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tw Poland VeteransIn the HOME5ECTORGlob* Reporter who smw /Arm /a A*./tort trr M_ Wor/a War Wmvtntr them ta Pursuits mf PaacroJy Frank P5iBLEyABBOTT POST OF SWAMPSCOTTRALPH D MERRITT E STANLEY'FL COMMANDER HDJUTHNTSwampecotc held It* town meeting a' little while ago. A few days Inter ■ 1-eg‘nn member epoke to Commander Ralph D. Merritt about It.“Teu overlooked a bet. eald he. “There wun't any article In the warrant for the town mcetlmr about providing quarter* for the Lemon poet.** ■Well.*' mild Mr Merritt, “seeing that elnce the addition of the women voter* the town badly need* a new town hall, and seeing that It can’t afford to build a new town hall. I don’t quite nee where the Legion gets off to demund that quarter* be given to It.’*Ar a matter of fact, the commander ha* in mind a plan for the I.eon K. Abbott Poet 39 to eturt something to raise money In aid of a new town hall for Swatnpscott. It |m mighty pleasant to record Instance* that refute the Idea that the veteran* of the World War are looking all the time to get something rather than to do something. There are plenty of such Instances, hut they’re like the thing* th*t win the Croix dc Guerro-they don’t always come to light.Killed in DugoutLeon E. Abbott Post I* named for the flr*t SwampMOtt boy to give hi* life in the great war. Abbott wn* a private In tho headquarters company of the 101»t Infantry. Ills company wo* at regimental headquarters southwest of . Vaux. In tho Chuteau Thierry oector. for the row days before tho great counter offensive began. Jerry was uneasy and shelled at Interval* every f*rm near the line. Only a few fell at the furm where Col Logan was quartered, but one of them broko Into a dugout In which young Ahbott was and he and two other* were killed.Abbott Post wo* formed June 23. 1919. j 21 men *»gnlng the temporary charter. Lieut Harry K. Cuhoon. the chairman, became the first commander. He wa* tn K Battery of the lOlot Field Artillery • and wn* Injured by a fall from hi* hors#J Just before tho outfit started for Frunce. He had to bo left behind at Deven* and I became entangled In the red tupe of | the army. He never got back to hi*j outfit, but was held at the camp n year{ before he was discharged. He 1* nowj an Inspector In the district for the tele-i phono company.He was followed In the command of j tho post by Bert Farrington. « lieutenant of Infantry who got only a* far as | » comp In the South. He was a railroad ! man and his work kept him away from homo *o much that In June. 1920. he resigned and Ralph D. Merritt wa* elected to fill out the yoar. Then he wa* reelected for this you p.Had Lots of TravelsMerritt has “one of tho*e’* war experience*. Ho had been, a* far back ao 1900, In the 2d Corps of Cadets, and later he Joined I Company of the 8th. Ho didn’t get to tho Mexican border camp, for he wue, In 1916, on business In 'he far West. But he rejoined when he got homo snd learned that war was Imminent.He wa* transferred, with half his • _company, to X Company of the 104th Ta-fantry. under Capt Hammond and in MaJ StIIwell’s battalion. The battalion passed successively to Roberts snd Me-Dsde and had plenty of adventure*.It wa* the first battalion In the line at Apremont. When it came out, Merritt, who bad become a sergeant, had t# stay behind to place the relieving platoon. He got caught in the next party and did two hitches In the front line in the Apremont fight.At Chatcau-Thlcrry he was lr. the flmt day** attack, and wa* in that mean ravine that ran up past Lucy le Boscage. There wa* n battery In the (Mi near by. and In shelling the battery position with ga* Jerry put a lot of It Inte the ravine. Merritt wa* one of tho*# gassed.Then hi* travel* began. He wa* am-bulanced back to Beau; then back to the hospital town aero** from Mery-sur-.Marne, thence to a tent evacuation hospital; next up to Vichy; one more shift to 8t Algnan, and finally he wound up at Rlmacourt.All Crazy”He was gassed In July; lie wa* examined for hi* condition In October, and marked *’B 2.** That meant he wa* not yot fit for front-line work. Ho was transferred to the medical department, keeping hi* runk as sergeant major, and set to work straightening out service records. He was shipped from place to place, the final one being Brest, There he ran Into a captain who hud been in tho old 8th.*T*m going craxy here,’* he told the captain.••Cheer up. we’re all craxy here, retorted tho captain. But s few weeks later—In September. 1919—ho wo* shipped home and discharged. Ho Is now manufacturing aprons in gwampscotr.The first adjutant of the post was Willard P. Jackson, who was hi able sergeant in the headquarters company of the 101st Artillery. Like many Swampacott boy*, he started In E Battery. He wa* gassed at Verdun. Now ho 1* in the printing business In Lynn.Tho next adjutant—who was reelected and Is the present adjutant—was E. Stanley Flugg. who today Is n teller for tho Essex Trust Company In Lynn. Mr Flagg was In the ordnance, and another of tho hard-luck guys who had to stay on thl* »lde of the water.The post ha* 390 members, heavily of course T-D men. hut with a fairly lame sprinkling of webfeot. A committee has been appointed to determine where a clubhouxti ought to be put and what kind of a house ought to lo attempted. At present the post ha* It* headquarter* tn the Town Hall.There Is a splendid auxiliary, headed by Mrs Frederick Nye. which is doing fine work and backing Up the post no all occasion*.Last Armistice Day the post dedicated the groat bronze bowlder, which stands opposite the Town Hall, with a broiu* tablet recording tho name* of the Bwampscott boys who gave their llvlt;«* in the war The post hue not. however, attempted to taku a large part In the social life of the town as yet.Tomorrow—Scituate Post.
Newspaper Details
Boston Daily Globe
Boston, Massachusetts, US
Mon, Mar 07, 1921
Page 24
Full Page
Clipped by
Ginny A.
MA, USA 04 Nov 2015
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