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Remembered Today:

Twelve Men Survived the Horrors of the Great War


ph0ebus

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Hi all,

I have located the final resting place of Lieutenant Franklin G. Miller, U.S. Naval Air Force. He is buried in Mount Hope Cemetery, Hastings-On-Hudson, New York, Section 65, Lot 297. While the gravestone oddly spells his name with a 'Y', in the cemetery register his name is spelled Franklin, and the date of interment is a spot-on match to the death notice. His photograph:

Franklin%20G%20Miller.jpg

His headstone, via Find-A-Grave:

110418280_136838512448.jpg

:poppy::poppy: :poppy:

-Daniel

PS: It's ironic that the church that performed the services for Jerome McKean (Holyrood Episcopal Church) is located literally right across the street from where Franklin Miller once lived!

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  • 6 months later...

Hi all,

I may have a new lead on one of my twelve soldiers, whose final resting place I had not yet located: Reginald Elworthy (aka Elsworthy/Ellsworthy); here is what I had on him up to this point:

Elsworthy, Reginald - Age 23 - Served with B Company, 114th Infantry, 29th Division in the Great War, and fought overseas. Last known address was 64 Liberty Street, West Orange, New Jersey. Employed as a clerk at the time of his death.

This *might* be his US Draft Registration Card:

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1942-26587-26349-93?cc=1968530

If so, he was born in London, England (his father's birthplace, is that Coventry)?

Based on the DOB on the card, the age appears to fit my fellow.

This also would appear to tie in with what appears to be his entry in The History of the 29th Division, here:

http://distantcousin.com/military/wwi/units/usa/29thdivision/Pages.asp?Page=384

My fellow appears 7th from the top in the left column. Based on this, the initials match up as well.

Ah, and here would be his call-up notice:

http://www.newspapers.com/image/55300605/

Thoughts?

-Daniel

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The cemetery has been unresponsive to emails, so I called them. He's not buried there! I checked under the various spelling permutations, nada. They recommended contacting the OTHER Rosedale cemetery in Linden New Jersey and he's not buried there either.

Back to square one.

-Daniel

Because I am a stubborn SOB, I called Rosedale Cemetery *again* in Montclair, New Jersey and asked them to check again to see if Reginald Elworthy was buried there, and sure enough, his card had been misfiled, and they found him! Reginald John Elworthy was buried on September 20, 1920 in Section 8, Row 5, Grave 68. I will be updating my webpage accordingly with this new information and plan on making the pilgrimage to visit his grave some time this fall. I am pleased to have found him just in time for the observance of the 94th Anniversary of his passing.

:poppy::poppy: :poppy:

-Daniel

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I found an outstanding new resource today and within, located quite a few more details and photographs, including one photo of the twelve veterans I did not have a photograph of before...progress! I will post the specifics and pictures this evening.

-Daniel

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May I present to you the following newly rediscovered portraits:

post-32240-0-46627200-1410390714_thumb.j

post-32240-0-71481600-1410390750_thumb.j

post-32240-0-82945800-1410390772_thumb.j

(Correct spelling should be Benjamin Solomy)


One of our identified veterans, Bernard Kennedy:

post-32240-0-41660200-1410390865_thumb.j

post-32240-0-76685800-1410390891_thumb.j

(Correct spelling is Carolyn M. Dickinson)

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Well done Daniel. Perseverance does pay off.

Thanks...as time passes, more and more resources become available digitally and help to move the project forward. I will consider the project complete when I have located the final resting places of all forty people and, if possible, have a photograph of each person.

The latest crop of photographs all come from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. It is a free online resource and if you are interested in reading about the Great War from the American/New York perspective, I would heartily encourage you check it out.

For example:

http://www.newspapers.com/image/60011193/

From that page, you can navigate to whatever year and day you wish.

-Daniel

PS: I should add that I have found other interesting facts relating to others present that day but who survived. Amongst the more notable persons present when the bomb went off were the Great War veteran and published poet Egmont Ruschke (see his photograph and his story HERE), and Joseph Kennedy, the father of one of the greatest American Presidents, John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

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I found this tidbit while researching Bernard Kennedy...and they say the Internet has a long memory! It would appear his stint in the military really turned his life around.

post-32240-0-32961000-1410479754_thumb.j

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This entire body of work is VERY IMPRESSIVE indeed! The info & photos that have been found & shared has given new life & respect to the story & the victims of an event that is not very familiar to most Americans now. My congratulations to all who have contributed to the knowledge posted here. Thanks! & Well Done!

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This entire body of work is VERY IMPRESSIVE indeed! The info & photos that have been found & shared has given new life & respect to the story & the victims of an event that is not very familiar to most Americans now. My congratulations to all who have contributed to the knowledge posted here. Thanks! & Well Done!

Thanks for the kind words! Greatly appreciated!

I found a clipping in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle that fleshes out the extent of Thomas Montgomery's injuries, and it would seem they were much more severe than the initial injury report let on:

post-32240-0-47790100-1410561524_thumb.j

In the absence of a service record (which I am presently pursuing), it says quite a bit about his experiences at Cambrai/St. Quentin.

-Daniel

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Remembering the twelve soldiers and twenty-seven men, women and children who perished 94 years ago today...one of the greatest unsolved crimes in American history.

In Slate Magazine's blog today:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/atlas_obscura/2014/09/16/the_1920_wall_st_bombing_a_terrorist_attack_on_new_york.html

:poppy::poppy: :poppy:

-Daniel

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I can't remember the name but I am sure there was a senior British army officer assassinated during the 1920's by terrorists.

QUOTE (phil w @ Apr 15 2009, 10:47 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
I can't remember the name but I am sure there was a senior British army officer assassinated during the 1920's by terrorists.

Phil - a little off topic, but I think you are talking about Field Marshall Henry Wilson, killed by the IRA in 1922

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Hughes_Wilson

Alan

More than likely you are thinking of Wilson, but there was also Sir Lee Stack, who was assassinated by terrorists in Cairo in 1924.

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All,

I would like your opinion on a Draft Registration Card. One of the bombing victims was John A. Donohue, whose address in the newspaper accounts was "1034 East 13th Street, Brooklyn". His given age was 38 and his listed occupation was accountant. I found the following card via Familysearch:

post-32240-0-01861900-1411176768_thumb.j

The home address on the card is one block away from the home address in the newspaper accounts of his death, and the accounting firm this fellow worked for (on the draft card) was around the corner and just .1 miles from the JP Morgan offices at 23 Wall Street.

Would you think this is one and the same man?

-Daniel

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I realized yesterday evening I had made a transcription error early in the project and had mistakenly entered Alfred G. Phillips in the roll of names rather than his correct name, Alfred G. PHIPPS. Upon correction and a new search in the WWI Draft Registration cards and archived newspapers at the Smithsonian I was able to confirm I have the right person and now have a fresh lead on his final whereabouts, namely Boston, Massachusetts:

10482768_10203539719026250_5817775708581

10653728_10203539718906247_5972626543943

Hopefully, we will have his details sorted out soon. Quite a sad story, Alfred...his young wife, EMMA MEEK PHIPPS, died at age 27, whereupon he relocated to New York, only to be severely wounded in the bombing. He lingered for two weeks, and passed on September 30th, 1920.

-Daniel

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I have a question for those who have read and followed this thread thus far, based on a new piece of information I found today while reading through the newspaper archives:

Frederick Marvin Carpenter, age 32 and a bank clerk, suffered from "shattered nerves" as a result of his first-hand experiences at the site of the bombing, and in despair, took his own life on September 21, 1920 by jumping from the roof of the National City Bank Building at 55 Wall Street. He was buried the following day in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, Lot 4058, Section 23.

I suspect this may be his Draft Registration Card:

post-32240-0-09239100-1411340669_thumb.j

Certainly he has the correct occupation, and the employer shown here is just around the corner from 55 Wall Street, and the home address is literally right down the road from where he is buried.

He is not listed in the roll of those who died, but I am thinking this is wrong. Would you consider him a casualty of this event?

-Daniel

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  • 1 month later...

I was, due to a fortunate series of events, able to visit the Cemetery of the Evergreens in Brooklyn today and paid a visit to Joseph Schmitt's final resting place. I will post a photo when I am home this evening.

-Daniel

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I have a question for those who have read and followed this thread thus far, based on a new piece of information I found today while reading through the newspaper archives:

Frederick Marvin Carpenter, age 32 and a bank clerk, suffered from "shattered nerves" as a result of his first-hand experiences at the site of the bombing, and in despair, took his own life on September 21, 1920 by jumping from the roof of the National City Bank Building at 55 Wall Street. He was buried the following day in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, Lot 4058, Section 23.

I suspect this may be his Draft Registration Card:

attachicon.gifrecord-image.jpg

Certainly he has the correct occupation, and the employer shown here is just around the corner from 55 Wall Street, and the home address is literally right down the road from where he is buried.

He is not listed in the roll of those who died, but I am thinking this is wrong. Would you consider him a casualty of this event?

-Daniel

YES, most certainly! He died of wounds to his mind & should be on the list. Thank you for finding him & writing about him here.

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  • 10 months later...

Two days shy of the 95th anniversary, I have just confirmed that Amelia Newton Huger is indeed buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, burial date September 25, 1920, and she is interred in Crown Grove, Lot 3522-3526.

I will be updating my website accordingly.

I am still stonewalled in locating the final resting places of the following two identified Great War veterans who died there that day:

Kennedy Jr., Bernard F. –Age 30 - Death Certificate # 25673

McKean, Jerome Hopkins, - Age 33 - Death Certificate # 25696

The following civilians (or at least individuals whom I cannot presently identify as veterans) are still not located, either:

Arambarry, Joseph, Age 27 - Death Certificate # 25676

Drury, Marguerite A. (a.k.a. Margaret Drurey), Age 29 - Death Certificate # 25668

Hanrahan, Charles A., Age 22 - Death Certificate # 25745

Johnson, John, Age 58

Kehrer, Elmer Wallace, Age 21 - Death Certificate # 25916

Leith, Alexander, Age 64 - Death Certificate # 25709

Peterson, William Ernst, Age 29

Phipps, Alfred Granville, born November 21, 1891, Age 28 - Death Certificate # 26628

Stoba, Francis Dalzell, Age 34 - Born 5 Dec 1885

Xylander, Mildred, Age 46 - Death Certificate # 25643

The search continues...

-Daniel

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In digging through the photo archive at the Library of Congress yesterday, I found this photo of the very spot the bombing took place, except it was taken on 11 November 1918 when Germany's surrender was announced:

09634r.jpg

The Morgan Bank building is the low building on the left with the tall windows, just past the large American flag.

-Daniel

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