The Romance of Norwalk

to pay for expenses to the total of $50,000. April 23, 1913, the contract for the building of the new bridge was awarded to McHarg, Barton and Co. of New York city for $277,955, they to sublet the contract for the draw bridge to the Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge Co. of Chicago for $32,927. The contract for paving was given to Daniel Toomey of this city for $14,000. In the fall of 1914 the bridge was finished. During 1929 extensive repairs have been made to the structure and several sections of new paving have been laid. WORLD WAR Chapter XXXIV Norzvalk Men Mobilize Eight Hours After Congress Passes IV ar Resolution — Tzvo Local Boys Receive Medals — Those IV ho Died — French Cannon Dedicated Here — Norzvalkers In Lazv and Medical Professions — City Takes Part in Suffrage Fight Just eight hours after the National House of Representa¬ tives passed the resolution which announced the entry of the United States into the World War, April 6, 1917, the Norwalk members of the Naval Militia, Fifth Division, had mobilized at the Norwalk Armory and were in form to march to camp. The resolution was passed at 3 in the morning and at 11 that night 70 of the 72 members of the local company were ready and waiting to go. Two members were out of town. NORWALK MEN LEAVE Events moved swiftly after that. At 5 130 Monday morning, April 9, in the midst of a driving blizzard, the 72 members boarded a train for Massachusetts, to the accom¬ paniment of the tears and cheers of 200 Norwalkers who had gathered at the station to bid them goodbye. Officers who went with this brave little group, the first of Norwalk’s sons to leave for the battlefield, were Lieutenant Harry Sta¬ cey Benton and Ensign Louden Jessup. The company went to Boston where it was divided into sections, some of the boys going on transports, some on battleships. Norwalk had an admirable record during the World War, sending no less than 1,627 °f her men and women into 396 WORLD WAR 3 97 the ranks to serve America and humanity. Forty-five were killed or died in service, 17 women served in the army and navy nurse corps; seven of the city doctors and two of the dentists are included in the number who went to the front from Norwalk; one local woman was in the chemical serv¬ ice; five women were with the Y. M. C. A.; one man was with the Y. M. C. A. and two were with the Knights of Columbus. Ten thousand Norwalkers jammed the streets of the city and packed every inch of the railroad station grounds on the morning of July 28, 1917, when the local boys, making up the Sixth company, Coast Artillery, Connecticut National Guard, left for camp. So great was the excitement and so bad the crush, that several women fainted and had to be carried away. A plat¬ form had been erected near the station for the farewell ceremonies, and rousing speeches were given by Mayor Carl Axel Harstrom, Judge John J. Walsh, Congressman E. J. Hill, Porter Emerson Browne, writer; Commander Thomas Bradley of Buckingham Post, G. A. R., and by Albert N. Mossman, captain of the Sixth Company. Just before the close of the ceremonies the boys were presented with a dona¬ tion of $500 to be used as a company fund in times of stress. When the train puffed into the station at 9 o’clock, mothers, wives, sisters and sweethearts rushed to the soldiers for one more embrace and the cars pulled out with nearly half the company crowded onto the rear platform to wave a last farewell. Officers in this company were Albert N. Mossman, cap¬ tain; Jesse T. Dunbar, first lieutenant; Floyd Coffin, second lieutenant. The boys went first to Fort Terry, Plum Island, New York, off New London, were later changed to the 35th company, Long Island defense, and were then placed in the 56th Regiment Field Artillery, where they were divided into various battalions. The soldiers went overseas after a short period of training and spent gruelling months on the firing line. All of the above men were volunteers. In ad- ROMANCE OF NORWALK 398 dition there were a number of drafted men who went from Norwalk. The first three to leave Norwalk for camp, Sep¬ tember 5, 1917, were Stephen Dokus, Calvin A. Miller and Theodore H. Clark. Most of the drafted men were sent to Camp Devens where they were later placed in the 76th Division and shipped overseas. July 31, 1918, 25 colored boys were tendered a large banquet in their club, 122 Water st., as a farewell party before taking train for camp. Shortly after war was declared, Company D, 102nd In¬ fantry, 26 Division, arrived in Norwalk from New Haven, under military orders, to guard all bridges, piers, govern¬ ment stations and factories in this vicinity. Later, the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad sent its own civilian guards to watch the railroad. While the company was here, a number of Norwalkers enlisted. Afterwards, the company went to France, took part in several battles and lost a number of men to German prison camps. At a special session of the state legislature in the summer of 1917, authorization was given for the formation of home guard units in the various Connecticut towns and cities. The Norwalk men organized, there being two companies, I. and K. Charles Rogers was first captain of Co. I, Harry Sterling, E. C. Nash and Charles Britto being later captains. Charles Milne was captain of Co. K., Charles Guarnieri being first lieutenant and George C. Meehan, second lieu¬ tenant. January 21, 1918, following a rumored report that a movement was on foot to blow up the railroad bridge in South Norwalk, the two home guard companies were or¬ dered to call their members together ready to report for duty along the line of the railroad. At that time Godfrey and McCarg were given as the lieutenants in Co. K. There are many in town today, who remember this famous “Battle of the Bridge.” There was no battle, the appellation was just a nickname. All night long through the bitter cold, the bridge was patrolled by the Home Guard. The men had their headquarters in the railroad station and there reported from time to time. No regular uniforms were used for WORLD WAR 399 there were none on hand and many of the men appeared in the long blue coats and the little blue caps of bygone wars. Some carried Civil War rifles. Be that as it may, they did their duty. Norwalk, during the World War, went through the heat¬ less, meatless and wheatless days; gave up white bread, sugar, and automobile riding on Sundays and spent most of its spare time in buying Liberty bonds, knitting, and working for the “boys” under the direction of the Norwalk War Bureau. Clubs and societies of all kinds cooperated with the city during those trying days and the good work of the Red Cross, the Y. M. C. A., the Salvation Army, the K. of C. and the Y. M. H. A. especially, should be mentioned. “der kaiser” King George came to Norwalk in Revolutionary times. “Der Kaiser” came to Norwalk in World War times. True, King George turned out to be a leaden statue which was shortly melted down into bullets. “Der Kaiser” was also a statue, at least it was a bronze bust which had at one time graced the German ship “Vaterland” and which was captured and brought to the Wilson Point shipyards during the war. There it remained for some time, in a boxed cage in one of the storerooms, until it was finally sold to the Italian proprietor of the Miramar Inn. A most important place was Wilson Point during the World War. It so happened that shortly after war broke out, contracts for the building of ships were given to ship¬ builders all along the New England coast, regardless of the size or facilities of the yards. As a result, some small yards which could not build more than one boat at a time, had contracts for four or five. There was no room in these little yards for all the building material which was being sent to them as fast as it could be gathered from different parts of the country, and very shortly the railroads and yards were so clogged with lumber and supplies and marine 400 ROMANCE OF NORWALK engines, that nothing could go forward or be accomplished at all. It was necessary for the government to open an emergency storage yard at once. Wilson Point was chosen for just that purpose and here, during the war, lumber and engines from all parts of the United States, on their way to the New England shipyards, were stored until needed by those shipyards. Silverware, glassware and souvenirs of all kinds taken off the German boats, also found their way into the local yards where they were retained until the end of the war. At one time, as many as 800 men were employed at the shipyards. Belden Bailey of Russell st., remained there during the entire time, as assistant guard master, later as assistant to the auditor, then in the operating department, then as assistant to the final sales manager for the whole northeastern district. William Brown was super¬ intendent, Joseph Doman, general superintendent under Brown; Philip Fielding, electrician; William F. Hoyt, in charge of vessels; Carlton Underwood, in charge of lumber dept. Affairs at the Wilson Point yards were wound up in May, 1922 at which time all lumber engines and supplies then on hand were sold at auction. Men and women, boys and girls, old and young did their “bit” in Norwalk during the World War. Before closing the account of the activities of the local people during that eventful period, mention must be made of the Auxiliary Police, composed of young men in the community who as¬ sisted in the guarding of the town and who were subject to the orders of Chief of Police William R. Pennington. One of the most prominent members of this group was Cornelius Vanderbilt, jr., scion of one of the wealthiest families in the country and recent owner of several newspapers, who at¬ tended the Harstrom school on Prospect ave., Norwalk, during the World War. With the signing of the Armistice, November 11, 1918, the Norwalk boys from overseas commenced coming home. Corporal William Croal, gassed and wounded, and a patient in a New York hospital, and Corporal LeRoy D. Downs, WORLD WAR 40 1