Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Honor Our War Veterans
It seems as though everything our Presidents do nowadays is scrutinized. President Barack Obama was recently shown saluting the remains of our most recent casualties of war as they were transferred from a plane in Delaware, headed for their final resting places around the country. This President’s more public display of honoring our fallen heroes is in contrast to his predecessor’s more private show of respect. Each man has been criticized because of it. What is lost in the debate, as Veteran’s Day approaches, is that there are still young people dying in conflicts being fought all over the globe, 90 years after the conclusion of the “War To End All Wars”. Thankfully, towns such as Weymouth do not allow us to forget those boys and girls. Numerous sign posts and memorials throughout the town bearing the names of thousands of veterans, each with a unique story, remind us that there are those among us, even today, who gave a portion or all of their lives for the betterment of the United States.
Vincent Gorman grew up in Weymouth and graduated from Weymouth High School in 1915. He liked to play baseball, especially second base and in his senior year was captain of the high school team. He also had an interest in planes that he shared with his friend and classmate, Ralph Talbot. After graduation, Ralph went off to a school in Pennsylvania and then Yale University, but Vincent stayed close to home to be with his sweetheart, Grace, and play baseball for some local teams while working odd jobs.
When the United States entered World War I, Vincent and Ralph both enlisted as soon as they could in October of 1917. They both still had flying planes in mind and Vincent signed up for the Army’s Aviation Corps while Ralph became a Naval Aviator. By February of the following year they had both successfully completed training. Vincent received a 48 hour leave from the Army’s 50th Aero Bombardment Squadron to visit home before he was to be shipped overseas.
While home Vincent had two wishes and they both came true. He requested and was granted an additional 2 days of leave and he asked Grace for her hand in marriage. The additional days home resulted in his missing the assigned transport ship and he was subsequently transferred to the 100th Aero Squadron scheduled to leave Hoboken, New Jersey on board the British steamship SS Tuscania. On the morning of February 5, 1918, after several days on the winter sea Vincent could finally see the high rocky cliffs of Scotland in the distance. By the next morning he thought he would most assuredly be in Liverpool preparing for bombing missions over Europe.
If Vincent was granted one more wish it would have been to end the war quickly so that he could return home to Grace all the sooner, but he knew that his duty for now was to his country and he was happy to have had those extra days he got to spend with her. Just after sunset a German U-boat, UB-77, torpedoed and sunk the Tuscania. Pvt. Gorman, made it to his assigned life-boat #10, but the cold harsh seas of the North Channel smashed the life boat to pieces on the rocky coast of Scotland.
Ralph Talbot couldn’t have known that his friend was on board the Tuscania, but certainly the news of its sinking confirmed his resolve to join the fighting overseas. In order to see action in Europe sooner he resigned from the Navy and joined the Marine Corps and by August of 1918 found himself in France as part of the First Marine Aviation Force. Lt. Talbot was one the most daring and talented aviators of the war. His exploits are well documented and his name well recognized especially in his hometown of Weymouth.
Lt. Talbot’s body was brought home to a hero’s welcome and was buried in Wollaston Cemetery in Quincy, Massachusetts with full military honors. Pvt. Gorman’s is officially listed as buried at sea. He never saw any fighting in Europe and never did get back home to be with Grace, but he too, like his friend, is a hero.
It doesn’t really matter how we choose to salute our veterans, so long as we do. These boys are not unlike any of the thousands that have gone to battle and continue to fight to keep the rest of us free. Every one of them has a story that should be remembered, at least for a moment, on November 11, Veterans Day.
POSTED BY STAN on November 10, 2009
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