Livingston Manor WWII Honor Roll

<click picture for larger image> 3/30/2008

In 1954, this "honor roll" list of World War II veterans, consisting of all 390 names of those who served in the armed forces, were placed on the bronze tablet set in the granite stone, and dedicated at its present location in front of the American Legion Hall. The two new additional names that were not included on the earlier memorial were those of Leslie Edwards and Harry Sturdevant.   Fred

The 390 names of those who served in the armed forces during World War II inscribed upon the "Honor Roll" tablet in front of the Legion Hall represent the families of our locality, some with a long history within the area and others who happened to be planted in the Manor at that particular time. But like the trains that pulled in and out of the Manor station, other families, whose sons and daughters also served, came and went. Often, members of the families were associated with the O&W, moving wherever the railroad job opportunities existed. Others worked in the local factories and mills, which when the local resources dried up and the businesses closed-up shop and moved, so often did the workers. But no matter where these families wound up, war department telegrams delivered the news of the fate of their loved ones, and the sad news filtered back to friends and relatives back here at the Manor.

One early family, the Harringtons, who were one of the earliest residents on DuBois Street, left the Manor when the father died, the son answering his nation's call. The young Sweeney boy graduated from the local high school in 1931, realizing his dream of becoming a teacher. The young minister from the Presbyterian Church gave up his exemption and enlisted into the army in 1942. So did the son of a former pastor of the Methodist Church. The Dayton family, now considered a Manor family, was not the case when the tablet's Honor Roll was assembled. The Mulvey boy also was not included.

Telegrams from the War Department, informing the families of those soldiers who were wounded in action, missing in action or killed in action, were few during the first two years of the war, but with the allied offensive of 1944, they became more numerous, often on a weekly basis. The geographical names of the locations, from both war fronts, of these boys' deaths would later become familiar to us all; the bridge-head at Remegen, The Bulge, bombing raids over Hanover, the sands of Iwo Jima. Two Gold Star mothers' sons survived the invasion of Normandy. Though wounded, they lived, and died, to fight another day.

The "Honor Roll" of all those Manorites who served during this conflict fill the three by four foot bronze tablet with their names. Most came home after the war, resuming their lives. The supreme sacrifice made by the few young men who did not return is noted by a lone star placed before each of their names.  -  Fred

In reference to the posting about about those from the Manor who served in WWII, I would like to know if any of those who died in the war were fathers and left children behind?  I belong to a group called the American WWII Orphans Network (www.awon.org).  Among the many things we are doing is putting together a database of all known fathers who were KIA or are still MIA.  It is estimated that there were 175,000 American orphans created by WWII.  -  Kathy

Oscar Lloyd had a son. Most of the other 13 local veterans who died during the war and listed on the "honor roll" were unmarried, except for Jack Kaplan and John Wood. Wood had just been married in '42 and had just visited home on furlough in '44 before being sent back over to Europe. Whether either one of these boys had children born after their death is unknown.

Ken Sweeney was about thirty years old at the time of his death, and was a teacher on Long Island. Whether he was married and whether he had any children is unknown.  -  Fred

Kenneth Sweeney

Ask about town about Kenneth Sweeney these days and not many people, if any, remember any family living here by that name. Though the name was not considered a "local" name, Kenneth Sweeney was indeed a local boy.

Frank P. Sweeney met Miss Emma Knoll, the daughter of George Knoll of Morrston, and the two were married in 1914. With an occupation of marble cutter, he found work at Honesdale, Pennsylvania, where they made their home. It was there that their son, Kenneth, was born. The Knoll family, no doubt, rings a bell amongst us "locals", Emma being an aunt of the Knoll twins, Edith and Geneva, making Ken Sweeney their cousin.

Frank Sweeney died not long after the move to Honesdale, in 1919, at the young age of 43, after which his widow and young son moved back to her home town. Ken was a member of the Livingston Manor High School graduating class of 1931, and like other Knoll family relatives, decided on a career in education. While teaching at a Little Neck, Long Island, school, Kenneth joined the Naval Reserve, where he received officer training. Kenneth Sweeney was commissioned as Lieutenant Junior Grade, and sailed on the destroyer, USS Emmons.

The Emmons had a long career throughout the war; escort duty and submarine patrol on the North Atlantic, part of the naval armada of ships prepared for the Normandy invasion, joining in the allied bombardment, and guarding troop transports from submarine attack. She returned to the states at the end of 1944 and was refitted as a minesweeper and set sail for the Pacific war theater.

In preparation for an attack on Okinawa, the Emmons, along with the USS Rodman, on April 6th, was clearing the waters for the assault when the ships were attacked by Japanese suicide planes. When the Rodman was initially struck, the Emmons circled the damaged ship providing anti-aircraft cover against the suicide pilots. Even with the wall of anti-aircraft sent skyward, she was struck by five kamikaze planes, striking the Combat Information Center on the ship's superstructure twice. Lieutenant Sweeney was combat information officer in charge of radar, and with his command of fifteen men, were no doubt at their battle stations when towers were hit. After the battle, the stricken ship's ammunition continued to explode, causing further casualties and damage. After the survivors were picked up, the Emmons was abandoned and sunk. Sweeney, along with 59 other sailors, probably went down with the ship.

Today, at the Orchard Street Cemetery in Livingston Manor, is the final resting place for Kenneth F. Sweeney; if not in body, at least in memory.  -  Fred
 

John S. Wood

John S. Wood was one of the more popular young men of Livingston Manor, and somewhat of a legend to those who still remember him. John, popularly known as "Gus", was the son of a carpenter, Clayton Wood and his wife Joanne, the family coming from Readburn, in Delaware County, to Livingston Manor in 1921 when Gus was 13 years old. He was a talented athlete, excelling in baseball and basketball. Throughout high school, he teamed up with his brother, Leonard and Jake Vogt for Livingston Manor High's successful seasons on both on the diamond and court.

After graduating high school in 1927, Gus continued an athletic career by playing in, and eventually organizing the local semi-pro leagues, playing teams from Orange, Ulster, Delaware and Sullivan counties. The same trio that excelled during high school, Gus, Leonard and Jake, were again the nucleus for these semi-pro teams, such as "The Island Five," "Livingston Manor Big Five," "Sullivan County Giants" and "The Livingston Manor All-Stars. These popular teams had a large local following that filled the bleachers with overflow crowds. Other players from the Manor who played on these teams were Vincent Knoll, Russ Hodge, Dutch O'Keefe, and Leonard Welter.

Gus also enjoyed the outdoors. Gus, along with Jake and Lou Kannigeser were known for their adventures with rifle or rod, often coming back from an excursion with more stories than game. Once, while suckering through the ice at Louck's pond above Parkston, Gus had made a "drive" that had Jake and Lou with all they could handle pulling the finned creatures through the hole. That night, all their families, relatives, friends and neighborhood cats feasted on the day's catch, nobody doubting the supposed method of their catch.

Gus worked as a chauffeur, sold real estate and, immediately after high school, began work as a clerk in the Sprague-Krom Company store where he soon became the store's manager.

Frances Hitchings began her elementary teaching career at the Livingston Manor school in 1931 and immediately became the apple of Gus' eye. Their courtship lasted over a decade until October 31st, 1942, when the couple were married. Three months later, Gus was inducted into the service.

Gus transferred from the Army to the Army Air Force and trained as a gunner and engineer for B-24 bombers. Just before he was to go overseas, in March of 1944, the pilot of his crew became ill, affording Gus the opportunity for a quick trip back home to see his new bride. The furlough was short and at the end of the month, Gus and his crew were sent overseas, joining the Fifteenth Army Air Force in Italy.

Gus Wood was the ball turret gunner of the ten-man crew aboard the B-24, the Suzan Jane, piloted by Lieutenant Norman Lawrence, attached with the 717th Bomber Squadron of the 449th Bomber Group. The operating base for the 449th was the Italian Air Force base at Grottaglie, in southern Italy liberated by the Allied invasion and occupation of the lower peninsula in 1943. This field, along with others, gave the Fifteenth Army Air Force access to military targets in southern Germany and Austria, targets unreachable from the heavy bombers flying from across the English Channel.

In the early dawn light of May 29th, 1944, thirty-eight B-24 Liberators lifted off from Grottaglie for a mission against the industrial complex at Wiener-Neustadt, Austria. It was the 29th mission for the crew of the Suzan Jane, piloted by a substitute pilot Frank Henggeler. Over the target, the bomber formation encountered a wall of flak from ground anti-aircraft guns, heavily damaging the Suzan Jane. Henggeler was unable to keep up with the formation, falling behind, when a Luftwaffe Messerschmitt piloted by Major Redlich came upon the stricken aircraft firing its cannons upon it. Inside, the radio-man was killed and two gunners wounded. The ball turret, hanging below the belly of the plane, was blown away, killing Gus Wood. Observers noted afterward that as the Suzan Jane plunged into a fiery crash outside of the village of Furth, Austria, eight parachutes slowly trailed behind. As for Redlich, his Messerschmitt crashed during the engagement and he was listed as killed in action.

On June 15th, 1944, Frances Hitchings Wood received a telegram from the War Department notifying her that her husband was listed as missing in action. In July, she left her Jacktown home returning to her hometown of West Winfield where she received word that the German government recovered Gus' body and turned it over the Red Cross. Frances received the Purple Heart that was awarded posthumously to her husband. Gus' short furlough in March would prove to be his last trip back to the Manor, for his remains are interred at Ardiennes American Cemetery, Neupie, Belgium. - Fred

Livingston Manor Times - September 6, 1944
One of the features of an Army Air show at Rome, New York, August 1st, was the presentations of awards to the next of kin of Army heroes. Included among them was Mrs. Frances S, Wood of West Winfield, who received the decoration awarded to her husband, the late Staff Sergeant John S. Wood of Livingston Manor, killed on an air raid over Germany. The citation signed by J.A. Ulio, Major General, reads as follows:

"I have the honor to inform you that by direction of the President, the Air Medal and two Oak Clusters, representing two additional awards of the same decorations, have been posthumously awarded to your husband, Staff Sergeant John S. Wood, Air Corps, for meritorious achievement in aerial flight while participating in sustained activities against the enemy between the days of April 3, 1944 to April 13, 1944; April 16, 1944 to April 24, 1944; and April 24, 1944 to April 28, 1944." - Fred

Gold Star -  Henry E. Owen
 

Lena Stahle immigrated from Switzerland to America in 1892 when she was eighteen years of age. Within a year she became a citizen of her newly adopted country and met Henry Owen, native son of Livingston Manor. They were married in 1893 and moved onto a farm above the community of Emmonsville (Grooville).

The large tracts of forest that surrounded the upper valley of Sprague Brook were ideal for the relatively new industry of extracting chemicals from the burning of hardwood. John Emmons, from Binghamton, was a pioneer in the wood chemical business and in 1882 built two wood chemical factories, one at Morsston Depot and the second along Sprague Brook. Within a short time, the community that developed around the factory increased from three families to sixty families, providing the workforce for not only for the Emmon's factory, but also for the lumber mill that set up nearby. When Emmons died in 1888, Stoddard Hammond Jr. took over the business. with dwindling resources and transportation issues, Hammond closed down the factory in 1897 and removed the equipment to his Pennsylvania plant. Hammond himself remained in the area on one of his tracts of land, creating Orchard Lake, a one hundred acre lake which was stocked as a fish hatchery, the largest in the county, and erecting a large guest house, four stories high and overlooking the lake, which his wife ran as a summer boarding house.

Lena and Henry Owen's farm was located along the upper access road leading to the Hammond resort, where Lena worked as their cook. In 1911, Henry developed a sore on his upper lip which proved to be cancerous. The tumor was removed but complications set in after the operation resulted in blood poisoning. Henry died two weeks after the operation at the age of 47, leaving Lena alone with the responsibility of raising their family of eight children, the youngest being just a nine-month old baby, Everett H. Owen.

Hard times and tragedy always seemed to be a part of Lena Owen's family. In 1919, thirteen-year-old Bert Owen, like his father, entered the hospital for an operation, and like his father, succumbed to complications after the surgery. Fern Owen, twenty-two year old brother, married Dorothea Dutcher in the spring of 1927. Within two months of the wedding, Dorothea became ill and died.

The next winter, the evening of December 6th, 1927, Fern Owen was driving his Ford sedan along with his older brother, Fred, returning from a visit to his wife's parents who lived on Cottage Street, across the railroad tracks from Roscoe. With the lack of eyewitnesses, the details were never known of how it happened, but the Owen car either stalled on the tracks at the Cottage Street railroad crossing, or Fern attempted to outrun the northbound "Scoot". Due to the darkness of the evening and the position of the engineer in the locomotive, Fern's car was never noticed on the tracks in front of the train until the impact of the collision was felt. Fern was found unconscious within the wreckage, dying of his injuries within the hour while Fred was seriously injured, though he survived the accident.

Lena Owen remained at the Owen farm, working as the cook for the Hammonds and the subsequent owners, the Trout and Skeet Club, until 1927, when she and her youngest son, Everett, moved into the house next to the creamery on Mott Flat, north of the Manor. Everett remained with his mother, assisting and caring for her as her health began to slowly fail, until he was drafted into the US Army in April of 1941. While he was stationed at Fort Jackson, North Carolina, Everett received notice that his mother passed away on September 29th, 1941. Lena outlived her husband and four of their ten children. She lived as a widow for the last thirty years, independent and industrious, centering her life around her remaining children.

Everett Owen achieved the rank of sergeant, a member of Company A, 28th Infantry Regiment. While stationed at California, he came home on furlough in August of 1943 when he admitted to friends that he liked the Army, as well as California, but that he also enjoyed coming home and seeing his old friends. The 28th Regiment left New York City on December 5, 1943 for the European conflict.

The 28th Regiment, part of the 8th Division, landed on Utah Beach, July 4th, 1944 and participated in the Allied Army's struggle in the hedgerows of Normandy until finishing off the last pocket of German resistance at the city of Brest. Meanwhile, the rest of the Allied Army raced across France toward Germany in the summer of '44 until they over-extended their supply lines. With the Allied Command decision to concentrate an attack in September towards the Netherlands and diverting supplies for that mission, the rest of the Allied Army sat relatively idle until it could be re-supplied, allowing the German army to re-organize and strengthen their line along the German border. Along this line of defense are the hilly, heavily wooded areas surrounding the German village of Hurtgen.

The Hurtgen Forest was defended by a determined German army, depleted of its regulars and manned by new recruits, rushed into service to defend the homeland. Barbed-wire, land-mines and artillery would make this upcoming battle the most contested piece of land within the German homeland during the entire war. The American Army's 28th Division slammed into the forest on November 2nd, but the difficult terrain, German counter-attacks and the ceaseless bombardment of artillery fire crippled the attackers with heavy casualties. Its fighting capacity diminished, the 28th Division was replaced with elements of the 8th Division on November 16th, including Owen's regiment. On the 24th of November, Company A of the 28th Regiment was sent forward to replace the front line regiment when it ran into a heavily mined field. After the field was cleared, their forward progress was again checked by heavy artillery fire, forcing what remained of the company into hastily dug foxholes for the rest of the day. The next day, Company A again moved to new forward positions, again with the same results. Clinging to their forward line of foxholes, volunteer carrying parties were established, bringing supplies up to the front lines and returning with the casualties. It was dangerous work, the carrying parties crossing previously contested terrain, denuded by previous artillery fire, and were easy prey for the German guns, receiving heavy casualties amongst their own ranks....

Mrs. Erlene Lare and Mrs. Mildred Hodge of the Manor, sisters of Everett Owen, first received word in December that their brother was listed as missing in action but soon a telegram was received from the War Department the first of the year informing them that Everett was killed in action on November 26th, and that he was buried in a temporary military cemetery in Belgium.

It was almost five years later before Everett returned home. In early July of 1949, the transport Carroll Victory brought the remains of Everett, as well as over 3,300 other World War II dead soldiers, back from their European graves to be returned to their families. Everett returned to the Manor with a military escort and on August 1st, 1949, Sergeant Everett Owen was laid to rest with full military honors at the Orchard Street Cemetery. As much as Everett liked the army life, he also enjoyed coming home to be amongst his friends. Everett finally came home and is again amongst his old friends. - Fred

Oscar Lloyd

Oscar Lloyds Father Robert Lloyd around 1915 at Elk Brook Acid Factory

Oscar was killed in WWII

Oscar Lloyd is buried in the Lorraine American Cemetery at St. Avoid, France

The Lloyd family and the Hazel Acid Factory

The end of World War I brought on the beginning; the beginning of the end of the wood chemical industry. Before the war, the chemical products produced by the burning of wood was beginning to be replaced by synthetic substitutes, but since the conflict created the need for these products which were used as components for explosives and wood alcohol, demand was up and the local factories were once again prosperous. Of the local factories, Thomas Keery's plants were to have an advantage as they were located along the Ontario & Western Railroad. At the Hazel chemical factory, a track siding connecting to the O&W main line, offered the company easier access to the railroad transportation network and less handling of the products. When the wartime demand was over, and natural resources becoming depleted, smaller companies either closed or suffered devastating fires. As competition lessened, the Keery plants continued to prosper, somewhat, though this prosperity was not necessarily shared with the company's work force.

At Hazel, drab dwellings were erected to house families of the factory workers. Other employees, including factory workers, wood-choppers and teamsters, made their residence in the boarding house run by the plant's manager, Elmer Knapp. The families came from upstate New York, Delaware County and from Pennsylvania. Most of the men were experienced in the chemical business and had worked at other factory locations, often in a Thomas Keery plant, which at one time were numerous throughout the upper Delaware River valleys. The work was long, hard and dangerous, but these folks, especially during the years before the outbreak of the Second World War, felt fortunate to have work. The pay was meager; a weekly paycheck of $13 during this period was common, most of which went for supplies at the Keery company store. They were poor, and even though they had work, they would remain poor until they moved out, which was often to just another factory community.

The biggest fear for these folks was the closing of the factory. A fire at one of these factories would be devastating, not only to the factory's owners, but to the families that it supported. Early in the morning of January 26th, 1925, the chemical factory of G.H. Treyz at the community of Willowemoc was discovered to be on fire. The large, one-story, metal covered, frame building was completely consumed by flames, leaving only embers and twisted sheet metal in its wake. The twenty-five employees who worked at the factory were immediately thrown out of work, and with the eventual abandonment of the enterprise, the community never recovered.

Early in the morning of April 27th, 1927, Robert Lloyd, night watchman of the Hazel factory, discovered flames coming from the building that housed the oven room. The Hazel plant was considered a modern facility for instead of buring wood in retorts, as was the practice in the older plants, wood was loaded on small steel cars and moved on tracks into the oven building where it was heated until the byproducts were produced. Apparently, the smoldering wood on one of these cars ignited and set the oven building on fire. Fortunately, Lloyd discovered the fire soon enough so that the fire was contained to just the one building, minimizing the damage. It was immediately replaced with an all steel structure and the plant continued to operate, to the relief of the workers and their families.

The Lloyd family moved to the Livingston Manor area in 1912. The family's origins, during the mid-nineteenth century, were at Cooperstown, Otsego County, where the family began its odyssey of following the acid factory trail. Oscar Lloyd worked at the original Keery factory located at Keerysville, in Delaware County, where his son, Robert Oscar Lloyd was born. Robert Oscar Lloyd migrated to the factory town of Elk Brook, along the waters of the lower Beaverkill, and worked at the acid factory of Arthur Leighton. His son, Robert Jr., worked at the Leighton plant as a child, until, at the age of 20, made the move to Hazel, and work at the Keery plant. He married Gussie Knox, a Port Jervis girl, and together had four children, three of whom survived. William Oscar Lloyd, known as "Oscar", who was the oldest, was born on August 10th, 1920, followed by two sisters, Virginia in 1922 and Lida in 1926

By the mid thirties, competition from the synthetic chemicals coupled with the depressed economy, shut down the smaller and unproductive wood chemical plants throughout the upper Delaware River valley region. Those few that survived, including the Keery factory at Hazel, went for long periods where the plant ceased operations, creating severe hardships on those families already accustomed to a hard life. The families living in company houses paid a monthly rent of $7, and without the plant operating, were required to pay a $9 monthly bill for home-heating fuel. Without the monthly income, as slight as it was, credit was soon exhausted at the company store. The families scrimped and scavenged what they could, or simply did without.

The plight of the Hazel residents became known when, in January of 1935, Mrs. Rose Moore, who was suffering from an infection, was taken to a Monticello hospital. There it was quickly determined that she was suffering from severe malnutrition besides the blood poisoning. Authorities at the county seat's welfare office, along with the Town of Rockland welfare officer, soon discovered that the condition of Mrs. Moore was not an isolated incident, but rather just the tip of the iceberg of troubles plaguing the eighty-some men, women and children from the acid factory community. Besides being malnourished, some families lacked heating fuel, worn-out clothing could not be afforded to be replaced and many of the children were without shoes. The children were sent to the Hazel school, just one half a mile down the state highway from the community, lacking proper footwear and warm garments. During this era when all suffered from economic hard times, the crises situation for the the Hazel residents was an obvious emergency.

When the news of the desperate situation at Hazel made the front pages of the local newspapers, the folks from Sullivan County responded. Within a week donations of clothing, food, shoes and toys poured in from all the county. The Thomas Keery factory, though still remaining closed as it was being refitted with new equipment, agreed to open the surrounding woods to the woodchoppers, allowing the idle men to cut four-foot cordwood both for storage at the Hazel plant or to be transported down the line to Keery's factory at Cadosia. For all those who were able to swing an axe, cutting cordwood at $1.25 a cord gave the family a monthly income of over $30, plus allowing them credit in the company store. Other men found work in government subsidized programs, the sewer project at Roscoe and the Conservation Camp that became the Beaverkill Campsite. Eventually the Hazel factory reopened, but never again operating at its earlier pace, and leaving many of the folks at Hazel idle, and poor, for long periods of time. Many of the families, no longer able to depend on the factory for steady work, began to move out.

The Robert Lloyd family moved out of the Hazel factory house in 1936, renting an apartment at Livingston Manor. There, young Oscar met Marion Irene Lyden, daughter of James and Mildred Lyden. Marion's grandparents, Maggie and John Lyden, conducted a hotel business on Main Street, the old Robert Bloomer place, that was to become known as the Lyden House, a very popular social and gathering hall for both the local and traveling public. James, their son, was responsible for transporting the hotel's guests to and from the railroad depot. When the family sold the hotel, he continued in the livery business, serving other area hotels and becoming the caretaker for the Beaver Lake Hotel above Old Morsston. With the war years approaching, he found work for the war effort at Newark, New Jersey, moving and remaining there.

Oscar Lloyd and Marion Lyden were married on November 6th, 1940, at the Presbyterian Manse at Livingston Manor by the young minister, Reverend Joseph Harvard. Oscar found work as a laborer and the young couple were residing in an apartment on Main Street when, on November 21st, 1942, they began a family with the birth of a son. Robert James Lloyd was the baby's name, adopting both the names of his grandparents. But soon, the lives of this family, as well as that of the young minister who married the couple, were to be interrupted by the drumbeat of the coming war. -  Fred

This is the headstone of Oscar Lloyd's son, found at the Riverview Cemetery in Roscoe. Birth date Nov21, 1942 and behind the leaves a death date of 1976  -  Fred