Nashua Telegraph, NH
Oct 16 2005
Nashua goes to war
By ALAN S. MANOIAN
Published: Sunday, Oct. 16, 2005
April 1917, the United States was forced to declare war on Imperial
Germany, entering the European bloodbath that was World War I.
By this time, Nashua was a city of 25,000 with a rich mix of proud
immigrant groups. The city had many well-established ethnic enclaves,
neighborhoods and parishes. Irish, French-Canadians, Greeks, Poles,
Lithuanians, Jews, Armenians and others called Nashua home. The
long-settled families of the old colonial Yankees, Scotch-Irish and
African-Americans had become increasingly accustomed to the new,
modern multicultural manufacturing city. Nashua had become one great
multi-ethnic mosaic.
The Great War would vividly demonstrate the depth of Nashuans’ new
social, cultural and economic cohesion as Americans, as well as their
neighborly commitment to each other. That’s because in 1917 and 1918
the Great War was fought not only by the boys in the armed forces in
Europe, but also by the entire community.
In July 1917, the Federal Selective Service Conscription Act was
enacted. The initial New Hampshire quota of young men was 1,204. The
first roster of Nashua Guardsmen was brought together as Companies D
and I of the 103rd Infantry Regiment, American Expeditionary Forces.
Company D totaled 147 and Company I had 154 men, including legendary
Nashua heroes James E. Coffey and Amedee Deschenes, and the not so
famous, but equally brave Sarkis Sermonian, Charley Kiratsos, James
Zepuka, David Oshansky, Fredrick Osgood, John McNulty and the many
others.
These were the boys of the city, the boys of the neighborhoods and
parishes, that everybody knew and loved. We must realize today that
back in 1917, 90 percent of the total population of Nashua lived in
close proximity to each other, in compact inner-city neighborhoods,
including poor, middle-class and affluent; they were not sprawled out
as is the case today across the entire 36 square miles of the city
limits. Unlike today, everyone knew their neighbors intimately.
One young man should be mentioned at this point: Pvt. Edward
Clifford, or, as known in Nashua, Eddie. Clifford was the first
Nashuan to enlist in World War I at the outbreak of the war in 1914.
Both his mother and father had died some time before, and the
25-year-old Clifford enlisted in the Royal Irish Regiment and went to
Europe to fight. It was reported of him in 1917, `he has been in the
trenches in France for the past two years . . . he was in the thick
of the terrible battle in which Maj. Redmond, the Irish leader, the
commander was killed . . . he writes that they are giving the Germans
their fill, and now when the Irish charge the Germans do not meet
them, for all the fight has been taken out of them . . . the Germans
do not care to meet the Irishmen when the latter are out for
trouble.’
Sadly, in September 1918, just two months before the end of the war,
Clifford was killed. It was said of him, `He was wounded several
times but went back each time . . . it was the spirit of boys (such)
as Eddie Clifford that has put the fear of God in the Germans, and
the victory has been with the Allies.’
In July 1917, the Nashua boys of Co. D and Co. I marched up Main
Street, turned onto East Pearl Street en route to the Union Railroad
Station, and went off to war.
`Escorted by several hundred of Nashua’s representative citizens, and
passing through the streets filled with a cheering throng, although
upon the face of many a person were visible signs of tears, 308
stalwart Nashua soldiers left . . . forward to the battle lines in
France . . . it was a never to be forgotten sight as the train pulled
from the station with the boys in olive drab leaning from the
windows, some singing, grasping the hands of their friends and
families,’ according to reports.
The Nashua boys first went to Concord to meet up with other New
Hampshire companies under Col. Healey, then down to Camp Green in
Charlotte, N.C. Afterwards many other Nashuans trained at Fort Devens
in Ayer, Mass., before going off to France.
Homefront efforts
Back in the city, the community war effort kicked into full gear. The
local American Red Cross Chapter began to make Comfort Kits for each
local soldier; the kits being comprised of towels, shoe brushes,
cakes of toilet soap, tubes of toothpaste, sticks of shaving soap,
cans of talcum powder, shoelaces, bottles of three-in-one oil, shoe
polish, boxes of cigarettes and chewing gum.
The gymnasium at the YMCA on Temple Street was opened and special
programs were offered for new Nashua soldiers to get into improved
physical and moral shape for the battles and extreme personal
military challenges ahead in Europe. The Nashua Public Library
launched a civic program to collect masses of reading materials for
the soldiers so they could occupy and soothe themselves with great
literary works while in the trenches at the front.
At this time, in August 1917, the national food conservation movement
came into being. All kids of foodstuffs were needed to send to the
front and food at home became short or even rationed, so the `war
garden’ effort began.
Most noted locally was the Nashua Manufacturing Company, the Jackson
Manufacturing Company and the Nashua Gummed and Coated Paper Company
(today’s Nashua Corp), all of which planted expansive potato and bean
fields upon their Nashua riverfront land around the inner city, and
on estate land backing onto the Merrimack River behind Concord
Street. A great potato storehouse was prepared in the cellar of the
Nashua Gummed and Coated Paper Co. on Franklin Street.
Also notable was the Pennichuck Water Works, which built a massive
farm produce cellar of fieldstone and timbers on its land that stored
500 bushels of potatoes and 50 bushels of beans and corn for the war
effort in September 1917.
The Nashua Telegraph also took the lead in the effort to aid the
Nashua boys soon going off to France by printing a daily piece
titled: `Fast Lessons in French for the Soldier Boys.’ The daily
piece presented a number of important phrases such as, `Are the
German Troops near here? Ya-t-il des troupes allemandes pres d’ici?’
In December 1917, The Telegraph pitched in again. Nashua Infantry
Companies D and I were camped in dirt-floor shelter tents in North
Carolina when they got some nine inches of snow. The Nashua boys sent
an urgent telegram to the
city stating, `We had a fierce snowstorm here . . . and we are in
tents . . . us poor devils are undergoing the most severe conditions.
The boys from Nashua hereby apply and appeal to the Nashua Red Cross
for 50 pairs of woolen socks at once if they can be obtained, if not
as soon as possible . . . if the socks can be sent, please have them
forwarded . . . I am writing now and my feet are soaked, and very
cold.’ When the telegram was received it was the Nashua Telegraph
that immediately responded and quickly purchased, gathered and
shipped the requested woolen socks.
The women of Nashua were also hard at work in the war effort. In
September 1917 there was a call for sweaters for the Nashua soldiers;
it was soon reported that 270 Nashua women were energetically engaged
in knitting 200-plus sweaters for the city’s soldiers.
In 1917, many, if not most, of these young French-Canadian, Greek,
Yankee, Polish and other Nashua boys were employees of the great
manufacturing enterprises of the city, including the textile
factories, iron foundries, shoe shops, lumber mills, railroads, etc.
So, even the factories did their part to bolster and express their
pride and confidence in their boys. This was well demonstrated by the
Jackson Manufacturing Co. on Canal Street as it proudly raised a
handmade Service Flag of 19 stars, which showed the number of
employees then in the military service, over the mill buildings.
Nashua’s Jewish community did its part, as well. It was reported in
September 1917, `Hebrew War Effort: Temple Beth Abraham and Linus
Hatzedak had raised over $500 and would make a trip with 10
automobiles down to Fort Devens in Ayer, Massachusetts to provide
necessities to 50 young Hebrew soldiers.’
One of the necessities that young soldiers of all faiths constantly
requested was cigarettes. It was reported, `Soldiers at Front Badly
Need Tobacco: Send us tobacco, that is what we need more than any
other one thing which the folks at home can do for us . . . the
American soldiers are forced to pay 28 cents per 5 cent package of
smoking tobacco . . . it is hard to procure even at this price . . .
they long for a good smoke of the kind of tobacco that they are used
to . . . it is hoped that various organizations, either clubs or
societies of men or women will open up subscriptions in order that
Nashua may do her full part.’
Civic leaders
During these trying war years, James B. Crowley was mayor of Nashua.
It was he who gave the powerful and heartfelt speeches and made his
presence known at every gathering, demonstration, parade and send-off
for the boys and their families.
Nashua could probably not have had a better man to lead the city
during these years, because Mayor Crowley was the son of a true and
genuine Nashua-born American Civil War military hero and patriotic
martyr, Maj. Timothy B. Crowley, of the famed Irish Company B of the
New Hampshire 10th Volunteer Regiment.
It was said of Maj. Crowley in 1897, `In every hour of battle and
danger he was at the front sharing the hardships and never flinching.
In the gallant charge at the second battle of Fair Oaks in 1864, he
was severely wounded in the hip. For this distinguished bravery in
this action he was promoted to the rank of Major . . . since that day
at Fair Oaks he was a constant sufferer; a sufferer for his country,
but no man ever heard him express regret for the service he had
rendered the old flag, for which in the prime of his manhood he laid
down his life.’
In September 1917, Mayor Crowley addressed the next wave of Nashua
boys recently drafted and going to the front in France, he said at
their farewell, `The demonstration this afternoon shows the esteem of
the people of this community to your going, and the expression of
their confidence in you. All I can say, all that I can do, is simply
to extend to you the confidence that the people have in you. . . . I
would ask you to be clean of body, pure of spirit, and there is no
question of the result of your endeavor; I bid you Godspeed.’
In October 1917, the thousands of workers in the numerous Nashua
factories and manufacturing companies organized and conducted a huge
patriotic parade on Main Street in order to launch the great Liberty
Bond Drive for the war effort. The headline read: `Seven Thousand
Five Hundred Men and Women Parade Through Main Street and Throng Mass
Meetings in the Most Remarkable Out Turning Ever Seen in This City.’
The other great campaign of the fall of 1917 was the YMCA `Big Red
Triangle’ Campaign. This campaign was led by the most affluent men
and families of Nashua; the owners and directors of the mills, banks
and other businesses. They sought to raise $35,000, which was a huge
amount of money in 1917 for a city the size of Nashua. In fact, they
exceeded their aims and ultimately raised almost $50,000 for the war
effort. Each time they met and exceeded a monetary goal, a red light
was placed on an electric sign in front of City Hall, which then
stood on the east side of Main Street between Park and Temple
streets. Everyone in the city, whether poor, rich or in-between, was
together in this great civic war effort.
In November 1917, the Nashua Chapter of the Knights of Columbus
launched a program to raise some $5,000 for the boys at the front;
they met and exceeded their goals as well. Again, whether Protestant,
Catholic, Jewish or other, all were together pushing hard every day.
Also in November 1917, it was reported, `A large shipment was made by
the Nashua chapter of the Red Cross last week: The shipment was made
up of the following: 180 sweaters, 72 pair of socks, 48 pair of
wristlets, 6 pair of bed socks, 6 helmets, 24 mufflers, 5 three yard
bandages, 12 eye bandages, 2060 gauze compresses, 96 nurses mitts, 48
wash cloths, 72 surgical sheets, 18 pajamas, 220 handkerchiefs, 18
ambulance pillows, 445 soultetus bandages, 455 triangular bandages,
15 T bandages, 110 four tail bandages, 7 shoulder wraps, 12 fracture
pillows.’
A city mourns
In November 1917, Pvt. James E. Coffey of 51 Broad St. wrote home to
his mother from England before going over to the battlefront in
France: `I received your letter and was glad to hear from you all. We
are all well and happy and never felt better in our lives . . . This
will be a trip that will never be forgotten by any of the boys. Well,
I don’t know when I’ll be back home again . . . If you should happen
to see Bald Arnold or Eddy O’Neil tell them this is a trip well worth
taking for their country and I shall never regret the day I signed up
. . . I am thinking that this war is going to last some time to come.
So here I am until this little game is over with . . . Well, dear
mother and sisters as I can’t give you any more information of where
we are for this letter might get lost or some German might get at it,
and then we might get what the French and English are getting, some
hot lead . . . Give my regards to the boys. Good bye and good luck
and God bless you all.’
On May 10, 1918, 22-year-old Pvt. Coffey, along with his fellow
Nashuans, Sgt. Clement W. Gravelle and Pvt. Edmond Leblanc, all of
Co. D, 103rd Infantry Regiment were killed in action.
These three young men were Nashua’s first lives lost in the Great
War, with Coffey the first to fall.
At the very same battle, James Coffey’s brother, William B. Coffey,
19 years old and also a member of Co. D, was seriously wounded. It
was reported that he was, `laying at the point of death in a hospital
in France.’ William, however, survived the gas attack and wrote home
to his mother soon after saying, `Just a word to let you know that I
am well and happy once more. I leave for the front again, and glad
that I am going back to join the boys. Don’t worry about me, it’s all
in the chance. I have won a wounded strip on the right arm, and a
couple more won’t look bad . . . But, believe me, when I get back to
the front, I’ll have a bone to pick with the Germans. God help the
prisoners, they won’t live long. I never did a job yet, but what I
could finish it, and I am hoping to finish those Huns with the rest
of the boys. There are only a few of the boys left after the attack,
but they are still in the game. Well, I received your mail and
picture. Ma, you took a good one. Well, cheer up, when you get my
letter, you can picture me back in the trenches. Best wishes and love
to all.’
That summer of 1918, the Nashua boys of Co. D and I were in the thick
of the action in France. In September, Lt. Joseph P. Lee of 102 Ash
St. came home for a seven-day leave before reassignment. He told the
Nashua folks of the battles their boys had bravely served in that
summer. He said of the July battles, `The men of the two Nashua
companies had had their mettle proved in the sharpest fighting on the
Chateau-Thierry, and all had acquitted themselves like heroes. The
Xivray battle, in which Co. I had the big part to play, was one of
the great actions of the whole war. The Nashua men’s companies again
were at the forefront of the fighting when the Germans were turned
back at Chateau-Thierry . . . It was here that Company D suffered the
heaviest toll in its fighting to date. Company I was in the first
battalion forming the shock troops for our attack . . . it went under
terrific machine gun fire. Everyone will tell you what its work was.
Every man fought for all that was in him . . . the men now are
veterans. I am proud of the Nashua boys.’
During the intense battle of Xivray on July 16, three more Nashua
boys were killed; Cpl. Fred Kearns, Pvt. Sarkis Sermonian and Pvt.
Charles Dubuque. It was reported of Sermonian, `He was born 26 years
ago in Armenia . . . he had been a resident of Nashua for seven
years, and an employee of the Nashua Manufacturing Co., prior to his
enlistment in Co. 1, First NH Infantry, when it went to service on
the Mexican border. He continued in the military upon discharge . . .
and went to Concord and Westfield camps, with his company. He was a
young man who had a wide circle of friends, and old militia men say
he was a good soldier.’
Kearns wrote his wife, Bessie, in Nashua on June 9 as follows: `Dear
Little Wife, Just a few lines to let you know that I am still
thinking of you and the folks . . . hope mother’s cold is better. I
sure will be some happy boy to get a picture of you and the baby.
Bess, you are right when you said you knew who your friends were. But
cheer up, Bess, me and you for a little home of our own and better
days are coming sometime if an old German or `Square Head’ don’t get
me . . . well, Bess, we couldn’t all have weak hearts because some of
us had to pass and help out Uncle Sam . . . Love and kisses to you,
and good luck, and God bless you. From Your Little Hubby.
Pvt. Gilbert Mitchell of 140 Canal St. also wrote to his parents,
letting them know that he was wounded, but would be all right, he
went on to say, `They tell me that I will be sent home and all that,
but I am going back into the fight if there is a possible chance. I
didn’t come over here to quit with the game just starting. It would
seem like heaven to home, but then, I have seen so much death and
suffering in the past ten months, I have become immune to any
emotions connected with losing my friends and comrades. It is nearly
a year since I bid you goodbye and made me feel a bit sad, but I try
to remain cheerful, for sadness is not good for anyone here. Love to
all my friends.’
War’s end
The Great War finally came to an end with the surrender of Germany on
Nov. 11, 1918. Nashua had lost many of her boys from all the distinct
ethnic groups, and many others came home terribly wounded and
psychologically affected from the carnage and gas attacks that they
had somehow lived through. But they all came home as Americans, to a
city of deeply and profoundly appreciative and proud families,
friends and fellow citizens of the United States of America.
They were all real Americans now, no matter where they, their parents
or grandparents had originally emigrated from.
On Nov. 11, 1918, it was reported in the Nashua Telegraph, `Nashua
uncorked enthusiasm pent-up from last week . . . The word reached
Nashua at 4 o’clock. At 4:10 a.m. the fire bell tolled out the news,
in accordance with the arrangements made by Mayor James B. Crowley.
Nashua has seen some glorious Fourth of July celebrations in years
gone by . . . Nashua this morning went back to the old time way, with
variations. Bells were rung, whistles blown, cowbell and tin pan
parades filled the street from one end of the city to the other. Guns
were fired, horns tooted, rockets shot into the air and red fire
blazed everywhere . . . An old wash boiler or tin ash can, securely
fastened to the rear axles of automobiles being hauled over the
pavements at a raid rate was an innovation over the old-time din
making contrivances. Old Mount Pleasant bells pealed out shortly
after 4:30, being the first bell on the north side . . . shortly
after 5 o’clock the chimes on the First Congregational Church began
playing and added music to the racket which at this hour reached a
point never before equaled in this city . . .
`Some patriotic young men who owned fifes and drums, got downtown at
an early hour, soon a parade formed after the manner as the famous
Harvard `snake dance’ and up and down Main Street it passed again and
again. In its ranks were many well known citizens . . . Nothing like
it was ever seen in the city.’
This was how Nashua, in grand civic ritual, went to war and
celebrated the return of her brave soldiers as a true community some
87 years ago.
How shall we, the city, continue to support Nashua’s military
personnel fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan today? How shall we
celebrate their proud return home to good old Nashua after their
noble part in the hard-fought battle is honorably finished?
Alan Manoian of Nashua is the city’s former assistant economic
director and downtown development specialist. He can be reached at
[email protected].