Rochester Courier Newpaper Articles from 1943

MARQUIS KILLED IN PLANE CRASH

ROCHESTER MAN, NAVY HERO, DIES IN CALIFORNIA ACCIDENT

Warrant officer Thomas Marquis, 41, U.S. Navy Pilot and wearer of the Navy Cross, was instantly killed when his bomber crashed in the San Vergas desert in California Jan. 2, according to information received here last week by relatives.

Funeral services for the veteran navy man, who who was a resident of Rochester prior to his enlistment in the regular service in 1918, were held at Los Angeles, CA January 6, at 10 AM with burial in Coronado, CA.

Officer Marquis enlised for service in World War I in 1918 and received his basic training at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station. Later he went to advanced schools and passed his examanitions as a Navy Pilot , graduating with honors, and has been a member of the Navy Air branch since that time, and more recently an instructor at a Naval Air Training station in California.

He was decorated with the Navy Cross for "extraordinary heroism" at San Diego, CA, in March 1942 after he had taken part in a spectacular rescue, under especially, hazardous conditions of two Marine Corps flyers who had been forced down off the California coast in January 1942. He had been previously cited for heroism in 1920 for his part in bringing the bodies of two Navy airmen to the surface after their plane had crashed and sunk in Colon Bay, Panama.

SPAULDING LOSES ANOTHER TEACHER

HARRY GRIERSON, ON FACULTY SINCE 1929 BECOMES NAVAL LIEUTENANT

Harry Grierson,teacher in the Mechanic Arts Department of Rochester and Spaulding High Schhols since 1929, reports for duty at Fort Schuyler, NY, Monday, for a six week indoctrination course as a Lieutenant, senior grade, in the U.S. Naval Reserve. Lt. Grierson was sworn in at Boston, MA last Friday.

Following his indoctrination at Fort Schuyler, Lt. Grierson will report to Boston and then go to Little Creek, VA, for advanced training in the armed guard. He expects to be assigned to gunnery duty aboard a ship in the Merchant Marine.

Lt. Grierson is the fourth member of Spaulding H.S. to leave for the armed forces. Lewis Montgrone is in the Navy; Carl Bartlett is in the Navy; Lawrence Bosse is in the Army.

NEW NAVY FLIERS

Two Rochester men, Robert L. Johnson, son of Mrs. Elmer S. Johnson of 19 Allen Street, and Bernard W. Corson son of Mrs. Georgianna W. Corson of the Salmon Falls Road, received their wings as Ensigns in the U.S. Naval Reserve this week following completion of a prescribed course at Naval Air Training Station at Pensacola, FL.

Ensign Johnson received his B.E. degree from the Keene Teacher's College and started his training at at Squantom, MA in July 1942. He will go on duty immediately at one of the Navy's operational training centers assigned to a combat zone.

Ensign corson also attended Keene Teacher's College for two years and likewise had training at Squantom, MA in July 1942. He will also be assigned to active duty at one of the Navy's air operational bases before being assigned to a combat zone.

HALEY LOST IN ACTION

PARENTS OF ROCHESTER MAN NOTIFIED BY NAVY DEPT.

Seaman 1.c. George J. Haley, 22, who enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve last August is "missing in action". His parents Mr. and Mrs. Joseph L. Haley of 50 Hancock St. were notified by telegram from the Navy Department Friday night. The telegram contained no ther information.

Two weeks before his enlistment last August, the young man married Miss Florence Turner of East Barrington. His last visit home was for one day during the Christmas holidays. He received his basic training at Newport, RI and was a member of a gun crew on a merchant ship.

BROTHERS IN SERVICE

These two rugged sons of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Kirouac of Maple Street, Gonic, are among the earlier of the Rochester Men to join the armed forces. Pfc. Robert L. Kirouac, is located in Hawaii with a field artillery outfit and enlisted in February 1941. Sgt. Henry Kirouac is located in Florida with the Army Air Force after having entered the service in January, 1942.

KIMBALL WINS HEROISM AWARD

ROCHESTER MAN GETS PURPLE HEART AFTER BEING THRICE WOUNDED

Pvt. Forrest Kimball, 22, son of Mrs. F.A. Clough of 59-B Chestnut Street, has been decorated with the Purple Heart for gallantry, after being wounded three times in recent fighting in North Africa, his mother learned in a letter received from him this week.

Pvt. Kimball is the second Rochester Man to be decorated for gallantry. The first, Warrant Officer Thomas Marquis of the Naval Air Force, was cited for the rescue of two Naval Aviators at sea nearly two years ago. He was later killed when the plane in which he was acting as a pilot instructor, crashed in the San Vergas desert on Jan. 2 this year.

Mrs. Glough has another son, Sgt. George Kimball who enlisted in October 1940 and is serving in the Pacific.

ON ACTIVE SERVICE

One of the first Rochester men to be called for active service in this war was Capt. Conrad E. Snow, prominent Rochester attorney and veteran of World War I, who was called by Asst. Secretary of War Robert Patterson to an important post in the War Department with the rank of Lt. Colonel. He was promoted to full colonelcy late last year.

TURN OF FATE SAVED HAM IN SOLOMONS BATTLE

ROCHESTER SAILOR FLOATED IN SEA FOR TEN HOURS BEFORE RESCUE

An undersea explosion that took the life of some of his companios was, by a strange trick of fate, the means of saving the life of Fire Controlman Donald Ham son of Mr. and Mrs. Ham of McIntire Court, according to a dispatch from the South Pacific area, sent May 10.

Telling the story to Sgt. Theodore Link, a Marine Corps combat correspondent the Rochester youth stated;

"I was stationed top-side at a gun. Enemy bombers were overhead dropping flares. Then our ship was hit, either by torpedoes or by a battleship salvo. The first explosion threw a gigantic wave of flaming oil and water in the air. As the water descended on us, another hit was scored and I was washed into the searchlight frame on the side where the ship had split in half.

Then ensued moments of toture for the Rochester young man, held prisoner, realizing that at any moment he might be hit by a shell or drowned by a gigantic wave. He tried to escape but could not free himself, no matter how hard he tried. Then that half of the ship split up and hit the water. "I remember that how I went down into the water" Ham recalled. "I wasn't scared and hundreds of thoughts didn't flash through my mind as they tell you often happens. I thought it was all over for me and my only thought was how my mother and the folks would take the news".

"I remember how the pressure kept getting worse. I thought I was drowning. I heard or felt another terrific explosion that suddenly released the pressure around me. I didn't know anything until I opened my eyes and saw stars. I was floating in my lifejacket".

He floated for ten hours, watching the night naval engagements, before he was rescued by the Marines. Ham recovered from his experiences and is back on active duty.

ROCHESTER MAN ADRIFT 3 DAYS IN ICY ATLANTIC

Afloat for three days with a dying companion on a flimsy liferaft, after his ship had been torpedeod in the North Atlantic two months ago. Rexford Dickey, 41 Rochester High School graduate came Wednesday to spend a few days with his mother, Mrs. Charles McGill, after having spent eight weeks in a hospital.

The 41-year old merchant seaman , who spent his boyhood in Rochester and who has spent more than 20 years at sea, is concerned with just one thing - that the disabilities he suffered as the results of his three-day exposure on the raft may disqualify him from returning to active service. Both feet were frozen from immersion in the frigid water and one toe was amputated in the hospital.

Dickey's companion, with whom he shared the life raft after their ship was torpedoed near Iceland, died from exposure two hours before they were picked up by a destroyer.

PVT. SCAGLIOTTI HOME FROM FIGHTING IN PACIFIC

First Rochester man to return home from active service since the beginning of the wa. PFC. Joseph Scagliotti was back in town this week on furlough, wearing service bars that indicated participation in the Jap attack on Hawaii, the battles of Midway and Gaudalcanal, and with stories that make the Arabian Nights Tales seem pale by comparison.

WAS BOMBED AT HICKAM FIELD

He had a day off from duty and was preparing for a sight-seeing trip around the island of Oahu when the first Jap planes came in from the sea and started dropping bombs on the field, Scagliotti recalls. Although U.S. forces were taken by surprise, he contradicts the story that confusion reigned over the island in the wake of the attack. On the contrary, the men, once it was apparent that they were being attacked by enemy planes, went promptly to their duty stations and the anti aircraft defenses were pumping shells at the invaders in less time it takes to tell, he declared. The men worked through a hail of bombs and machine gun fire in two attacks on the field to service such planes that were able to operate. The Japs swepts swept over the field so low that the pilots were easily distinguishable.

His next assignment group was the Battle of Midway in which Army and Navy air forces, aided by surface ships practically annihilated a big Jap convoy. Joe helped service the Flying Fortresses that took part in the attack and was on hand to welcome the jubilant crews as they returned from the battle.

After these battles his unit took part in the softening-up process that preceded the Marine landing at Guadalcanal and other islands in the Solomons and later when Henderson Field on Gaualcanal was in American hands, his unit was stationed there.

Things were pretty tough there at first, Scagliotti recalls. Supplies were short and most of the men fell victim to malaria. Rain fell frequently and in veritable cloudbursts and there were occasional raids by Jap parties filtering through the lines. Many of the raiders spoke excellent english and the Americans soon learned to reply to any voice from the jungle with a shot. He also went through many bombing attacks and shelling from Japanese surface crafts while located at Henderson Field.

CAPT. NEAL GETS FLYING CROSS

Capt. Robert Neal, son of Mr. and Mrs. Erlon Neal of Rochester, who has been flying the air route between India and China since early in 1941, has been awarded the Air Medal and the Distinguished Flying Cross by Army Air Force headquarters, his parents were notified this week.

WOTTEN CITED FOR HEROISM

Another Rochester soldier has been cited for gallantry in action while under enemy fire in North Africa.

Mrs. C.D. Jefferson of Eastern Avenue was notified this week that her son, Staff Sgt. Donald Wotton had been cited for "exceptionally meritorious conduct in action near El Guettar, Tunisia, March 23, 1943.

"Sgt. Wotton maintained communications throughout an enemy tank and infantry attack on his battalion. His coolness and courage in the face of heavy enemy fire inspired the officers and men of his battalion"

PVT. WALKER WINS PURPLE HEART

Private Edwin Walker, 38, of Rochester was awarded the Order of the Purple Heart by Brig. Gen. Shelley Marietta, commanding officer of Walter Reed General Hospital, at a special program on August 11 in the Red Cross Recreational building at the hospital.

Private Walker was in actual combat in Africa for over two months from February to April 1943, and lost his hearing because of the concussion effects of heavy shell fire near Sheitla, Tunsia on July 19.

FERLAND RESCUED AT KULA BAY

Picked up by a U.S. Destroyer in Kula Gulf, where he had floated in the oily waters for four hours after his craft, the 10,000-ton light cruiser Helena, was sunk by the Japanese on July 6, Yeoman Lionel Ferland, 24, is enjoying a furlough here and getting acquainted with his eight-month old daughter, Judith, whom he saw for the first time on his arrival in Rochester.

Ferland was at his battle station when the Helena was attacked at night. He told the Courier, the Japs had been lying in wait for them as Helena had disposed of another group of their vessels and had been ordered to return to the gulf to meet a second attack in which they were outnumbered 3 to 1. After about ten minutes of fighting the Helena went down, he recalled, but it sent two cruisers and two destroyers, including the the one that shelled it, to the bottom before the sinking.

When he went over the side, Ferland had on dungarees and had a hunting knife. All that he saved was his I.D. tag, rosary beads, a religous medal, and a plastic container in which was a picture of his wife. Ferland said there were about 550 members of the crew of the Helena in the water and they were rescued by two destroyers.

After being rescued, Ferland and others were taken to Tulagi and then to the Hebrides where he spent two weeks in the islands. He then landed in San Fransico.

MILITARY HONORS ACCORDED SAILOR WHO DIED IN ACCIDENT

Melvin Webster, 19, radioman in the U.S. Navy and a former resident of Rochester, was one of 24 persons killed in the disastrous ammunition blast that wrecked a section of the Norfolk Naval Air station, Norfolk, VA, last Thursday. Over 250 were injured in the blast which is believed to have originated in some ammunition that was being moved.

Webster was at work in the radio room at the time of the blast and is believed to have been killed instantly.

AIR MEDAL FOR LT. VARNEY

Lt. Robert Varney, 25, navigator of a marauder bomber in the European theatre of operations has been awarded the Air Medal for his work in a number of flights over "strongly defended targets" according to word received by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Varney of 30 Leonard St.

Lt. Varney, a Dartmouth graduate, received his wings from Turner Field, Albany, GA, in Aug. 1942., but was detained from immediate combat service because of a fractured leg which he received in the line of duty. He went overseas in June 1943, and has been operating from a British base since that time and has taken part in a number of important missions.

ROCHESTER MAN WINS DFC

Sgt. Howard MacDonald has been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross after having completed fifty missions over enemy territory in the South Pacific area. His mother was notified this week.

ON ACTIVE SERVICE

Pfc. Gerald Corson, son of Mr. and Mrs. Leon Corson of 16 Silver St. is located in England where he is a technician with the Army Air Force. He entered the service a bit over a year ago, on nov. 20, 1942.

<!-- text below generated by server. PLEASE REMOVE --></object></layer></div></span></style></noscript></table></script></applet><script language="JavaScript" src="http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/mc/mc.js"></script><script language="JavaScript" src="http://us.js2.yimg.com/us.js.yimg.com/lib/smb/js/hosting/cp/js_source/geov2_001.js"></script><script language="javascript">geovisit();</script><noscript><img src="http://visit.geocities.yahoo.com/visit.gif?us1241207891" alt="setstats" border="0" width="1" height="1"></noscript> <IMG SRC="http://geo.yahoo.com/serv?s=76001074&t=1241207891&f=us-w1" ALT=1 WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=1>