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Hometown Heroes

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May 9th 2008

Photo above is from the “official” group photograph taken on October 18, 1919. In all, 74 of Kingston’s 135 men who went to war were on hand for the historic photo. Each returning vet was identified by a number keyed to a master list, which sadly has been long since been lost. Click Here to view photo details

The Day the Hometown Heroes Returned
by Dennis Randall

Saturday, October 18, 1919,Kingston’s returning vets of the ‘Great War’ marched in victory through the town. Photo from the Higgins/Bradford/Randall Family Collection.

(October 22, 2004) Once upon a time before “Red” states and “Blue” states, patriotism was not a partisan position, but a deeply held community value. This month marks the 85th anniversary of the day on Saturday, October 18, 1919, when Kingston residents extended a gala “Heroes’ Welcome Home” to her returning soldiers from the First World War.

The entire town and all of her, “public buildings, churches, school houses, halls, clubs, business blocks, and many private residences” was festooned with flags, banners, buntings and streamers. The focal point of the party was the town green which had been transformed into a spectacular court of honor for the returning GIs.

Banners bearing the declaration, “Heroes of Kingston, Welcome Home” were hung across the three main roadways into Kingston and at the appointed hour on October 18th the town let loose with a joyous welcome. At high noon on that crisp autumn day, church bells rang out from every steeple in town and every factory whistle in Kingston echoed in reply with long steam driven blasts of celebration.

The waves of sound washing over the town were the pre-arranged signal which marked the official beginning of a day of celebration. Blacksmiths, store keepers, factory workers and farmers put aside their chores, laid down their tools, closed their shops and streamed into the center of town. Hundreds of residents gathered to line the streets for the big parade and a massive show of public support for the returning soldiers.

At 1:30 sharp, the town parade headed by the police and Chief Marshal Frank L. Chandler with his aids Arthur and Albert Holmes set off from South Crescent Street. The parade marched along the following route: Main and Summer Streets to Stony Brook Hill (near the present day Stop and Shop) where it counter marched up to the railroad station, up Evergreen Street, down Main and Green Street to the town hall where the veterans, selectmen, and guests fell out to review the marchers and floats from the court of honor at the town green.

According to press accounts of the day, the parade consisted of two divisions marching. The formations in each division were:

FIRST DIVISION: Policemen Howard Rinnton and Louis Bartz followed by Chief Marshal Frank L. Chandler with his aids Arthur and Albert Holmes; Milo Burke’s band of Brockton; Martha Sever camp (Note: Martha Sever is one of the names on the soldiers’ monument erected in 1888 in front of town hall. She died while nursing the sick and wounded soldiers of the Union army during the Civil War.); Sons of Veterans from the Martha Sever Pos of the G.A.R. (Grand Army of the Republic) in a decorated float followed by Kingston’s returning service men marching in full uniform; a float bearing nurses and veterans unable to march, a float in honor of the memory of deceased heroes; the Adams Lodge I.O.O.F. (International Order of Odd Fellows); Kingston’s Boy’s Club and school boys; Evelyn Rebekah Lodge float; and the Kingston Grange float drawn by a yoke of oxen.

SECOND DIVISION: Motor vehicles in charge of Burton Shepherd; Selectmen of the town; Kingston fire truck (apparently Kingston had only one fire truck back then); Martha Sever W.R.C. float; Ladies’ Auxiliary, Martha Sever Camp Sons of Veterans float; Superintendent and teachers of public schools; Children of public schools in motor trucks decorated with flags; Wecektuket Camp Fire Girls in ceremonial costume on a float; Girls Club; Mayflower troop, Girl Scouts, float; Kingston Branch Alliance float; Kingston High School float; Mayflower Club float; Kingston Social Club float; Men’s League float; Catholic Girl’s club float; Patriotic Society of Kingston float; Ladies’ Aid Society float; and a long line of private automobiles “all gaily decorated and bearing flags).

Immediately at the close of the parade, the court of honor at the town green got under way with speeches and public exercises. The Lt. Gov. of the Commonwealth, Channing Cox spoke at length to the assembled crowd as did the Honorable Albert Washburn of Middleboro and Selectmen Walter H. Faunce. School children presented a special program and there was a sing-along song fest featuring patriotic songs and popular tunes lead by Song Leader Humphrey. All the singing was just a warm-up to a free community concert by Milo Burke’s band from Brockton.

Festivals of celebrations continued throughout the day and well into the evening when a full course banquet was held in the town hall. The dance floor on the second level of the town house had been, “magnificently decorated for the occasion with flags, flowers, bunting, and streamers.” Guests at the banquet included the returning World War veterans, Spanish War Veterans, and Civil War Veterans along with Selectmen, other guests of honor and representatives of the welcome home committee. After the evening meal the festivities concluded with dancing at a “grand military ball”.

The day’s events were organized and coordinated by Charles H. Fletcher, chair or the “general committee” which was comprised of “50 of the most prominent citizens of Kingston.”

Kingston’s support of the war was pretty much typical of the nation as a whole. By war’s end more 4.36 million American men and women had mobilized to fight (126,000 killed in action, 234,300 wounded, and 4,526 missing or POW). But Kingston was luckier than many towns and cities, none of our boys were killed in battle. However, three young men: William Bonney, Charles McDonald, and Joseph Benea died from influenza at camps in the United States and several Kingston men had been wounded in gas attacks on the eastern front.

The influenza epidemics of 1918-1919 were devastating and added an increased measure of misery to the bloody war raging in Europe.

“I had a little bird, Its name was Enza. I opened the window, And in-flu-enza.” - Anonymous 1918

In the spring of 1918, acute respiratory infections suddenly began to be noticed at military installations in the United States. Fort Riley, Kansas was the first to be hit by the disease, in March 1918. By October 1918, some U.S. Army camps were reporting a death every hour.

The outbreak is thought to have killed upwards toward 800,000 Americans. In fact, nearly six times as many Americans died in the1918-1919 influenza epidemic as died in all the bloody battles of the First World War.

The First World War has all but passed beyond the reach of living memory. According to the Veterans Administration, of the 4.7 million men and women who answered the call of service, less than 200 remain alive today.

As a young man growing up in the 1950s and 60s, I recall that the First World War was only slightly more than a distant family memory. Family lore surrounding that half-forgotten war was fragmented and sketchy. My step-father on rare occasions talked about loosing an older brother in the war. He would recount the story of how one night his mother woke out of a sound sleep screaming in horror that her son was dead.

The family passed it off as a bad dream until they got a telegram from the war department a few weeks later. My step-father’s brother had been killed by a German artillery shell at almost the exact moment that his mother had her “dream”.

I also knew that my grandfather’s older brothers had fought in the “War to End All Wars” — pictures of them as young soldiers hung in the hallway for years. But mostly the war was mysterious and remote. People just didn’t talk about it. In fact, it is only when researching this story that I discovered that my grandmother’s older brother, Gilbert P. Bradford, was a veteran of the First World War.

In the First World War, 143 sons and daughters from Kingston (138 men and five women) served in our military, which was a huge number considering that the town’s population during WWI was only about 2,500 people from roughly 600 families. All in all slightly more than 5% of our population went off to war. If modern-day Kingston was to field a force of comparable size it would require that more than 700 young men and women leave home for a tour of duty in our armed forces.

Sources: Details in this month’s history column were gleaned from accounts appearing in the clippings of an unidentified newspaper (Oct. 20, 1919) found in Margaret Warnsman’s childhood scrapbook. Ms. Warnsman’s scrapbook is now available for inspection at the Kingston Public Library’s Local History room.

Caption: Photo above is from the “official” group photograph taken on October 18, 1919. In all, 74 of Kingston’s 135 men who went to war were on hand for the historic photo. Each returning vet was identified by a number keyed to a master list, which sadly has been long since been lost.

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