Post by admin on Dec 15, 2009 16:11:34 GMT -5
How often do we drive or walk around town and see memorials? Quite often. This will be a first in a series for this site dedicated to finding out more about all of the tributes around town.
Found on Throckmorton, just a few yards from Main Street and across from Saint Peters Church, there is a little memorial dedicated to Corporal James A Gere. Found on the marker is the following words:
This tree planted Nov. 11, 1928 in memory of Corporal James A. Gere, Co. G., 39th Infantry, 4th Division, who died of wounds received in action at Chateau Thierry, France, Aug. 30, 1918. Presented by John Gere and David V. Perrine."
I have not found a lot about Corporal Gere. Did his wounds kill him? Infection or disease?
Some research found that Gere does not have many, if any relatives left in the area. He was a first generation American whose parents had come from Ireland.
From one of my favorite Freehold sites, I have this:
WORLD WAR I MEMORIES
July is real hot in Freehold. We were hung up in front of the old railroad station on West Main Street the other day, just as the mid-summer sun began to bake the town. Across the tracks we noticed a fresh evergreen, newly planted, bravely basking in the summer warmth. It was surrounded by a small fence and a circle of faded flowers. The inscription on the stone inside read: "This tree planted Nov. 11, 1928 in memory of Corporal James A. Gere, Co. G., 39th Infantry, 4th Division, who died of wounds received in action at Chateau Thierry, France, Aug. 30, 1918. Presented by John Gere and David V. Perrine."
The long gone days of the first World War came flooding back, days when we were too young to know what the fighting was all about but days we remember from the old war songs,the sight of troops leaning out of trains and waving, the Liberty Loan rallies, the initial enthusiasm for war, and the subsequent ennui - men who left for camp and Europe and never came back - some buried there and others brought back to rest here.
(The tree in Corporal Gere's monument, sadly enough, is not the original tree, but a new one planted this year.)
The Gere marker is a particularly poignant memorial for this writer as we were present at its dedication during our first days with The Transcript. In fact, the ceremony at the railroad station and the subsequent flag pole dedication at the Broad Street School that rainy November day so long ago, was one of our first assignments for this paper. Re-reading the story in yellowed files of The Transcript, we marveled that we could have been so touched by that patriotic exercise and that we could have written with such feeling about the parading of ex-soldiers including Civil War veterans and the nearness of the War of '17-'18. (The Civil War veterans taking part in the ceremony were James H. King, of Marlboro, and Sam Hankins. W.A. Hankinson Sr., rode in a car with Corporal Gere's parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Gere at the head of the parade.) At the railroad ceremony, Lew Tannenbaum, Legion Post commander, accepted the memorial, in the presence of 200 who paused for 30 seconds in silent prayer. At the school, Legion Commander Thomas Mahar presented the flag pole. It was accepted by George B. Conover, president of the Board of Education. The speaker was Assemblyman E. Donald Sterner who, according to The Transcript, urged support of the Kellogg Treaty (younger people and many of us who are older, will wonder what that was) and "gave a stirring appeal for peace." The treaty, said Mr. Sterner, was a "great aid to the fulfillment of peace." The assemblyman continued: "7,500 white crosses mark the graves of our flesh and blood in France. What service has America been to the world? Not for a gain is this so, not for conquest, but that the world shall be made safe for liberty and democracy!"
There's been a lot of dam water wasted since those fine thoughts were expressed!
The Transcript files also turned up names of other local casualties and reported casualties during the Great War: Fred S. Stokes, Co. M, 310th Infantry, reported missing in action Sept. 22, but his father had a letter from him dated Oct. 22!
William N. Armstrong, 24, dead of pneumonia in France, according to word received by his sister, Mrs. Sam McGackin. Ernest P. Richardson, 24, dead of wounds Oct. 28 in France, according to a letter received by his father, George P. Richardson. (The young man had been a plumber with Billie Giblin.)
J. Woolsey Burtis, Co. A, 309th Infantry, a machine gun instructor, wounded, his father, William S. Burtis, was informed. Rulif V. Curley, son of Mr. and Mrs. William Curley, dead of pneumonia in France.
The yellowed pages of the local paper record the sad events of long ago and far away"The moving finger writes; and having writ, moves onnor all your piety nor wit shall lure it back to cancel half a line nor all your tears washout a word of it. . ."
7-27-61
freeholdnj.homestead.com/MCK.html
Found on Throckmorton, just a few yards from Main Street and across from Saint Peters Church, there is a little memorial dedicated to Corporal James A Gere. Found on the marker is the following words:
This tree planted Nov. 11, 1928 in memory of Corporal James A. Gere, Co. G., 39th Infantry, 4th Division, who died of wounds received in action at Chateau Thierry, France, Aug. 30, 1918. Presented by John Gere and David V. Perrine."
I have not found a lot about Corporal Gere. Did his wounds kill him? Infection or disease?
Some research found that Gere does not have many, if any relatives left in the area. He was a first generation American whose parents had come from Ireland.
From one of my favorite Freehold sites, I have this:
WORLD WAR I MEMORIES
July is real hot in Freehold. We were hung up in front of the old railroad station on West Main Street the other day, just as the mid-summer sun began to bake the town. Across the tracks we noticed a fresh evergreen, newly planted, bravely basking in the summer warmth. It was surrounded by a small fence and a circle of faded flowers. The inscription on the stone inside read: "This tree planted Nov. 11, 1928 in memory of Corporal James A. Gere, Co. G., 39th Infantry, 4th Division, who died of wounds received in action at Chateau Thierry, France, Aug. 30, 1918. Presented by John Gere and David V. Perrine."
The long gone days of the first World War came flooding back, days when we were too young to know what the fighting was all about but days we remember from the old war songs,the sight of troops leaning out of trains and waving, the Liberty Loan rallies, the initial enthusiasm for war, and the subsequent ennui - men who left for camp and Europe and never came back - some buried there and others brought back to rest here.
(The tree in Corporal Gere's monument, sadly enough, is not the original tree, but a new one planted this year.)
The Gere marker is a particularly poignant memorial for this writer as we were present at its dedication during our first days with The Transcript. In fact, the ceremony at the railroad station and the subsequent flag pole dedication at the Broad Street School that rainy November day so long ago, was one of our first assignments for this paper. Re-reading the story in yellowed files of The Transcript, we marveled that we could have been so touched by that patriotic exercise and that we could have written with such feeling about the parading of ex-soldiers including Civil War veterans and the nearness of the War of '17-'18. (The Civil War veterans taking part in the ceremony were James H. King, of Marlboro, and Sam Hankins. W.A. Hankinson Sr., rode in a car with Corporal Gere's parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Gere at the head of the parade.) At the railroad ceremony, Lew Tannenbaum, Legion Post commander, accepted the memorial, in the presence of 200 who paused for 30 seconds in silent prayer. At the school, Legion Commander Thomas Mahar presented the flag pole. It was accepted by George B. Conover, president of the Board of Education. The speaker was Assemblyman E. Donald Sterner who, according to The Transcript, urged support of the Kellogg Treaty (younger people and many of us who are older, will wonder what that was) and "gave a stirring appeal for peace." The treaty, said Mr. Sterner, was a "great aid to the fulfillment of peace." The assemblyman continued: "7,500 white crosses mark the graves of our flesh and blood in France. What service has America been to the world? Not for a gain is this so, not for conquest, but that the world shall be made safe for liberty and democracy!"
There's been a lot of dam water wasted since those fine thoughts were expressed!
The Transcript files also turned up names of other local casualties and reported casualties during the Great War: Fred S. Stokes, Co. M, 310th Infantry, reported missing in action Sept. 22, but his father had a letter from him dated Oct. 22!
William N. Armstrong, 24, dead of pneumonia in France, according to word received by his sister, Mrs. Sam McGackin. Ernest P. Richardson, 24, dead of wounds Oct. 28 in France, according to a letter received by his father, George P. Richardson. (The young man had been a plumber with Billie Giblin.)
J. Woolsey Burtis, Co. A, 309th Infantry, a machine gun instructor, wounded, his father, William S. Burtis, was informed. Rulif V. Curley, son of Mr. and Mrs. William Curley, dead of pneumonia in France.
The yellowed pages of the local paper record the sad events of long ago and far away"The moving finger writes; and having writ, moves onnor all your piety nor wit shall lure it back to cancel half a line nor all your tears washout a word of it. . ."
7-27-61
freeholdnj.homestead.com/MCK.html
