #308 is the door on the far right of the gray building - the white house is #316. I don't suppose the gray building was there in 1930.




I then went back to the 1920 census and Malcolm and Grace Storer were living at 306 California Street - Malcom was working as a car mechanic. They did not have any children.


In the 1940 Census Malcolm Storer and his family were still paying $20/month rent for 308 California Street in Newton. Malcolm was 40 years old - he was born in Maine - note he was 35 years old in the 1930 census. He completed the 4th grade. The family lived in the same house 5 years ago. Malcolm was working as a jig saw operator for a toy store - he worked 52 weeks in 1939 and made $765. His 36 year old wife Grace was born in Massachusetts - she also completed 4th grade. Please note that Grace was 35 years old in the 1930 census.

Malcolm and Grace's three sons were still at home. Ernest was 19 - he completed the first year of high school but was no longer attending school - he was working as a dishwasher in a restaurant - he worked 8 weeks in 1939 and made $136. Edward was 18 - he completed the first year of high school and was no longer attending school - he was a new employee seeking work - he was unemployed for 84 weeks up to March 30, 1940. Charles was 16 - he no longer attended school but completed 6th grade - he was a new worker seeking work. He had been unemployed for 40 weeks up to March 30, 1940.



I was still wondering who the correct Edward Storer was when I came across several Navy muster rolls. The one below is for changes on the USS San Francisco for the month ending 30th day of November 1940 at Pearl Harbor, TH - I have no idea what the TH stands for. 
Line #22 lists, Edward H Storer - Service #201 74 24 - Rating at Date of Last Report: AS/Apprentice Seaman - Date of enlistment: 8 July 1940 in Boston - Line #22 repeats this same information.



I also found a USS San Francisco muster roll for December 31, 1940. Edward H Storer with serial number 201 74 24 is now a Seaman 2nd Class. He enlisted 8 July 1940, and he was first received on board 11/8/40. So I guess this tells us that Eddie was assigned to the USS San Francisco when Pearl Harbor was bombed - about 5 months after enlisting. An 18 or 19 year old kid - like so many in that war.




These muster rolls were an important find because in September 1940 my mother had a picture of Eddie Storer in a Navy uniform!



Eddie and two friends - I wonder if that is Bob Comeau on the left - remember the tall fellow in a picture back in July? And again, could that be Harold Studley?


Then I found Newton Street Directories for 1943 and 1945 - these were the clinchers.  Look who was listed:
Edward H Storer, USN (US Navy) roomed at 308 California Street. Edward L Storer, USA (US Army) roomed at 192 Kirkstall road. 

So I really think that the Eddie Storer, USN on California St is my mother's Eddie Storer.
We have seen Malcolm and Grace  Storer - Malcolm was working as a watchman.  
The other Storer family was also listed. Lynnwood and Hazel Storer are the parents of Edward L Storer, USA - Lynnwood is an optometrist.



The final bit of information about Eddie Storer that I found is his WWII draft registration - I didn't think he would have one because he joined the Navy in 1940. His address was listed as the YMCA in Embarcadero, San Francisco, Calif. He was 22 - he was born on October 3, 1921 in Newton, Mass. Mrs. Malcolm Storer of 308 California St, Newton, Mass will always know his address. Eddie was unemployed - he was discharged from the Navy. 



Page 2 of his draft registration reported that Eddie was white, 5'6" and 160 lbs. He had blue eyes, brown hair, and a ruddy complexion. He also had a tattoo on both arms - did he get them while in the Navy? I can't make out the Registrar for local board 76 San Francisco, but Eddie registered February 4, 1944 at 821 Market St, San Francisco.



Did you perk up when that muster roll said that the USS San Francisco was in Pearl Harbor on the 30th of November 1940?!?!  The cruiser was commissioned in 1934 - she was one of the most decorated ships of WWII - she earned 17 battle stars and the Presidential Unit Citation. She arrived at Pearl Harbor Navy Yard in October 1940 for an overhaul. When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, the San Francisco was awaiting repairs - her guns had been removed and some of the officers and men were not aboard. When the Japanese bombing started, some of the crew crossed over to a nearby ship to man anti-aircraft guns - others began firing with rifles and guns. The San Francisco was not damaged during the bombing and went on to participate in encounters with the enemy. I wonder if Eddie Storer was on board during the bombing of Pearl Harbor? Was he on board for Guadalcanal? Did my mother know he was in Pearl Harbor on December 7? Did she think of him when war was declared? Did she keep in touch with him during the war? Why did I never ask her about the guys in her pictures?!?!

As I was looking up information on the USS San Francisco, I realized how little I knew about the war in the Pacific where my father also served -he was also in the Navy. I know very little about my father's service. I asked my brother Johnny if my father ever talked to him about it. Johnny said that my father never discussed it. Johnny also said that when he was a coat checker at the Hibernian Club in Watertown - during high school - he never heard any of the Hibernians talk about their times in the service - many were my father's generation  - the Greatest Generation.





This picture was also taken on June 28, 1940 - I don't know who the woman is on the left. If anyone knows, please let me know!



In July 1940 my mother was in Millbrook, New Jersey with her friend Madeline Vaughan. I don't know why she was there or how they arrived there. I googled Millbrook and all the information was about today's original and re-created community of the 1800s. Millbrook was started in 1832 when a farmer built a grist mill on a stream along the new Columbia-Walpak turnpike.The village grew but declined after the Civil War. The National Park Service took over the area around 1970 - they recreated the gristmill - kept some of the original buildings and built new ones. Today's Millbrook represents a late 19th century rural community rather than an authentic restoration of the original Millbrook. I couldn't find any information about the 1940s when my mother and Madeline were there. So I messaged the Millbrook Village Society Facebook group asking for information about the 1940s. Someone replied and said that some buildings were rented for the summer in the 1940s. I had mentioned my mother's pictures including the one with a golf club - he replied that I had him stumped as Millbrook is no where near a golf club. He also said that currently all the buildings are closed and there are no scheduled events due to Covid, but I could visit the grounds anytime. My brother Johnny said he is interested in a road trip to Millbrook anyway!

Following are my mother's pictures from Millbrook.

The above picture is dated July 7, 1940 - When I enlarge the picture more, it becomes very grainy. Note the saddle shoes again.

July 7, 1940: My mother on the bridge. 

Interestingly, the Millbrook Village Society had a post on its Facebook page about the Columbia-Walpak turnpike. I copied the following from that post: "This road runs between the Blue Mountains to the East and the Flatbrook to the West. The mountain is dotted with streams and waterfalls that eventually feed into the Flatbrook. The roadway passed over these little creeks by means of small bridges.These bridges are barely noticeable if you’re just walking on the roadway looking straight ahead but if you happen to catch a glimpse at the very edge you’ll notice separate blocks of stone jutting out. I stood on the edge of one and peered over and was amazed at the amount of stone that created this little bridge. When I stood and looked at it from the creek I could see the actual work that was put into it. I also realized that I’ve never seen a bridge of this construction and quickly realized that it’s very possible that it was original to this 1819 Turnpike. The abutments were very close together which created almost a fireplace look to it. And as you get underneath it you can look up and see the 10-12 inch thick stone slabs that were laid across to continue the road bed. If these bridges were indeed almost 200 years old, they were still in really great shape other than one of the slabs cracking and falling down. When the second bridge duplicated the same construction, it was evident that they were from the same era and probably original bridges."


July 7, 1940: Madeline Vaughan and my mother - I don't know whose car it was. 


July 7, 1940 - My mother and Madeline




July 7 - My mother in some kind of wagon.



                             July 7 - Madeline's turn in the wagon.


July 7 - My mother at a water pump. Do you think she is really pumping water into the milk can?


                                               July 7 - Madeline



                                               July 8 - my mother.



July 10 - Madeline swinging a golf club.



July 10 - My mother's turn to swing a club. She and Madeline are back in their saddle shoes.



July 11 - could this be Madeline's brother?


July 11 - Who might this be? Looks like the same car Madeline and my mother were sitting in a couple of days ago. He's got saddle shoes as well.


July 11 - I wonder if this is Madeline's mother?


July 11 - Madeline

My brother Johnny took Madeline's daughter, Nancy Petrillo, to a prom at Watertown High School. I would love to contact Nancy and give her the pictures of Madeline and Madeline's family.

On July 16, 1940 Hitler ordered the invasion of Britain - Operation Sealion - after Britain rejected Hitler's final offer of a negotiated peace settlement. 

July 20, 1940  Billboard published its first singles record chart. The first number one song  is I’ll Never Smile Again by Tommy Dorsey.

The website - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%27ll_Never_Smile_Again - reports that "The most successful and best-known million selling single version of the song was recorded by Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra, with vocals provided by Frank Sinatra and The Pied Pipers ... This version was number one on Billboard's first "National List of Best Selling Retail Records"—the first official national music chart—on July 27, 1940, staying at the top spot for 12 weeks until October 12, 1940. The tune was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1982.

Tommy Dorsey band from the above website.


Crooner Frank Sinatra - I guess crooners were usually men who sang in a smooth and intimate style.

On July 28, 1940 my mother and her brother Jim were at Nantasket Beach. I don't know who else was with them. The label from the scrapbook says "Bathing Beauties." 

The south shore of Massachusetts - including Nantucket Beach in Hull as well as Marshfield and Scituate - was a popular vacation spot for Irish families - it was know as the Irish Riviera. Wealthy Irish families built mansions along the coast. Paragon Park at Nantucket Beach was built in the early 1900s. In 1928 a building was constructed to house a Carousel made of hand carved horses from Germany.

I'm wondering how my mother and Jim got to Nantucket - I don't imagine Jim had a car but maybe he did - I don't know if there was public transportation available either.



My mother doesn't look too happy in the photo above, but look at the woman to the right in the coat and hat at the beach. And are those men wearing old fashioned bathing suits on the left?


My mother and Jim are all smiles in this picture. Look at all the people who are dressed on the beach.


Would you ever remember my grandmother's half brother Uncle Pat O'Sullivan? He had immigrated to New Jersey to some of their Shea cousins. Uncle Pat and his family used to spend some part of the summer in Maine. They would ask my mother or Hannie - or both - to go along to help with their kids.
Looks like they are having a picnic - Hannie and one of the O'Sullivan cousins.


Hannie and more of the O'Sullivan cousins.

For some reason, I think Lawrence was the older son. So in the picture below Uncle Pat may be holding Jerry with Hannie beside him. Lawrence is in front holding Rita's hand and Patsy is on the right.


There was a note with this picture saying: Uncle Pat O'Sullivan - Hannie - Rita - Lawrence, Patsy, Jerry" - "taken at 91 Broadway, York Beach, Maine."



August 11, 1940: Germany began an air raid on British ports of Portland and Weymouth. Then on August 17 Hitler ordered a total blockade of Britain. Hitler wanted to destroy the Royal Air Force so that German forces would be able to cross the English Channel and invade Great Britain. The following day, August 18, 1940, an air battle known as The Hardest Day occurred. The website - https://www.forces.net/news/hardest-day-key-24-hours-battle-britain - reports that "On that day, the Luftwaffe flew 850 sorties involving 2,200 aircrew, while the Royal Air Force responded with 927 sorties involving 600 air personnel." The Luftwaffe lost 69 aircraft, and the RAF lost 68 in one of the largest air battles ever.



August 20, 1940: Churchill said of the Royal Air Force after the fierce battle: “never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”


The picture below is my mother with Marty Taylor taken August 26, 1940 at Revere Beach. The Massachusetts legislature took 3 miles of coast land in 1895 for Revere Beach Reservation. Charles Eliot designed the reservation for public use. He had trained under Frederick Law Olmstead who had designed Central Park in New York, the grounds of the US Capital in Washington, DC and, of course, the Emerald Necklace in Boston. A narrow gauge railroad brought beach goers from all over. 

My mother used to have pictures of her mother and her father at Revere Beach with some of the kids. Both wore the old fashioned bathing suits - Ma almost completely covered and John Keohane in a black bathing suit. Someone borrowed the photo album and the pictures never came back with it.

I don't know who this Marty Taylor in the picture above was. I tried searching in www.ancestry.com - I found WWII draft registrations for a couple of Martin Taylors born 1920-1921 - one was born in Scotland and immigrated to Springfield, Massachusetts as a baby, another lived in Chicopee, another lived in North Adams - no one with any apparent connections to the Watertown area. Who was this Marty Taylor?  Will we ever know?


On August 31, 1940 The United States National Guard was assembled. Beginning in September 1940, the first of 300,034 National Guard troops reported for active duty for one year of training. This doubled the size of the US Army. 

September 3, 1940 the United States gave Britain 50 destroyers, in return for Newfoundland base lease.


On September 7, 1940 one of the major events in 1940 occurred - it was the beginning of the Nazi Blitz. The German Luftwaffe bombed London for the first of 57 consecutive nights as the Nazis prepared to invade. Several days later, September 13, Buckingham Palace was hit by five German bombs. King George VI and Queen Elizabeth remained at Buckingham Palace - Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret had been evacuated to Windsor Castle. Queen Elizabeth reportedly commented after the bombing of the Palace  "I am glad we have been bombed. Now we can look the East End in the eye.




London after a bombing.




The pictures below show Winston Churchill inspecting Battersea, London after a Nazi bombing. They are the same picture but the lower one shows more background. My cousin Theresa Banham - her mother was Minnie Keohane Banham, my grandfather's sister - lived in Battersea and was a child during WWII - she talked about hiding under the table during an air raid.





September 16, 1940 President Roosevelt signed the Selective Service and Training Act into law - with Europe involved in war, the President wanted to strengthen the US military who were nowhere near prepared if the US should enter the war. It was the first peacetime draft in the US. All men between 21 and 45 had to register. ... this put another million men in Army uniforms. 


September 18, 1940 Winston Churchill visited the Royal Air Force 11th Fighter Group – this would be the fiercest day of the Battle of Britain.

September 27, 1940 Germany, Italy and Japan sign a 10 year formal alliance called the Axis.

October 15, 1940 The Great Dictator by Charlie Chaplin premiered in London amid German air raids. The website - https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2019/10/satirzing-hitler-charlie-chaplin-great-dictator - states that "The Great Dictator is a classic for a reason. It's startling in its depictions of violence, which stand out less for their outright brutality than for how memorably they depict the Nazis’ betrayal of everyday humanity. And it's renowned as well as for its resourceful and original humor, which combines Chaplin at his most incisive and balletic with raucous displays of verbal wit." 

Charlie Chaplin had been mobbed by German fans in 1931. But in 1934 the Nazi volume The Jews Are Looking At You referred to him as "a disgusting Jewish acrobat." Chaplin wasn’t Jewish." He did help hundreds of Jews escape the Nazis. There are several good websites that discuss the importance of this film and provide the final speech. I wasn't aware of the importance of this film and was fascinated by it.



October 12, 1940 marked the deadline for Jews in Warsaw to move into the Warsaw Ghetto. The Germans had moved into Warsaw after the invasion of Poland and established a ghetto. Warsaw had been a major center of Jewish culture - the Jewish population in Warsaw was the largest in Europe and was second only to New York. The Ghetto was surrounded by a 10 foot wall with barbed wire on top of it. Over 400, 000 Jews were forced to live in desperate circumstances in an area of 1.3 miles. According to the website - https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/warsaw, over 83,000 Jews died of starvation and disease in the ghetto. In July 1942 Germans began mass deportations of the Jews from the Ghetto to the "Treblinka Killing center. They killed approximately 35, 000 Jews inside the ghetto" during the deportations. In January 1943, some of the remaining 70,000+ Jews in the Ghetto resisted the Germans. The struggle ended May 16, 1943 after the SS and police deported 49,000 surviving Jews to forced labor camps or to Trblinka - 7,000 died resisting or in hiding during the uprising.  The photo below is from the website - https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1088240.


Years ago I read the powerful 1961 book Mila 18 by Leon Uris about the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. I had loved Trinity by the same author - it was a family saga set in the north of Ireland. After reading Trinity, I wanted to read more works by Leon Uris. Mila 18 might have been the next one I read. I have always been interested in the Jewish religion because I have always been interested in history and because Jesus was a Jew so it was his religion. Both historical novels were emotional journeys. 


November 5, 1940:
President Roosevelt won an unprecedented 3rd term as President. He broke with tradition, but there was no law at that time limiting presidential terms. Roosevelt argued that because the US was still in the Depression and war was raging in Europe, a third term as president would provide stability and keep the US out of the war. Roosevelt also continued his series of Fireside Chats which he had begun in 1933 - he used these radio events to talk to the American people about his administration and his policies.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fireside_chats#/media/File:FDR-September-11-1941.jpg


December 16: Joe Louis won against Al McCoy for heavyweight boxing title in the Boston Garden. We saw previously that Joe Louis had beaten German Max Schmeling in a rematch in 1938 - Schmeling was seen by Adolf Hitler as a representative of the Aryan race - he must have been infuriated when Scheming lost.

https://boxrec.com/media/index.php/Joe_Louis_vs._Al_McCoy


December 29: In one of the last 1940 events, over 10,000 bombs were dropped on London, including the first incendiary bombs, in the worst German air raid of the Blitz. It became known as the Second Fire of London. Miraculously, St Paul's Cathedral survived - Winston Churchill gave orders to save the Cathedral at all costs - it became a symbol of British resolve.

According to Human Rights Watch, "Incendiary weapons are among the cruelest weapons used in contemporary armed conflict. These weapons, which produce heat and fire through the chemical reaction of a flammable substance, cause excruciating burns and destroy homes and other civilian structures." 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Great_Fire_of_London#/media/File:View_from_St_Paul's_Cathedral_after_the_Blitz.jpg


I took this picture of St Paul's on a trip to London and Oxford with two of my sisters, Patty and Jody. I wish I had thought to get a picture of the monument to the firefighters who gave their lives during WWII and who helped protect St Paul's - there on the left.



Below is the "Blitz Heroes with Grimy Faces" monument outside St Paul's Cathedral.

https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-st-pauls-cathedral-london-blitz-heroes-with-grimy-faces-memorial-monument-78416809.html


I'm not sure when this picture was taken except that it was 1940. The back said Fred Meers and his dog.


I couldn't find anything definite about this Fred Meers. I did find a WWII draft registration for a Fred Mears living in Newton. I really don't know if this is our man.

Frederick Warren Mears lived at 22 Webster St. in Haverhill, Massachusetts but this is crossed off and replace with 85 Withington Road, Newtonville, Mass. Mailing address was "Pinemear" - Newton Junction, NH.  Fred was 21 years old - was born June 23, 1920 in Haverhill, Mass. He is a student. The person who will always know his address is Emma L Mears (mother) of 22 Webster - Haverhill. Fred's employer is Wesleyan Univ. Middletown - Ct.  Rather odd isn't it? A student living in Newtonville, Ma but his employer is in Connecticut?

The upper left corner of the form notes that Fred was discharged from Active Duty 4-18-46



Page 2 of the draft registration reports that Fred is white, 5'9" and 160 lbs. He has brown eyes and brown hair - he also has light brown complexion. Registration was July 1, 1941 at Local Board #75 in Haverhill.


There were so many important events in 1940 that it was difficult to pick just a few to show what was going on in the world during this year - now I want to pick up a history of WWII. 

And I have so many questions that I wish I had asked my mother - mainly who are all the unidentified people in her pictures! Where were they all taken? And how did the events in Europe affect her?  








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