There are no shortage of rags to riches stories in America. The ones were men and women have pulled themselves up by the bootstraps and pushed forward to excel in many an industry.  Jeremiah was one of these.

He'd be the first of four boys born to a struggling farmer and wife in Farmington New Hampshire. This community  had only received its township charter about dozen years earlier. Most made their living off the land. But there was one other industry.  Making shoes. They'd actually be one of the first areas in America to bring in automated tools to help in the trade. 

Jeremiah's parents came up with a plan to deal with their struggling finances.  Next door lived a wealthy neighbour. And he was old, and not expected to get much older. So the parents schemed and named their first born Jeremiah... after the neighbour. Surely that man would be so impressed he would will lots of money  to the family... and soon. But alias, this was not to be.

By the time the boy had reached ten, the family had grown by three more boys.. and plenty of more financial burdens. Time for another plan. They'd simply give their kid to yet another neighbour for ten years. He could be used as child labour, as long as the new family taught him the trade. He was also to be given at least one month's schooling every year for the next decade. The neighbour would be expected to feed and clothe and even house the boy.  He need not be paid a penny for his labour but there was a catch. At the end of the term he was to be given one oxen, a few sheep, and his freedom to leave and make the best of life on his own.

The neighbour accepted.

Over the years the boy would not only learn his farmhand skills but also to read and write. In fact he would ultimately gravitate to incessant reading. He would read whatever he could lay his hands on. Worldly books and papers. Anything on politics and business, history, biographies, philosophy and general interest... whatever he and the folks in the town could gather for him. It would later be claimed that in that decade he read over 1,000 books and papers, more than anyone else in the area. In fact his mind was so well developed that when a teacher gave him a task to read a few pages of a book before the next lesson, he in fact read the rest of either the chapter.. or book  and was bored to heck when next in class, he angered the teacher till she learned what a gem she had in that class. And there's more. What Jeremiah read...he REMEMBERED!

When he reached the age of majority at 21,  the farmer family released him to the world. He had yet to earn a single dime in his life. Though he was once PAID ONE CENT... for spending all day and into the dark hours working extra for the farmer when clearing out a swamp on that man's land.

When finally released to go on his own Jeremiah sold his Oxen and six sheep and put the few bucks he got in his jeans, took the rest of his worldly possessions and wrapped them up in a scarf, stuck a pole through the lot and started to move on. This was years before Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn were even thought up. He hiked for several days and knights leaving Farmington far behind him ("B" on map above.) to a place called Natick Massachusetts ("A" above.)  And one of the first things he did was head into a legal office to change his name. He had hated Jeremiah Jones Colbrath, (records suggest several different surname spellings,) since youth and decided to change it to Henry Wilson (Wilson being his mother's maiden name.)

He would soon take up work in the cobbler business as an apprentice and would quickly not only learn the trade but be able to produce shoes faster than his instructor. And time was money. You could get about  50 cents for every pair made.

When Jeremiah, now Henry, was not making shoes or reading he was involved with debating clubs and would take to the study of oration. But when illness struck his doctors told him to stop making shoes for a while and travel..so off to Washington DC Henry traveled.  And there he became furious as he would learn more and more about the slave trade, in which... with temperance, became major causes for his advocacy skills. 

Because of his elocution Henry was soon in demand for public speaking and it would not be long before he would become a town Mayor and owning his own business as a cobbler for over a decade. His gravitation towards politics was a natural, due to his compulsion for reading, public speaking, and advocacy. Soon he would become a state Governor, he would serve on both the state and national levels as a senator and at one point even found himself being elected as the  major in an artillery company, a unit that would later see him as their Colonel.

After learning his trade as a cobbler Henry relocated back to Natick and to this day his old cobbler shop (shown on left) stands as a testament to his fame as a shoemaker. There are claims that during his practice he had personally crafted over 600,000 sets of shoes. Google the "Natick Cobbler" to read of his fascinating career.  

In  early May of 1862, while serving in the US Senate, and Chair, of the Committee of Military Affairs, Senator Henry Wilson, aka Jeremiah Jones Colbrath introduced legislation with regards to the Medal of Honor for the Army. (The plan for a medal for the navy was covered in this space several moths ago.)

His bill called for the minting of 2,000 Medals of Honor, and  for the President to actually present them to... "such non-commissioned officers and privates as shall distinguish themselves by their gallantry in action, and other soldier like qualities during the present insurrection."  (Note that these medals were NOT proposed at that time, for officers.)

On 12 July 1862 President Abraham Lincoln signed into the law the creation of the ARMY's Medal of Honor.

The left picture is the Civil War version of the army MOH. It went through a number of design and ribbon changes over the years . To the right is the NAVY version of the medal. The difference in both being the suspension devise, an anchor for the navy and a cannon for the army. The navy ribbon at right and the suspension were changed over the years but the medal itself remains the same to today as it did back in 1862.  The first ones were presented in 1863 very soon after the army first 6 were presented on 25 March 1863 to the survivors of the Andrews Raid, covered in this space months ago.

In the centre of course is the old cobbler Henry Wilson, who in later years would become the Vice President of the United States, but would sadly pass away just a few years later.

His bill creating the army medal, and signed into law, got that final approval by Lincoln 151 years ago Friday past.

Bart

Over the last 3 blogs I have brought you a small part of the story of the First Special Service Force, later to become famous as the Devil's Brigade and a connection with a BC man. There were at least 90 from British Columbia in the outfit, with 3 being commissioned officers. In researching this Brigade the actual strength of the unit seems to change depending on sources used. I thought the numbers were around 3,000, 1/2 being American and the rest being Canadian. But  a recent figure says there may have been as many as 3,800. Similarly the actual number of men that would climb the massive cliff to take them to their first major battle has ranged from as little as about 750 to 3,000.

Regardless, the last blog left off with the plan from Toronto born Lt. Col. McWilliams being accepted and the  movement of troops by vehicles to within 6 miles of the base of the 1000 ft cliff they had to climb. (Last night I found a quote of 1000 meters... making it triple the climb.) ( McWilliams should be spelt T.C. MACWILLIAM and he was from Moncton, not Toronto per latest info) 
 
Talking to family of the late Colonel Lewis Millett  noted in the first blog on this subject, I was told that some native soldiers were the first to scale the cliff and then secure and toss over the climbing lines. Sgt Hilton from BC says that there were a few natives that may have played a role. But up a handful went, climbing over hot rock in the middle of winter. Hot from the constant bombardment of shells the allies threw at the mountain for hours before they started their climb. (One soldier would later claim that it looked like the whole mountain was on fire as they climbed.) It was in the middle of the night and they must have been exhausted before even starting to climb as they had to hike through the bush for 6 hours to get to its base and do so with absolutely no noise that would warn the enemy that they were coming.

Then came the troops who had trained so hard to learn mountain climbing. But up they went, in two man teams tied to each other. One thing they did not consider in the training probably is that when you get dysentery, the climbing will stop...VERY regularly... for nature's calls, as noted by Richard Hilton.

When they men arrived on top of the mountain they ought to have been given a rest stop, no doubt all near collapsing from exhaustion. In fact the orders  were to not start the battle till 6 a.m. But this changed when some shuffling of the rock face was overheard by the Germans as the  Brigade were in the process of taking out some of the Germans sentries patrolling near the cliff side. When the noise was heard the Germans fired illuminating flares and wear no doubt panicking at what they saw.... hundreds of enemy coming right at them. The Brigade was no doubt equally concerned with what they found. The enemy was very deeply imbedded in place with artillery weapons  and mortars. They even had rocket launchers and pill boxes and dug outs and lots were under overhead brush and cover to contend with.

In no time both sides were firing all they had at each other.

For over 30 days the allies were held back on their attempts to take Monte La Defensa.  But after about 6 hours getting to the face, a three hour climb and two hours of battle, one that was expected to take about 6, the job was done. What Germans were not killed were soon put to flight. and made it off, via a narrow ridge,  to a yet higher mountain top in the immediate area... Monte La Dometorea.  That mountain was  supposed to be the first target picked out by Lt Col. MacWilliam but it was later made a secondary target. 

Orders were then given to get resupplied and therefore many in the third regiment...like Hilton made two climbs a day bring up supplies. One unusual  thing they ordered  was a lot of whiskey. Dick says five or 6 cases were found  and carried up to celebrate the victory. Another demand was for  lots of Condoms. No doubt the twinkling in many an eye subsided when it was learned the would be used to place over the ends...of the riffle barrels ...to keep the dirt out of the weapon.

Previous attempts to take the mountain came from the left side of this map, and of course that was the side at the top that the enemy were so well dug in at. The Brigade climbed the cliff side... which was to the rear of the enemy, when they came up the mountain from the right side of this map. Monte Defensa is shown above at the arrow marked "A" and a few days later the Brigade moved left and onto Monte Dometoria, shown with arrow "B" above.

It was this first battle that was the climax in the movie Devil's Brigade that was mentioned in the first blog on this subject. It made the Brigade famous. Their actions should have been the cause of the fame. But as also noted earlier, and emphasized by veterans of the battle and their family members, and much on the net, the movie created great entertainment but plenty of action that never occurred. One being the scene where the most senior Canadian officer on the mountain... Lt. Colonel T C MacWilliam... was killed there when he attempted to secure the surrender of a German officer and several of the enemy under a white flag. The enemy officer lured the Canadian into a position and then withdrew his luger from his rear and shot the Moncton NB born officer.  But not so, many say in disgust at Hollywood.

MacWilliam was the senior Canadian killed but it would be by a mortar shell at not at Defensa but Monte Dometoria. That mountain was taken a few days later, as were several others in the chain in the days to come. But before they left La Defensa the Brigade would loose  77% of their initial force on the mountain. 73 were killed outright, and another 313 would be wounded. A handful went missing in action and another 116 suffered from severe exhaustion.

Sgt Richard Hilton would be with the unit as it cleared the Germans out of many of the mountain ranges, but in mid January he got severe frostbite from the winter warfare engaged in and spent 10 days in the hospital. It was his only injury during the war. He told me that he almost got more than injured on one of the high mountains when a German Machine Gunner opened up on him as he ran across the ground. Dick managed to escape without any hits whatsoever but sure remembered having to do a lot of zig zagging that day.  

He checked himself out of the hospital rather quickly one day when he heard the trucks rumbling by. They were enroute to the landing at the Anzio Beach head and he sure did not want to miss it. He ran from the hospital still wearing slippers and having no rifle. He  jumped onboard anyway and off he went with the rest of the men. What a way to celebrate your 28th birthday. It was 1 Feb. 1944 and the First Special Service Force landed with other allies on the 30  mile long beach head about 70 miles south of Rome. The Allies managed to push the Germans back a few miles but it was very tough fighting on both sides. His unit would spend the next 99 days in the same fox holes. But at night they would make their raids. And it was also  here that they would start dropping their calling cards as they did their work. These were little cards with the unit crest on them and the words typed that ..."the Worst is yet to Come." These would be dropped wherever the enemy could find them...especially on the dead Germans bodies. And of course it was typed in German.

By this time the unit was also in the practice of blackening their faces with shoe polish to help in concealment. And it would be here that captured enemy documents declared that everywhere the Germans  turned they found the BLACK DEVILS causing them serious grief. They would appear out of nowhere and disappear just as quickly... once their jobs were done. It was from this description that the name Devil's Brigade became got its birth.

Lt. Story from South Carolina (started with the Brigade as a Sgt, but got a King's Commission on Monte Defensa) and noted above, tells that it was here that he had quarters in the HQ building and actually shared a room with Lewis Millett, the Colonel earlier introduced, but then only a Lt.) Millett was a Forward Observation Officer and  an Intelligence Officer as was Story at the time, thus the shared quarters.  Story tells me that Millett would be working the opposite hours and be out at all crazy times gathering info and reporting back by wireless phone on enemy positions and movements.

When the Brigade was finally relieved at the beach head they continued the push towards Rome and took out 9 bridges along the Tiber River en-route. They would be amongst the first entering Rome on 4 June and many would be riding instead of walking. Interesting as they were never issued vehicles in Europe. They seized them during all their night raids and actually had more than units on the ground that were double their size.

The unit then moved into Southern France were they were employed in doing plenty of house clearings in the small communities as they moved forth.

When the war came to an end Richard recalled the very emotion last orders to the joint force.... "Fall out the Canadians!" The men did as ordered. They then formed up in proper formation and marched off to waiting trucks to start a long trip home. Richard has a tear in his eye as he told me said that he was leaving his friends behind. They marched off sharply with the officer in charge saluting their American brothers as they passed by. LT story, on hearing of this told me he was the officer that did the saluting. The Americans, having many holes in their ranks... did not really constitute a proper formation... so each one in turn saluted their Canadian friends as they moved off to the trucks. Men on both sides were in tears. Richard says his own Sgt a Yank... came running after his truck, like many of the others... just to try and get a hug and a handshake before they were separated for ever more.

But they were not separated for ever more. They did what all vets do... and formed an association that has met every year since... and will again in two months in Windsor Canada, but sadly there are only about 60 vets left. Sixty out of over 3,000 brave heroes.

And Richard Hilton, at age 97.5 claims to be the very oldest of the lot. (There is a possibility, not yet confirmed that a California  vet is in his early 100's)

Shortly after the war ended the US government granted the Combat Infantryman Badge to all in the Brigade. Years later that badge was converted into a Bronze Star. The Americans got this but the Canadians didn't. Government had the wrong crowd mad at them and the battle continued to have the Canadians also duly recognized and just  a few years back legislation was changed to allow the Canadians to also get the star. Richard's impressive bar of war medals now includes his star.

About a week ago the Congress and the US Senate signed off on the approval to award the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor to the Brigade. It awaits the approval of the President. Hopefully that will be done by September and that at the Windsor Ontario reunion those attending, and those not, will be presented later with their bronze version of this highest of medals. Legislation only allows two gold medals made annually and so all could not get one for a zillion years, and thus the bronze will hopefully be made to all. While most are still alive to appreciate it.

After the Brigade was disbanded all of the troops went back to their old regiments. On the left is a picture of Sgt Richard (Dick) Hilton on the right with three of his buddies enjoying a holiday leave at Trafalgar Square in London.

He was quite proud of his boots and noted how shiny they were. When he reported back to his old unit there was some grief and they did not want him to wear such nice boots compared to what they were wearing. But finally word came down that that was what the man was issued and that will be what the man will be allowed to wear.
Dick is shown as of last week holding the cane he has used for some 30 years. And he is most proud of the sticker he is pointing to...that of a BLACK DEVIL.

The Devil's Brigade as noted in a past blog has a very good web site and I highly encourage you to have a look at it and the incredible story of these 3,000 and more heroes.  For those seeking more information of the Brigade, their association address on the net is...    http://www.firstspecialserviceforce.net/FSSF_Members_pg1.html

Please check it out,

Bart

The last two columns in this space have been about the Devil's Brigade and part of the story of a Vancouver Island resident by the name of Richard (Dick) Hilton. The real name of the brigade was the First Special Service Force and it consisted of over 3,000 Canadians and Americans, each supplying half. The men were specially recruited to take very tough and elite training, would form a multi-country force and be able to be sent into harms way in areas were the rest were incapable or mostly unwilling to go to get the impossible jobs done, done right, and quickly. Originally the plans were for Norway to contribute 1/3rd of the force but manpower problems resulted in it ultimately being just a Canada/US undertaking.

Yesterday's story left off with the Brigade finally having received the last of its training, graduating and marching out the front gates on their way to their first actually mission. 

The First Special Service Force was transported to San Francisco California to start their initial mission. But first they'd have to sail to Kiska, (shown as "B" above,) one of many in the Aleutian Chain of islands in Alaska. Once there they would join with some 34,000 other Canadians and Americans to land on the island. Prior to their arrival the island was shelled for  about three weeks. On arrival of the Brigade, it was soon discovered that the Japanese had abandoned the island in a thick fog... three weeks earlier. So the Brigade was ordered back to California. But according to William Story the men were given a couple of days leave in Alaska. Story was an Intelligence officer with the Brigade and was reached in Southern Carolina to talk to me about the war.

He was another Winnipeg man in the unit and  would later serve as the Executive Director  of the Association for these retired Brigade members for over 30 years. A few days ago I had the privilege of speaking with this 92 year old veteran and he seemed rather upset. Not at me, but his car. it needed new brakes. I can only hope to have that to complain about almost 30 years from now.
 
One of the American troops to remain at  Kiska throughout the war was none other than Sgt  Dashiell Hammett, later famed writer and Pinkerton Detective Agency operative who was thrown in jail briefly in 1951 for refusing to become a snitch during the McCarthy hearings.  And the commanding officer of the Canadian troops landing was a later Lt. Governor of BC and a Victoria Cross recipient from WW1 at Passchendaele. His name was George Pearkes, a Major General and ironically the 2nd of only two Victoria Cross recipients buried in the Victoria BC area. The other being WW1 Naval Lt. Commander Rowland Bourke who regular readers have read much about in this space.  

By 9 September 1943 the Devil's Brigade had landed back  in California ("A" above) and made their way to their familiar base in Fort Ethan Allen. The original plans for the brigade, before they were even  recruited, called for a parachute drop into Norway, but that plan got quashed and instead, as the song says, they went... "North to Alaska."  But within 2 months they would find themselves landing in Italy near a place called Camino, as marked above with a "B".  

The Allies had tried for months to liberate Rome but the geography of the area gave them serious trouble. It was very mountainous and on many of the peaks the German panzer divisions had dug in their heavy duty mortars and artillery pieces. Worse yet... any move on the lower levels for miles all around were under their close scrutiny from these high places. The Allies several times tried to make advances and were pushed back with heavy losses. But that was about to change when the Devil's Brigade came along. This is exactly what they trained so hard for, and bighting at the bit to get at. They were in their candy store finally.

The brigade had no less than 6 Colonels in the three regiments and headquarters and one of them, from Toronto, Lt. Colonel  McWilliams came up with a plan. Move in middle of night and climb the only side that the enemy would least expect. Put 3,000 men on top of that mountain and then spread out and attack by surprise. Sounds great till you considered that the approach on that side was a cliff rising at an angle of about 65 degrees.., and it went up, and up, and up till finally stopping at about the 1,000 foot level.

The high ground is Monte La Defensa.

The McWilliams plan was accepted, the men got ready and were trucked to about a 6 mile distance from the base of the mountain. From there the men had to make it on foot in the dark hours, and  get to the base of the mountain undetected. Still in pitch dark and a driving sleet of rain on a very cold winter's night, a handful of men had to scale the cliff without being seen, secure and drop the lines and get all  the men of two regiments...and their supplies up over the face of the cliff, and establish a foothold. 

But I'll leave this till the final blog on this subject tomorrow,

Bart

Yesterday's blog was the start of a story about the First Special Service Force, better known as the  Devil's Brigade, a Canadian connection in British Columbia, and the regiment in the process of getting a Congressional Gold Medal of Honor for its heroism en masse.

I'll start today with some nomenclature. In Canada army units are usually called regiments, and in these there can be several battalions. Often one battalion is off somewhere in the world doing its job while another battalion is at home base and maybe even a third battalion is actually a reserve unit. But it appears in the US with the Devils Brigade the naming of the structure seems in reverse... ie... at ground level there were three different regiments...all of the same name, but simply numbered 1, 2 and 3 which formed a brigade, and it earned the popular name ...the Devils Brigade.

There would be well over 3,000 men that would ultimately form these 3 regiments, half coming form the US and half coming from across Canada. The men had to be the best of the best of the best. They needed excellent credentials back in their home regiments, had to be young and VERY fit mentally and physically and willing to volunteer for the most dangerous of assignments. Rugged men were sought who had plenty of outdoors experience, the more rugged the better. They needed to be that special type that could take whatever training, regardless of the levels of exhaustion and the long hours, that could be thrown at them.

Someone thought Dick met at least some of these traits.

Dick was 25 years of age, had been born at Vancouver, but grew up in Winnipeg. When the war began he enlisted with the Royal Regiment of Canada, 2nd Bn and sent off to start his basic training at Vernon BC.  He'd only been in the regiment 6 weeks and couldn't have developed too many military skills yet. But that didn't stop fait from knocking at his door. And that door was at the Sergeant's Mess. Dick was doing the typical recruit crap jobs. This one was washing dishes in the mess. Soon a soldier arrived with news that the company commander wanted to see him right away. He immediately thought that he was in serious trouble and had no idea what the demand was all about. Thinking he'd best get cleaned up and into a change of uniform first, the messenger said that he was to forget about changing and get over to the office right away.  And Dick did.

On arrival he was told that a new very secret unit was being formed in the US. They were going to be doing some very tough things and even jumping out of planes, but the officer said that he didn't know where they are or what their jobs would be. The officer then said to Dick..." You are the only one in this Regiment that I think could do this.... are you interested? Dick asked for time to think about it and was given till 5 p.m.  to let the officer know. He was then told to stop what he was working at and go back to bed and lay on it all day and think about the offer. Dick of course told him that if the Sergeant caught him on his rack there would be all hell to pay for it. The officer said that anyone causing him grief was to be told to go and see the Company Commander.

When Dick returned later that day to accept the challenge, he was told to go the Quartermaster stores and immediately draw out some summer uniforms and ordered not to tell anyone where he was going. he said... how can I,  I don't even know where I am going!"

Pte Richard Hilton found himself on a train the very next day from Vernon, (marked with and "A" above) and riding off to the coast, and taking a ferry across to Nanaimo for unknown reasons. He would get lots of patrolling and physical training  in the Victoria area and at Otter Point and Dick recalled the several day grueling March to Nanaimo. All they had was what was on their backs. And they even had to sleep in the ditches along the side of the road en-route when break times came along.

When asked why he joined up, Dick said that he was called up, but was way up in the Northern  Yukon when he got word. He was so far north that he had to to wait till the spring thawing before making the trip back south to Winnipeg to report for duty. In his first few weeks with the Canadians he thought that the nco's and officers were pretty strict. (Actually I decided to deliberately not use his barrack-room descriptions from another time, when describing these fellows.) He then thought a change for some excitement south might be  good for him and so he told his company commander that he was up for the challenge.

Soon Dick would be sailing back to Vancouver and carted off to Currie Barracks at Vancouver. There Dick saw lots of Canadians formed up and all about to go on a  mission  that would change their lives forever. At Currie there could have been several hundred in this elite group. (Further research shows that at least 90 of those men came from BC and three of them would be commissioned officers.)

These men would then be put on a train in short order and railed back to Calgary and from there southbound about 400 miles and crossing the Canada/US border into Montana. The brakes were finally applied when they got to a place called Helena. This would be their new home and from where they would get the start of very specialized training at a place called Camp William Henry Harrison. (It was named after the 1890's president of the day when the fort was first opened.)

The influx of over 3,000 men must have put a severe strain of the Camp. No doubt the officers of the new organization were kept quite busy but there seems to have been plenty to go around. From the wonderful internet website of the Devil's Brigade, found at...  http://www.firstspecialserviceforce.net/FSSF_Members_pg1.html  the nominal roll of the regiment is listed and shows that there were at least 289 officers. Six of these would hold the rank of a Lt. Colonel, 3 each from both sides of the border, there were 12 Major's, 4 from Canada and the rest from the US and 19 Captains, 5 from Canada and 14 from the US. Add to these all the rest that were Lieutenants first or 2nd grade and of course one US  Brig. General. While the force was a 50 50 split between both countries it seems the at the officer level, with about 75 from Canada, the American officer strength was more than two to every one Canadian. 

With a name like Hilton one would have thought his hotel accommodations would have been a four or five star arrangement, but alas, the new home was a bell-tent that would sleep six, three Yank and three Canuk, and a wooden floor to boot. It probably lacked room service as well. The area of Helena was selected because of the vast flat lands that could blend well with parachute training and further  due to  mountain ranges that could easily be reached for winter warfare training including fighting on skis.

At age 26 now, Dick felt like he was the old man of his platoon in the 2nd company of # 3 regiment. But there was at least one other fellow pretty close to his age. That fellow went on to earn the Military Medal that would be pinned to his chest at Buckingham Palace, and also the Silver Star from the US. His name was Tommy Prince and this Sergeant would end up being one of the most highly decorated  First Nations soldiers in the Canadian Army in the  war. Lots on the net on Tommy and well worth the read.

When asked about the training in Montana Dick said the days were long and tough. The men...and the officers all had to learn the same subjects... be they hand to hand combat, field survival skills, winter warfare including skiing, patrolling at night, amphibious landings, mountain climbing, parachuting, and the handling of explosives. The men were expected to be considerable better than simply proficient at handling all of their own weapons and some brought in for special jobs, but they also had to learn about the expected enemy weaponry as well.   And they had to be incredibly fit so naturally there was lots of phys-ed classes and workouts and their favorite sport... route marches. Long ones  with very heavy packs on their backs no doubt.

In early April of 1943 the regiments finally moved off from Camp Harrison. The image on the left has them in the background approaching the front gates and no doubt saluting the flags, to be raised, both US and the Ensign. The following day the newspapers gave the march through town front page coverage.

The First Special Service Force then travelled to Vermont, first to Camp Bradford and a month later to Fort Ethan Allan for still more specialized training. And from there they would be heading off to California to catch ships to take them off to war.
 
But I'll save that till tomorrow.

Bart

A story caught my eye that was on the internet  just over a week ago about the Medal of Honor.... Sort of!

Newspapers across the US and Canada picked up on the news. It was just released that the US President will be hopefully signing off on the approval to award another Medal of Honor. The headlines called in the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor in most stories. So I thought it was just another one of those WRONG headlines and that the story would be about the actual MEDAL of HONOR. But they were right and I was wrong. And I am glad I was. It is a great story hopefully coming to fruition soon.

Often in this space you have read of incidents when the media and others refer to the MEDAL of HONOR as the Congressional MOH, when in fact the use of the term Congressional is incorrect. But there are times when it is correct.  Simple enough?   Not!

There is a 2nd type of medal that is NOT the subject of these blogs and it is called the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor. It is usually one of individual design, and is awarded to just one person. It has only been awarded 144 times, the first being to George Washington in the days of the Revolutionary War. But there have been a few times when it went to groups of folks. For example,  the Congressional Gold MOH was awarded to the 19,000 airmen, who became the first  in WW11 to form up as a unit of African American fighter pilots. Their stories of struggles with the racial issues of the day and their fellow non blacks is well documented on the net and elsewhere. Search under... Tuskegee Airmen to learn more about these incredible heroes.  The 2007 White House ceremony included the actual presentation to many of about 600 of these pilots still alive at the time. Each got a replica of the medal made in bronze. The original gold would be on display somewhere and a 2nd was probably minted and housed at the Smithsonian.

The current story is one  about another group. The equally famous  Devils Brigade, AKA the Black Devils,  but their real name was the First Special Service Force.  

Any mention of the Devils Brigade  has me immediately thinking about the role Colonel Lewis Millet played with that unit. The Colonel has received honourable mention in this space several times.

This is his photo in later years. Please note that he is wearing the Medal of Honor around his neck. Check out back blogs to discover all about his service in the Canadian Forces whilst AWOL from the US, his later rejoining the US troops,  getting court-marshalled and then still later being awarded his MOH. He often credited his basic training in Canada as part of the skills that helped him earn his MOH.

(If you could reach into the picture and pull at the medals you would find they were held in place by Velcro. The reason for this is because he loved his campaign medals that were awarded by Canada. But the American authorities would not let him wear them on the uniform. So he did it anyway!  They were sewn on, and the US ones just fastened above with Velcro.  hehe.)

Back to the news articles though... on seeing them I did some quick scanning of the net and found someone right here on Vancouver Island that was also in the brigade and still alive to tell about it. So yesterday, instead of doing my blog, I was sitting in the home of former Sergeant Richard Hilton who, in February of this year turned 97 years of age. For the next 2 hours and being some 150 miles from Victoria, I was following his orders to sit down and quickly became  fascinated with what he shared with me.

I was given the impression, supported by what I had heard and read in the past that, if I was interested in the Devils Brigade, I ought to forget about most of the Hollywood foolishness coming from the 1968 movie of the same name. It stared the likes of Richard Dawson, Dana Andrews, Claude Aitkens, Cliff Robertson, William Holden and others. It's story telling has infuriated many a soldier that was actually there and questions I had, based on the movie, were apparently on events that never even happened. But as entertainment, it was a great film, so much so that I watched it again last night.

Early in WW11 Lord Mountbatten was pitched an idea about training a highly elite yet secret team of warriors who could take on any job any where and most jobs that no one else could do or wanted to tackle. A team so deadly that the enemy would soon be in panic. Churchill loved the idea as did Roosevelt, so an American officer was sent over to Britain to have discussions. He wanted nothing to do with it because, from all  that he had heard, he thought the idea would not work for many reasons. Regardless, he went and spoke his piece and was sent off back to the US, Soon, according to the movie, he was picked as being just the cocky guy they needed to run the show.  The rest was, and is,  history!

It was decided that three regiments. of  the same name would be created. They would be called the First Special Service Force and would wear the shoulder patch shown here. The theory, later proven unworkable, was that first two would do the fighting while the third would be the supply line. ALL would be required to learn hand to hand tactics, parachuting, skydiving, explosive devices, all kinds of weaponry, field craft and much more. Then they would be tested and only the best of the best would be kept with the rest sent off home. There would be about 3300 eventually after all the dust was settled, and  divided into the 3 regiments. Several jobs were assigned then pulled for a variety of reasons, and then there would be more training, and more training, and more training , and then finally they'd be put to the test.

When all was said and done, and after over 250 days of daily fighting, over 2,314 deaths, hundreds of bravery awards including 2 Military Merits,  a Croix de Guerre and at least 6 Distinguished  Crosses and Orders, 5 US Campaign Stars, 8 Canadian Battle Honours, and having the ability to claim the capture of over 30,000 Prisoners of War, and NEVER losing a fight, one could say they would finally receive their just awards, and thus the recent news stories.

But it all had to start with the recruiting.

I'll be back with that tomorrow.  Please stay tuned!

Bart

In the past 150 blogs I have brought you stories of men, and in some cases, women from Both Canada and the US who have become heroes in their own right.  When writing these stories I sometimes have to tell you that the subject of the day's blog might not necessarily be a BORN Canadian... or BORN American, But their stories are still very important to either the US or Canada because of a particular relationship that having existed, the full story of this or that nation's Medal of Honor recipients, or Victoria Cross recipients would be incomplete without also telling their stories.  Thus when I write that there are 106 Canadian MOH recipients...or with connections to Canada, you know what I am talking about. That said, there are about a couple of dozen Canadians in these columns... that aren't really Canadians MOH recipients. The same concept applies with Canada's 94 VC recipients. Over half were NOT Canadian born as noted when the stories are told. But many sites talking about the Canadian VC's do not readily make note of this fact.

Of the ten men above mentioned, all are brave lads from Newfoundland. All but the tenth man. And it is he that I'll talk about today.

The first nine were soldiers with the Newfoundland Regiment in WW1 and wore the collar dog as shown here. The 10th was possibly in the unit, or attached to the unit on loan from another British  regiment. In a picture shown below it appears that the 10th man is wearing the same collar dog though.

This regiment would become famous for its heroism and places like  Ypres and Cambrai and would be the only British Regiment later in the war that received the British Government's honour by being allowed to add the Prefix...ROYAL  to the beginning  of their name whilst the war was still on-going. They also became known as the

BLUE PUTTEES, a nickname for the colour of their clothe puttees. These strips of material when tightly fastened to the leg as shown in the figure in upper left. They were usually an army greenish colour called Olive Drab. But with the quick call for troops and that rapid response to the, then British Colony of Newfoundland's call for men, they lacked many things..including parts of uniforms. The best  local suppliers could due was BLUE and thus the nickname. Puttees were still used in WW11 and beyond by Canadian forces, I can remember wearing then back in 1965 when I started a career in the reserves, with the Toronto Scottish. As a private I would be often be cursed at by my corporals for having the darn things unravel as I marched.

But there was a justice. In 1967 I was promoted to Corporal!  And while still remembering all those curse words. hehe.  The Newfoundland Regiment's puttees are shown to the upper right, and those of the French army at Bottom right and the Germans at bottom left.

About 75 Kms north east of Amiens France, of which you have heard in past blogs, is Monchy le-Preux. It would be within a few miles of Monchy that the Newfoundland Regiment would shown their prowess on the battlefields. It would also be here that it would fall to the ten men above to hold the lines, that if lost, would have resulted in Monchy falling to the Germans. A catastrophe that would require over 40,000 men to recapture according to Major General Sir  Beavoir de Lisle, commanding officer of the 29th Division, of which the Newfoundlander Regiment was attached.

The date was 1 July 1916 and was the first day of the Battle for the Somme. Before the day was out the Regiment would be almost decimated. It and the Essex Regiment were moving eastbound while the Germans were heading westbound and like a train, were about to collide on the grounds shown above. As the Newfoundlanders advance on their objectives, shown as heavy dots above, they at first were advancing  ahead of other friendly forces in the areas. Soon they encountered British wire obstacles that they had to crawl over. Then they found open land that was very heavily guarded by enemy MG positions and artillery. Soon, because they were so far in advance, the Newfoundlanders took the blunt of the enemy force. In fact, within very short order most were either killed, wounded or taken prisoner.

Word got back to head quarters and the Commanding Officer,  Lt. Col. James Forbes-Robertson. He immediately  sent an officer out to see what was going on. Soon he got the devastating news that all of the unit was either dead, wounded or missing in front of their position. Forbes-Robertson  grabbed all the men he had at his disposal... less then two dozen HQ staff, and ran forward grabbing what ever weapons and ammunition they could find from the wounded or dead. Racing forth his own band of brothers  were themselves cut down in minutes to himself and only nine men.

For several hours the Newfoundlanders held that line until reinforcements could come up from the rear. By the following morning the Newfoundland Regiment, that started out the day before with 780 men were reduced to 110 survivors, and of those only 68 could make it to roll call the next morning. Forbes-Robertson's nine men and himself became the heroes of the British army that day. They'd be labelled the Heroes of Monchy and everyone of the surviving ten were later awarded for their bravery. Eight would be awarded the Military Medal. His Lieutenant received the Military Cross and Forbes-Robertson would get the Distinguished Service Order, just one medal below the Victoria Cross. 

Here are nine of the ten heroes. Lt. Col. Forbes-Robertson is standing in the back centre with cane. Note several of the men are wearing puttees. When I enlarged this picture, the image of his collar dog looked very much like that of the Newfoundland Regiment. Forbes-Robertson was a company commander with them, but was asked to lead the Regiment for a short period while the commander was off recovering. On his return Forbes-Robertson, would soon be sent back to his old regiment... the Border Regiment. 

Forbes-Robertson during the war would be warded a second DSO (or a bar to the first to be more accurate), a Military Cross and MID's ( mentions in Dispatch). And he would also get the Victoria Cross as well. That would come from actions in April of 1918 at the Battle of Estaires near the French Belgian border.

Forbes-Robertson was a substantiated Captain, but had been acting as a major at some points of the war and a Lt. Colonel at others, and was in the later rank when he was commanding one of the Border Regiment's battalion. (He would later also command another Bn of this unit)  On four different occasions in this battle he would lose horses from under him, would receive wounds yet would continue to rally his troops by foot till another horse came along and through sheer bravery and audacity would hold the lines from incredible German fire power. His April 1918 actions would be recognized by the King and he would be awarded the VC  with its publishing of the London Gazette on  22 May 1918.

Later Forbes-Robinson would also hold the rank of a Brig. General whilst carrying out the duties of a staff officer. After the war he continued with the occupation army and served as commanding officer of several different regiments. In 1934 he retired after having served 30 years in the army. He then moved to the Cheltenham area of Gloucestershire England and passed away in 1955 at age 71.

This hero was born back in 1884 in Scotland and died in England on 7 July, 58 years ago Sunday past. His story is not usually included in the lists of Canadian VC's but he certainly did most honourable service with the Newfoundland Regiment, later the Royal Newfoundlanders, and yet later earned his VC and perhaps should be include because of his service.

NOTE:

I will again unfortunately be away from my computer on research tomorrow. I will be doing catch up columns on Sat and Sunday so please stay tuned in.

Bart

If you have looked at my profile page on this site you know that I have worked in media, the military and law enforcement fields. Those who really know me also know that I am often less than shy with my criticism  of both the media  and the police and I also have a few other favorites that I like to dedicate time to when needed. Heck... everyone should have a hobby! And it seems that far too often these professions produce from within yet another blunder worthy of a critical eye. With this in mind I often remember that someone once said that the role of the media is to bring comfort to the suffering, and suffering to the comfortable!

I believe there is some truth to this silly little saying. And there are those who truly know me that know this is where I come from. Having been in these professions for years I bring depth of knowledge of those  professions to the table when looking at what is often right and what is often wrong with so many stories brought to us daily. And many of these stories tell of the buffoonery in both professions, regardless of what side of the 49th parallel  you live on.

Todays blog  is about such an issue. And it touches on the police, the media and the military all wrapped up in one. Candy for Bart.

A few days ago a giant of a man in the Medal of Honor field of researchers, named  Doug Sterner sent me a tweet, though tweeting is not one of my accomplishments, but I digress. This one sent me off to a link of a story about Buffoonery of the first order, itself worthy of a medal for stupidity, involving the Sanford Florida Police Department. A department that has an apparent long line of buffoonery if you believe the information quite easily findable on the net. Here is that department's latest poster child....  

Rather than wearing a police uniform perhaps this woman ought to be selling whatever facial cosmetics she is using. Appearing to be in her 30's perhaps, according to the ribbons she is wearing she is no less than 86 years old. That's amazing...  if it were true!

The headline  tells it all, regardless of the case before the court, this woman is now before the court of public opinion. And trouble is, whatever her credentials to receive her ribbons aside, she is just doing what the department told her to do... sew them on.  She now is the scapegoat for the absolute stupidity of one or more of her superiors... and ever military vet on the police force who ought to have recognized that wearing these ribbons... or at least two of them may have amounted to a crime by being worn by those unauthorized to wear them.

The story came to light when an American war vet and medaled hero was watching the news and saw the story about the case the policewoman was giving testimony at. He noted her six ribbons. At least two of them were military ribbons. The one at upper right is a bonafide WW11 Army of Occupation Medal that was issued as a campaign medal to those serving a minimum or 30 days continuous service in certain theatres of war during that war. A vet wearing that medal would have had to have served at least 30 days pre the end of the war in 1945. He or she would have been about 18 or older AT THAT TIME. Do the math. Any wearer would be at least 86 years old today.  Pass the makeup!

The lower right hand ribbon, as you look at the image, is the ribbon of the Defence  Distinguished Service Medal. This is the HIGHEST medal for non combat related services to a most senior military or civilian (perhaps) that has responsibilities for more than one element of the services... say the Joint Chiefs Of Staff or the Secretary of Defence etc.  Rather impossible I'd say, to be awarded to a vet of only 3 years in the military, as this woman would later claim that occurred pre her police career. 

The ribbon on the left is the WW11 US Army  Occupation Medal's ribbon and the one of the right is the later US Defence Distinguished Service Medal's ribbon. You can see that clearly this police officer is wearing these two ribbons.
 
When the vet called the police force he was no doubt stunned by the response given. He learned that the department had trouble finding ribbons to honour certain services, which the media did not bother to identify in their stories, and thus they found a solution. They simply walked into the local Army and Navy or whatever saw some ribbons they liked, learned that they were from back in WW11 and so the PD bought a handful and started issuing them to members who apparently  qualified by doing something beyond the norm.

The vet then heard an even more stunning comment. The PD said that most of the recipients of these WW11 ribbons (one was not a WW11 Ribbon) were now dead anyway so no one would object to them being now used again.

I guess using that logic, it would mean it is OK to wear Civil War Medals of Honor... or at least their ribbons cause all those guys ... and one woman... are dead also.  DAHHHHHH!

When he  and presumably others complained they got the typical bureaucratic answer...  that officialdom at the department had already approved their use... as if they had that authority...  but we will relook at the issue down the road at the so and so meeting. But continued pressures resulted in the department fairly quickly pulling the ribbons from use.

It is against the law in Canada...and no doubt the US for anyone to wear medals or ribbons that they did not earn. Police are expected to take action when this crime is discovered. It is too bad they did not simply arrest themselves.

This story now brings to light that all across the US there may well be no official standards for Police Department ribbons and as such any department may well be using whatever they can get their hands on. Is it not time that at the state level at the least, and perhaps national, that the police community development say ten medals of various levels for heroism that no doubt occurs daily across the country with the police. Once done, it could be implemented across the country so that the police themselves and the public can recognize the stature of the officer wearing the ribbon, just by looking at a ribbon in Florida or Georgia or Wisconsin and know that the hero did such and such.

In the US the Stolen Valor Act of a few years ago was shot down as it was decided in the highest courts that it impinged on the rights of folks south of the border to brag that they have earned heroism awards that they did not earn. Daaaa!  Apparently it was against their freedom of speech.

Now the Act has been given a new life because it concentrates not on the ability for the liars to curtail their lies, but to step in when it is done with the intent to gain something....like a cheaper car, or rent, or a job or a date..hehe.

One would hope that there were no intentions by the PD to gain favours. And a department that has said it will pull all ribbons is going too far. Pull the ones it knows or ought to know are illegal. And continue to show the departments' and the publics' appreciation for those  who gave gone beyond to get the awards  in the first place. But use ribbons that are not recycled from the chests of past veterans.

The issue is one that the highest levels in veterans affairs circles, the military and the Attorney General ought to look at. They then ought to send the message out that wearing official military ribbons by those unqualified will be dealt with severely.

Even the liars. Period.

And for those counting, this is my 150th blog

Bart

Received this in an email several weeks ago and wanted to lighten the mood today so here it is.. hope you enjoy...


Nelson:
"Order the signal, Hardy.."

Hardy: "Aye, aye sir."

Nelson: "Hold  on, this isn't what I dictated to Flags. What's the meaning of this?"
 
Hardy: "Sorry sir?"

Nelson (reading aloud): “England expects every  person to do his or her duty, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation,  religious persuasion or disability.' - What gobbledygook is this for God's  sake?"

Hardy:
"Admiralty policy, I'm afraid, sir. We're an equal opportunities employer now.  We had the devil's own job getting “ England " past the censors, lest it be  considered racist."

Nelson: "Gadzooks, Hardy. Hand me my pipe and  tobacco."

Hardy: "Sorry sir. All naval vessels have now been designated  smoke-free working environments."

Nelson: "In that case, break open the  rum ration. Let us splice the main brace to steel the men before  battle."

Hardy: "The rum ration has been abolished, Admiral. Its part of  the Government's policy on binge drinking."

Nelson: "Good heavens,  Hardy. I suppose we'd better get on with it full speed ahead."

Hardy: "I  think you'll find that there's a 4 knot speed limit in this stretch of  water."

Nelson:
"Damn it man! We are on the eve of the greatest sea battle in history. We must  advance with all dispatch. Report from the crow's nest, please."

Hardy:
"That won't be possible, sir."

Nelson: "What?"

Hardy: "Health  and Safety have closed the crow's nest, sir. No harness; and they said that rope  ladders don't meet regulations. They won't let anyone up there until proper  scaffolding can be erected."

Nelson: "Then get me the ship's carpenter  without delay, Hardy."

Hardy: "He's busy knocking up a wheelchair access  to the foredeck Admiral."

Nelson: "Wheelchair access? I've never heard  anything so absurd."

Hardy: "Health and safety again, sir. We have to  provide a barrier- free environment for the differently abled."

Nelson:
"Differently abled? I've only one arm and one eye and I refuse even to hear  mention of the word.. I didn't rise to the rank of admiral by playing the  disability card."

Hardy:
"Actually, sir, you did. The Royal Navy is under- represented in the areas of  visual impairment and limb deficiency."

Nelson: "Whatever next? Give me  full sail. The salt spray beckons.."

Hardy: "A couple of problems there  too, sir. Health and safety won't let the crew up the rigging without hard hats.
And they don't want anyone breathing in too much salt - haven't you seen the  adverts?"

Nelson: "I've never heard such infamy. Break out the cannon  and tell the men to stand by to engage the enemy."

Hardy: "The men are a  bit worried about shooting at anyone, Admiral."

Nelson: "What? This is  mutiny!"

Hardy: "It's not that, sir. It's just that they're afraid of  being charged with murder if they actually kill anyone. There are a couple of  legal-aid lawyers on board, watching everyone like hawks."

Nelson: "Then  how are we to sink the Frenchies and the Spanish?"

Hardy:
"Actually, sir, we're not."

Nelson: "We're not?"

Hardy: "No,  sir. The French and the Spanish are our European partners now. According to the  Common Fisheries Policy, we shouldn't even be in this stretch of water.. We  could get hit with a claim for compensation."

Nelson: "But you must hate  a Frenchman as you hate the devil."

Hardy: "I wouldn't let the ship's  diversity coordinator hear you saying that sir. You'll be up on disciplinary  report."

Nelson: "You must consider every man an enemy, who speaks ill  of your King."

Hardy:
"Not any more, sir. We must be inclusive in this multicultural age. Now put on  your Kevlar vest; it's the rules. It could save your life"

Nelson:
"Don't tell me - Health and Safety. Whatever happened to rum, sodomy and the  lash?"

Hardy: As I explained, sir, rum is off the menu! And there's a  ban on corporal punishment."

Nelson: "What about sodomy?"

Hardy:
"I believe that is now legal, sir."

Nelson: "In that  case.................... Kiss me, Hardy."


 

During the Civil War about 1/3rd of the US states were slave states, as shown by this map. Somewhere in that massive land area men (and women) from the north and south faced each other at the point of a gun in over 10,000 battles and skirmishes. Casualties amounted to a staggering 1.1 million with about 610,000 of these dying in a fight for their own causes. Today's story takes us deep into that territory, along the Eastern coast and stopping at South Carolina and the immediate area of Fort Sumter, marked with the red star above, and  where the war is generally thought to have started. New Brunswick born Horatio Nelson Young, pictured here, is coming along for the ride of his life.

Many claim that Horatio was born in Calais Maine. He was actually born at a small place called Dufferin NB, just a few miles down river from St Stephen, a border town to Calais. In his youth it was a daily event for the kids and grown ups to walk across the border and hang out, do the shopping and visit the town before the day was out. Thus it was assumed by many that had come from there instead of Canada.  On one of those visits the 18 year old kept going and did not stop till he got to the recruiting offices of the navy at Boston.

Horatio was assigned to the USS Lehigh, a brand new ironclad of over 1300 tons in 1863. These iron clads had all of the exterior above the water-line covered with protective iron and are made in the same design as the famous Monitor that did battle with the Merrimack a year earlier. The turret that you see here actually revolves and within it  are two monstrous guns that point in opposite directions. After firing the turret can be turned with another cannon already loaded and ready to be brought into action. Horatio was probably a landsman on the ship.

It was in the early evening on November 15th that Rear Admiral Dahlgren of the Union fleet in the area got a telegraph handed him from Union army General Quincy Gillmore. He was quite nervous because the Confederates had started a massive shelling on Morris Island and the general was in fear of a Confederate landing in short order at Cummings point to his north. His communication was to request immediate naval back-up to ensure that the enemy could not land.

The above map is from another date so it confuses. But geography stays the same! At lower right is Morris Island. Gillmore's men are there probably pushing northbound. As you move north in this area and along the coast you see the identification of Fort Wagner. It was here that the 54th Massachusetts a few months earlier became famous for their attacks against the Confederates. The movie Glory of a decade ago and  mentioned in a past blog tells the story and unlike the movie, my earlier blog told off no less than 39 Canadians, or with connections to Canada, and all of colour, who fought bravely in that battle. Some of them no doubt died there and are buried in mass pits on site.

At the very tip of Morris Island is the Cummings Point where Gillmore feared a landing may occur. And to the left of that point about a mile is Fort Sumter, above mentioned. Still looking at the map, directly north of Cummings point is the powerful Confederate battery at Fort Moultrie. Having a good look at the map you can see a lot of red and not so much blue, The red being the Confederates and thus, the blue Union were in very deep enemy territory. Territory that was very well defended by the South, as the map clearly shows.

Admiral Dahlgren ordered the Lehigh  in with instructions to drop anchor as close to the Point felt safe and to defend it against any Confederate attempts to land. As instructed, the monitor moved into position during the dark hours and dropped anchor. When Horatio Young and the crew were awoken in the early a.m. they realized that the tides had dropped and in so doing, the ship swung around and ran into the ocean floor and got hung up, and thus grounded.

It would not be long before the enemy realized this and opened up with full force from not one or two or three...but NINE different batteries on the helpless vessel. It immediately sent a signal to the fleet and soon three other monitors arrived and a three hour battle ensued with thousands of pounds of shells being exchanged by both sides. The Confederates would later report that they had expended no less than 189 shells and canisters at the Union ships and that... "our principal fire was directed on the monitor aground."  The Union would later document firing some 52 cannon shells from the monitors and 22 from land batteries in the area. One 15 " shell was said to have left a large crater 9 feet by 4 and yet another left a 15" gun dismounted with ten inches of its barrel broken off.  But for the most part both sides were far enough apart that actual damages to both were minimal.

In this midst of all of this firing, the Lehigh was known to have dumped large quantities of supplies just in an attempt to lighten her load. Four times one of the monitors tried to send a hawser over to the Lehigh, but the first was lost, and the next three were blown away by enemy fire. Finally three brave sailors, Horatio being one of these volunteered for, and got approval to actually get in a small rowboat and physically haul the ropes off to another monitor under very heavy fire,  and after about three hours and an incoming tide, two of the vessels managed to haul the Lehigh to safety.  Not not long before this, the officers were considering abandoning the ship.

Several men were recommended for Medals of Honor and also promoted on the spot. Young instantly became a Seaman, thus the suspicion he came on board as only a Landsman. Soon Secretary of Navy Welles wrote back to the admiral and advices that not only were the promotions supported by DC, but so were the nominations for the Medal of Honor.

The admiral issued a General Order to be read on the deck of all vessels involved congratulating all, and especially those promoted and receiving the medals. A letter was also read on all these decks from the Secretary of the Navy offering his thanks for the work the navy did that day.

It is not known how long Young stayed in the navy, but after the war he moved to the New York area and worked as a patrolman. His employer also gave him a bravery medal for saving a woman in a fire. Later he worked as an engineer on the building of the Manulife Insurance building and still later may have been working in the insurance field itself.

He raised 6 boys and one girl in new York and passed away on July 3 1913 and was buried back in his home area of St Stephen New Brunswick. His death occurred exactly one hundred years ago today.

Bart