Thanks to Ross Whistler for contributing this article that.appeared in
THE BOSTON DAILY GLOBE, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1945
- Greater Boston's War Record---XLI
by GENE R. CASEY
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Dover counts two Navy Cross winners among the 177 stars that shine in its service flag and mourns five honored dead in World War II. One of its Army flyers is still missing in action.
De Long Charged Jap Gun on Guadalcanal and Fought Enemy Till he Fell
Marine Cpl Weldon F. DeLong, posthumously awarded the Navy Cross and honored with a destroyer-escort bearing his name, was a hero of Guadalcanal who charged a Nip 37-mm gun firing at him at point-blank range, killed its crew and put the gun out of action. "Finally," reads his citation, "in a violent bayonet assault, he advanced to the front of his unit and engaged the enemy in hand-to-hand combat until he was mortally wounded."
Four of his brothers also joined the Marines; Sgt John was a veteran of
Guadalcanal, Bougainville and New Guinea, and Cpl Kenneth, of Bougainville,
Guam and Iwo Jima.
Flyer Roach Won Cross for Sinking Jap Battleship
A second Navy Cross recipient, Lt (jg) Fred B. Roach Jr, wounded torpedo-plane
pilot, was decorated for sinking a Japanese battleship in the second battle
of the Philippines.
Cpl Ernest Clewes, killed in action in the first assault on Los Negros, was one of two brothers (Sgt Thomas M. Clewes, Medfield) who gave their lives in the Pacific. Bruce G. Cameron, first Dover war victim, died as a Jap prisoner in the Philippines. Lt Ross Whittier Jr., Marine paratrooper with long Pacific service, lost his life in an accident, and Frank S. Watson gave his life in Navy service.
Missing in action since early 1942, Lt John E. Bentley Jr was one of the first P-40 pilots to go overseas after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
The Legion of Merit award went to Col John E. Toulmin, for undercover work commanding the Office of Strategic Services in the Balkans and Middle East.
A Silver Star hero, Marine Lt Col Ernest P. Foley (brother, Marine
Lt John), veteran of Guadalcanal, Cape Gloucester and Okinanwa, was decorated
at Guadalcanal because "during the night when shells destroyed communications
and broke off supporting artillery fire, he quit his position at the fire
direction center and making his way through exposed areas to the battery
command post, with cool courage and complete disregard for his own safety,
directed artillery fire until communications could be reestablished.
Casey Brothers Decorated
Lt James F. Casey (brother, Lt Edward, also decorated flyer) was awarded
the Distinguished Flying Cross three times for heroism as a flight leader
during the Normandy invasion, and was later shot down and captured by the
Nazis.
Lt (jg) Roland G. Freeman Jr., another DFC winner (father, Cdr Roland, Pacific veteran Navy surgeon), sank a tanker and damaged other Jap shipping in Manila Harbor, was shot down off Okinawa and rescued a wounded crew member from his sinking plane. Lt Phillip Luttazi (brother, Pvt Francis) won the DFC in Italy, and another decorated flyer was SSgt George D. Lemmler.
Bronze Star heroes included Lt Col George Draper, veteran of North Africa and Italy; Capt Francis W. Sargent (brother, Marine Lt George), ski trooper, who rescued two downed flyers from behind Nazi lines in Italy and aslo was awarded Brazil's highest Medal of War for training and fighting with Brazilian troops in Italy, and Capt William J. Quinn, who accomplished outstanding engineering feats in New Guinea.
Brother trios in service include the Gliddens (Lt William twice awarded the
Air Medal) and the Millers, SSgt John Quincy Adams 5th, direct lineal descendant
of two American Presidents, is a half-brother of the Sargents. Two brothers
and two sons of one of them, the Comiskeys of Haven St., joined the armed
forces, and other father-son combinations were the Hamlens and Gleasons.
Second War for Maj Long
Maj Hilton W. Long, World War I pilot and Croix de Guerre winner, served with the Air Transport Command in World War II. Former Lt Gov Gaspar Bacon Jr. was an Army lieutenant colonel. Superior Court Justice Charles C. Cabot performed a secret Army assignment.
Women in service included WAC Lt Antoinette Considine, WAVE Phyllis Barrett (brother, Sgt Alfred); Army nurse Lt Marie Jaques Schroeder (two brothers with armed forces); WAVE Lt (jg) Susan Bulfinch (brothers Lt Cdrs Charles and Thomas); Marine Sgt Doris Lights (husband CPO Francis); WAVE Lt (jg) Margaret Strong, WAVE Lois Imbescheid, and Red Cross worker Gertrude L. Abbott, who served in England, France and Germany.
Other brothers in service were Fishers, Goodwins, Wakelins, Williamses, Clarks, Browns, Wagstaffs, Bartletts, Michels, McFarlands, Gouchers, Monroes, Winships, Heards.
Aid to veterans is given by the town Veterans Rehabilitation and Reemployment Committee.
This article included photographs of the following:
Ernest Clewes
Bullfinches: Thomas, Susan, Charles
Caseys: Edward P., James F.
Comiskeys: Capt Raymond (uncle), Capt Edward (father), Edward Jr., John M.
DeLongs: Cpl Kenneth, Sgt John W., Cpl Weldon F., Gordon C., Lorimer L.
Dover Women: Gertrude Abbot, Antoinette Considine, Lois Imbescheid, Margaret Strong
Foleys: John E., Ernest P.
Gleasons: Carroll Sr., Carroll Jr.
Gliddens: Stephen V. R., William T., Arthur B. Jr.
Lights: Francis D., Doris A.
Luttazis: Lt Phillip, Pvt Francis
Michels: Thomas F., George
McFarlands: Edward, Robert