Tag Archives: World War II

Friday Flashback #366

Posted on September 22, 2023 | 6 comments

The Connecticut Air & Space Center in Stratford is a very cool place. It’s one of a very few museums of its type in the country located in an original World War II aircraft factory.

Which made it a very fitting destination for Jean Hunt Tucker the other day.

The 1941 Staples High School graduate — who turns 99 in November — traveled from Florida with her daughter and granddaughter to see the Corsair.

There was a good reason: Jean was one of the first female engineers to work at the plant during World War II. Among her projects: the F4U Corsair.

Joan Tucker with the museum’s Corsair.

After Staples she headed to college in Ohio. After Pearl Harbor — a few months later — she returned to this area. She enrolled at Bridgeport State Trade School, to learn drafting.

At 18 she joined the engineering department of Chance Vought Aircraft in Stratford. She was one of very few females; most of the others were secretaries and clerks.

Jane made drawings of parts for electrical installations — without ever seeing the actual equipment. She also worked on fuselages.

Chance Vought sent her to the Academy of Aeronautics, near La Guardia Airport, to train women entering the industry.

Part of the Connecticut Air & Space Center’s exhibit is dedicated to Joan Tucker.

In 1945 Joan entered Northeastern University, as one of its first class of women.

She married in 1949. When the company moved to Dallas, she stayed here. She earned a degree in industrial engineering, and taught math for 38 years in 3 states and 2 foreign countries.

Thank you, Joan, for your service. Many Westport men served — 20% of the Staples Class of 1943 missed their graduation ceremony, as they were already in the military — but we can’t forget the important contributions of Westport’s women either. (Hat tips: Frank Rosen and Len Roberto)

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50 Years Ago This Week (September 22, 1973): Officials announced that a $14 million enlargement plan would be sought for Staples High Schoo.

The proposed additions included an array of new athletic facilities such as a skating rink, 2 new baseball fields, and one additional field for soccer and field hockey.

The additions were never built. The “modernization” of 1978-81 — which connected 9 separate buildings — did include new athletic facilities: a fieldhouse and pool. (Hat tip: Fred Cantor)

The “new” Staples, circa 1959. The auditorium (center left) and gym (largest building in the rear) are the only original structures that remain today. 

(If you enjoy our “06880” looks back every Friday, help us head to the future. Please click here to support our work. Thank you!

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Posted in Friday Flashback, History, Staples HS

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Remembering Nechama Tec

Posted on August 13, 2023 | 7 comments

Nechama Tec — a longtime Westport resident and, the New York Times notes, “a Polish Jew who pretended to be Roman Catholic to survive the Holocaust and then became a Holocaust scholar, writing about Jews as heroic resisters and why certain people, even antisemites, became rescuers” — died August 3 in New York. She was 92.

“Defiance: The Bielski Partisans” — her best-known work, written in 1993 — was made into the movie “Defiance” 15 years later.

Her book “gave Dr. Tec a platform to show that Jews saved other Jews during the war and were more active in resisting the Nazis than some have commonly believed,” the Times said.

In “When Light Pierced the Darkness: Christian Rescue of Jews in Nazi-Occupied Poland,” Dr. Tec offered “a portrait of Christians who hid Jews, despite the likelihood of being imprisoned or killed for providing such aid. They were, she concluded, outsiders who were marginal in their communities; had a history of performing good deeds; did not view their actions as heroic; and did not agonize over being helpful.”

After World War II, her family moved from Poland to Berlin. In 1949 she immigrated to Israel, where she met her future husband Leon Tec, a Polish-born doctor who became a noted child psychiatrist. They moved to the US in 1952, and to Westport in 1960.

Nechama Tec (Photo courtesy of Tec family, via New York Times)

Nechama earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Columbia University. She taught sociology there, then at Rutgers University, Trinity College and — for 36 years — the University of Connecticut’s Stamford branch.

She received a Ph.D. in sociology from Columbia in 1965. Her honors include a Pulitzer Prize nomination.

Dr. Tec is survived by her son Roland, daughter Leora, 2 grandsons, 1 great-grandson, and a half-sister, Catharina Knoll. She was pre-deceased by her husband and sister, Giza Agmon.

 

A celebration of her life will be held October 1 (3 p.m., Plaza Jewish Community Chapel, New York City). Click here for the New York Times’ full obituary. 

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Posted in History, Obituaries

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Westport’s Private Benjamin

Posted on January 26, 2023 | 28 comments

Westport has long been proud of World War II veterans like Leonard Everett Fisher and Joe Schachter, and the late Ted Diamond and Howard Munce.

We honor them on Memorial Day. We listen to and read recollections of their service. We thank them often (though probably not enough).

We’ve done none of that for Ben Pepper.

He was a paratrooper. He earned a Purple Heart at the Battle of the Bulge. He’s lived in Westport since 1958.

Yet we’ve never seen him on Memorial Day. Most of us have never heard his name.

That’s his decision. He has chosen never to march or ride in the May parade. He still has his medals, his dog tag, his photos — and his Army jacket — but he has always been low-key about them.

Ben Pepper, yesterday. (Photo/Dan Woog)

Perhaps this Memorial Day — less than 2 months before his 100th birthday — that will change.

Westport would be honored to honor him. He lives in his longtime home — alone, after his wife Frances died — and has nearly a century of stories to tell.

Yesterday — sitting in his son David and daughter-in-law Gail’s Wilton Road house — he told some of them.

Pepper’s parents came from Austria-Hungary. His father had a window cleaning route.

Pepper was born on July 5, 1923 in the Bronx. He grew up near the Grand Concourse.

Ben Pepper, on his bar mitzvah day.

After graduating from DeWitt Clinton High School, he headed to aeronautical school at La Guardia Airport.

But World War II was underway. He was soon drafted, and ordered to report to Grand Central Terminal on New Year’s Day, 1943.

(His younger brother Armand enlisted — without his parents’ permission. His mother brought him home. When he was old enough he joined the Army Air Forces, and served in the South Pacific. He is 97, and lives in Naples, Florida.)

Pepper was sent first to Fort Dix, then to a new tank training center at Camp Hood in Texas. He felt unsuited to tank operations, and asked for a transfer.

He got one: to paratrooper school at Fort Benning, Georgia.

“I was 19. I didn’t know what I was getting into,” Pepper says.

Ben Pepper: in the Army.

After stops in North Carolina and Maryland, his 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment was sent to Northern Ireland, then Sherwood Forest in England.

Pepper would have been part of D-Day. But he had broken his back on an earlier jump, and was in a near-full body cast.

Many of his fellow paratroopers never made it home that June day.

He recuperated in time for another important, gruesome battle: The Bulge. But on Christmas Day 1944, his flight to France crashed on takeoff. Everyone survived.

Instead he was driven to the Ardennes forest, between Belgium and Luxembourg.

“There was a lot of shooting,” he remembers.

A German shell hit the edge of his foxhole, but did not explode. Ten minutes later, a fellow soldier stood up in the same foxhole. A bullet killed him instantly.

Pepper got frostbite in the brutal cold — his rifle was frozen too — and earned a Purple Heart for it.

Ben Pepper’s Purple Heart, dog tag and other mementoes. (Photo/Dan Woog)

Soon, he was assigned to guard a former German schnapps factory. “We were 20-year-old kids, with all the booze you’d want,” he laughs.

After Pepper’s discharge in October 1945, he answered an ad to be a photographer. “Why not?” he figured.

That started a long career. In 1953 he opened his own studio — Allyn — on Atlantic Street in Stamford. By then he’d met and married Frances; their son David was 5.

Ben Pepper (center left) and fellow members of his photography school class.

Pepper also opened liquor stores, in Stamford and Norwalk. Frances started her own Kitty Closet shops on Westport Avenue in Norwalk.

In 1958 they bought property on what was then Blue Ribbon Farm, on North Avenue just past Cross Highway. They built a home on what is now Blue Ribbon Lane. He’s lived there ever since.

Ben Pepper, back in the day.

In 1960 the Peppers helped build Temple Israel on Coleytown Road. They spent the rest of their married life raising David (a Staples Class of 1966 graduate), traveling (including China before it opened to the West, the USSR, Africa and Asia), and working.

David and Gail have 2 children, both Staples graduates. They’ve given Pepper 3 great-grandchildren.

All would be proud to see “Private Benjamin” Pepper be honored at Westport’s Memorial Day parade.

He’s not so sure.

“My jacket wouldn’t fit,” he protests.

It would. Pepper is in great shape.

And Westporters of all ages would be inspired to salute him in it.

(Hat tip: Arlene Yolles)

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Posted in History, Looking back, religion

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Ted Diamond’s Legacy

Posted on August 6, 2022 | 4 comments

Kerstin Rao retired in 2021, after 2 decades as a teacher in Bedford Middle School’s gifted program.

Among her many wonderful experiences was the chance to meet World War II Army Air Corps combat navigator Ted Diamond. He died on Tuesday, at 105.

The longtime Westporter — who (among many other accomplishments) served 3 terms as 2nd Selectman — made quite a mark on Kerstin’s students.

And on her. She writes:

When I read on “06880” that Ted Diamond had passed, I found my heart filled with gratitude for the brief times I got to know him during his Veterans Day visits, when I taught at Bedford Middle School.

For at least 2 decades, possibly longer, Bedford’s 8th grade social studies teachers have organized visits by local veterans each November. The impact of these visits is often profound. Students would come into my classes the rest of the week bringing up points the veterans had talked about, wondering what they would have done if they were in the same situation, and curious about ways to serve the country.

Kerstin Rao and Ted Diamond.

My classroom was usually the gathering place as veterans arrived. The PTA would put together a breakfast, and the vets used that morning time to catch up with longtime friends. There was plenty of talk of grandchildren, ailments, and some razzing between the branches of service. However, I also observed how the older vets were genuinely curious to hear from the younger service members about their experiences.

Whenever I could, I brought my sketch journal. I quietly sat in the back of different classrooms as the vets shared their stories. Some years I made drawings of the men and women as they spoke, jotting down the insights that moved my heart. I’m glad I captured a sketch of Ted and some of his thoughts in my journal.

In 2016, Ted told how some men in his unit held deep racial biases. But when they were pinned down and the Tuskegee Airmen saved their lives, those biases were obliterated.

Kerstin Rao’s 2016 journal includes a sketch of Ted Diamond, and some of the important ideas he shared with Bedford Middle School 8th graders.

In 2017, he brought a photo of his unit. He pointed to a few faces, saying this one was from Michigan, this one was from Colorado. He said he could have brought photos of his wing shot off, or the engine of the plane across the way on fire, but to him, this was the single most important picture. He wanted the students to understand that no matter where we are from, we are one country, working together.

A photo Ted Diamond (top row, 2nd from right) shared with the students.

Ted Diamond stood out to me because every year, without fail, his stories focused on our shared humanity. He had a graciousness and gentle humor that made his listeners lean in. He took us into the moment during pivotal times of his World War II battle experiences. He always left us with the message that we have far more in common than we realize, and this is where the true promise of our country resides.

In my lifetime, I’ve never witnessed such bitter division in America as we have lived through these past few years. Nationally and locally, I am troubled to notice a greater willingness to violate the rights of others, speak in inflamed rhetoric without a willingness to listen, and openly expressed innuendo that violence could be inevitable.

Violence is not inevitable.

Discord is not inevitable.

When we pause a moment, we realize that we dishonor the legacy of our veterans if we allow our country to erode from within. I heard this expressed by several veterans over the years. If Ted has left us a call to action, it is this: Each of us has a choice. We could pull further apart, or we could strengthen our country by working together. We can choose integrity, understanding, and connection which becomes a service to our country.

For this message which guides my own path forward, I am truly grateful. Thank you, Ted.

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Ted Diamond’s family is still preparing his obituary. But they sent along a few photos. Here is a century-plus, of a well-lived life.

Ted Diamond is the youngest child in this photo.

Ted Diamond, as a World War II Army Air Corps combat navigator.

Ted and Carol Diamond’s wedding. They were married for 75 years.

Ted and Carol Diamond, and their 2 sons.

Carol and Ted Diamond.

Ted Diamond, looking pensive.

Ted Diamond, with his great-grandson Peter.

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Posted in Education, History, Obituaries

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Tom Feeley And Mike Brody’s Memorial Day Tale

Posted on May 29, 2022 | 8 comments

As Memorial Day approaches, longtime Westporter Tom Feeley writes:

It was 1945. The war in Germany was almost over. But SFC Mike Brody and the POWs did not know it.

Fast forward to 1973. I moved from San Francisco to Westport. As a Vietnam veteran, I joined VFW Joseph J. Clinton Post 399 VFW. I walked in the Memorial Day parade, attended the solemn Veterans Day ceremony, and made a bunch of new WWII NCO friends with CIBs, even a Silver Star.

My left shoulder had the Third Infantry Division Patch from 1/15 INF CAN DO, so I was real good with the WWII guys. I also led Audie Murphy’s platoon.

Junior Bieling

Westport veteran and Silver Star awardee Junior Bieling usually wore a coat over his uniform to hide his medal, out of modesty. He owned JR’s Hot Dog Stand.

I busted his chops: “You should be very proud. If an enlisted man earns a Silver Star, he really earned it.”

“Not too many officers would say that,” he replied.

On Fridays if I went in for a dog, I left smashed on his vodka screwdrivers. “Tom, the booze is on the house, but ya gotta pay for the dogs!”

There was also a burly Tech SFC Mike Brody, with ribbons and a CIB. He was from Brooklyn. I’m from Queens, with Brooklyn friends, so we became buddies. We ran into each other at the beach occasionally, and chatted.

He was almost 6 feet tall, built like a tanker. He had a contagious smile and a very quick wit.

The three of us hung out in the VFW bar after ceremonies or meetings. Those guys knew everyone.

Fast forward again, to 2000. I owned a boutique real estate firm. I had sold a beautiful modern home in Weston to inventor genius Bob Soloff and his wife Carol, also from Brooklyn. They held a beautiful catered open house for friends after the sale.

To my surprise, SFC Mike Brody showed up. We were a few hours into drinking when I asked Carol, ”Where do you know this guy Mike from?“

“He’s my little Jewish buddy from Brooklyn!” she said.

“What? Mike? Brody is a Jewish name?!”

In Jackson Heights you were Irish Catholic, Italian or Jewish, with a sprinkling of Protestants. We busted the Jews’ yarmulkes on Saturday, and they busted our Sunday ties or knickers.

Mike turned to Carol. “You’ve asked me about the war many times. I’ve had enough to drink that I’ll finally share my story with you and Tom.”

He continued:

“We were laying field radio wire, got encircled, captured and put in a concentration camp. I was a platoon sergeant, so I had some freedom to move about and interact with guards. who randomly asked to see my dog tags.

World War II prisoner of war camp, in Germany.

“Months later a new slender guard showed up. He was quite different, because he didn’t walk his post bored. He was alert and interested in what was going on behind the fence.

“I saw him a lot, and tried to be nice. He asked me where I was from. When I said Brooklyn, his eyes lit up. He called me ‘Brooklyn!’ from then on.

“One day he was looking for me. He pointed to the far corner of the camp, for me to go there. With a corner post and a lamp pole, it was hidden from the guard towers. He put his index finger to his lips and in perfect English said, ‘Not a word! Give me your dog tags. Return here tomorrow after breakfast. Not a word!'”

“I figured with no tags, I was dead. The next day we met. He returned one tag on the long chain — missing the long chain. He said ‘tank treads,’ and disappeared.

Some dog tags identified soldiers as Jewish with an “H,” for “Hebrew.”

“The next day, everyone was lined up for dog tags. ‘Jews over here!’ The tag the guard had returned was badly scuffed and twisted, like it was run over by a tank. The ‘JUD’ in the lower right corner had been mangled off.

“All the Jews were separated, and never seen again.”

Mike later learned that the guard was an American college student. He had been visiting his grandparents when he was conscripted and placed in a concentration camp, where he could spy with his bilingual skills.

Mike freed the guard by telling rescuers that the kid was an American citizen, and that he had saved Mike’s life.

That’s just one out of countless stories that our veterans can tell. As they gather for tomorrow’s Memorial Day parade and ceremony — and meet at places like the VFW, to share memories, socialize and enjoy their lives — let’s not forget every man and woman who has served our country.

All gave some. Some gave all.

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Merci, Marigny!

Posted on May 8, 2022 | 17 comments

Here in the US, it’s Mothers Day. Across the country, families gather to celebrate Mom.

1st Selectwoman Jen Tooker got up early this morning, and headed to her Town Hall office. She was there to honor a sibling — well, Westport’s sibling.

Very few residents here know, but we have a sister town in France: Marigny.

Right after D-Day in 1944, Westporter Bob Loomis — a gun sergeant — was there. It’s just 25 miles from Utah Beach.

A couple of weeks later another Westporter — heavy machine gunner Clay Chalfant — moved through Marigny with his company on their way to Belgium.

When the war ended, Charlotte MacLear — head of the French department at Staples High School, and a graduate of prestigious Sorbonne Université — sparked a campaign to “officially adopt Marigny” and help its recovery.

Our town sent clothes, money and Christmas gifts, thanks to fundraising that included selling toys and buckets with designs painted by Westport artists.

In return, Marigny created the “Westport School Canteen,” and named the town’s largest square “Place Westport.” Charlotte MacLear visited our sister town 3 times. Each time, she was honored and adored.

“Pharmacie Westport,” in Marigny.

We forgot the relationship. Marigny never did.

In June 1994 — as part of the 50th anniversary of the invasion of Normandy — town officials invited 3 Westport middle school students and 2 Westport veterans to stay in the homes of residents. They visited “Westport Gift Shop” and “Pharmacie Westport.”

The 2 veterans were, of course,  Loomis and Chalfant.

Marigny – c’est magnifique!

That was nearly 30 years ago. Once again, Westport has lost its connection with our sister town.

But still, Marigny remembers.

This morning — early afternoon in France — they dedicated a room in their Town Hall in Charlotte MacLear’s memory. It is now, and forever, “Salle Charlotte MacLear.”

For today’s event, Marigny officials put 1st Selectwoman Jen Tooker front and center. The other photos show members of the Marigny town government, and a photo from the 1940s.

Tooker participated via Zoom.

Mayor Fabrice Lemazurier explained that the room is where the Town council meets, making “all the important decisions concerning Marigny-Le-Luzon’s future.” It is a town “proud of its history, ready to face its future.”

He noted that “Mrs. MacLear and her fellow Americans gave our territory a helping hand and restored smiles, particularly to our younger citizens.”

He added:

War once again on European soil certainly reminds us of the darkest hours of our history. It is our duty today to do everything to restore and preserve peace. I believe that in a certain way this is what we are doing today – to remember and never forget.

Marigny Mayor Fabrice Lemazurier, via Zoom.

After “The Star-Spangled Banner” was played on trumpet, 1st Selectwoman Tooker spoke. Beginning and ending in flawless French, she described Westport’s location near the United Nations, and noted how many residents have lived and worked abroad.

She said that we understand our connection to the world, and are proud to participate as global citizens. She called this a “remarkable and heartwarming honor,” and said that we share “brotherhood and neighborliness in this volatile world.”

Then deputy mayor Adèle Hommet said that her town wants to ensure that the room “lives up to the spirit of Charlotte MacLear who, as a schoolteacher with a determination to promote international relations, as well as her receptiveness toward all of our citizens whom she met, marked her as an exceptional person.”

She added that she hopes Westport and Marigny students can meet and learn from each other.

… and 1st Selectwoman Jennifer Tooker.

Remarks came too from René Gautier, who as a child benefited from Westporters’ kindness; Gilles Quinquenel, who recalled the dark days of World War II, and Philippe Gosselin, who recounted Franco-American relations going back to 1776.

He included Charlotte MacLear’s name on his roster of great Americans, right there with President Roosevelt, and Generals Eisenhower and Patton.

“Long live La Manche! Long live Normandy! Long live France, and long live the United States!” he said.

The ceremony concluded with Mayor Lemazurier wishing that Americans and French, on both sides of the Atlantic, can “come to the aid of the Ukrainian people in their moment of need, as we were over 75 years ago,” and Marigny’s representative in Parliament expressing the hope of meeting Tooker in France.

Then, saying “It’s not really goodbye; we’ll meet again,” the mayor introduced the final piece of music: “Auld Lang Syne.”

I was involved in some of the emails and phone calls between Marigny officials, and the 1st Selectwomen’s office. French officials asked me if Charlotte MacLear is still remembered fondly in Westport.

Perhaps a few people here still recall her name. In our sister town, our French friends will never forget her.

Marigny and Westport were united today, in red, white and blue.

FUN FACT: Westport has 2 other sister cities, according to Wikipedia: St. Petersburg, Russia and Yangzhou, China. Read the back stories here.

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Posted in History, Local politics, Staples HS

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Ted Aldrich: A Commuter’s Tale Of How George Marshall And Henry Stimson Won The War

Posted on March 17, 2022 | 5 comments

As Metro-North trains grew progressively slower, Fairfield County commuters groaned.

When bad weather, aging infrastructure or acts of God turned delays of minutes into hours, men and women gnashed their teeth, or wished the windows opened so they could jump out.

Ted Aldrich was thrilled.

For 8 years, the banker used his time between Greens Farms and Grand Central not to try to answer emails, watch movies on a phone screen or wish he were anywhere else.

Aldrich read history books. He organized notes. Then he wrote a book.

Ted Aldrich

Not just any book. He wrote 800 pages — then edited it down to 500 — on the odd relationship, and amazing success, of George Marshall and Henry Stimson.

The general and diplomat, Aldrich says, are hugely responsible for America’s logistical success in World War II. It’s a fresh area of study, one no historian has previously examined.

Yet Aldrich is not a historian. He’s a banker.

And this is his first book ever.

The Rowayton native and former Brien McMahon High School all-state soccer player has been a history buff as long as he remembers. But after playing at Colgate University, living and working in Europe, then moving to Westport in 1999, that passion was limited to reading on trains.

In 2008 he realized he could put that commuting time to productive use, by writing a book he’d long thought about. He had a subject: the collaboration between the unlikely duo of the U.S. Army chief of staff and President Roosevelt’s Secretary of War.

From adjoining offices at the Pentagon, the career military man and the Wall Street lawyer — both from vastly different backgrounds — created and led a war machine that helped crush a powerful enemy.

Blending politics, diplomacy, bureaucracy and war fighting, they transformed an outdated, poorly equipped army into a modern fighting force.  They developed strategy and logistics, coordinated with allies, and planned for post-war peace.

General George Marshall, and Secretary of War Henry Stimson.

Aldrich had the idea for the story. But with Metro-North’s spotty cell service, conducting the all-important research — during the only time he had available — was impossible.

Then he stumbled on Stimson’s 10,000-page diary. Because the men occupied adjoining offices, most of their collaboration took place in conversations. Little was written down — except in the diary.

It was housed at Yale, but not digitized. Aldrich paid to have it converted, and put it on a thumb drive. Suddenly, the train became his office.

The longer the commute was, the more productive and happier he became. Research took 3 years. Writing took 5 more.

Adlrich looked forward to to long business flights to Asia too. While most passengers slept or watched movies, Aldrich wrote, edited, and wrote some more.

That was the easy part. Selling his work to publishers seemed impossible. Major houses were not interested in a long book by a non-historian who had never written anything before.

Neither were smaller publishers.

Finally, Stackpole Books responded to Aldrich’s cold call. Three days later, they offered him a contract.

The Partnership: George Marshall, Henry Stimson, and the Extraordinary Collaboration That Won World War II will be published April 15. Best-selling author Walter Isaacson calls it “a valuable addition to history.”

Noted writer Evan Thomas adds:

The contrast to the current day will pop out at readers. Aldrich writes with a confident, readable style that carries you along. Through these men we remember how America truly did become great. At the same time, Aldrich has a clear eye about their foibles and blind spots. Stimson and Marshall were Olympian figures, yet in Aldrich’s capable hands, human and relatable.

Unlike many writers who head out on book tours, Aldrich has a full-time job. His personal promotion will be limited to groups in the tri-state area, and Washington — talks he can give while still working his day job.

Meanwhile, he’d love to write another book. But he has to find the right subject — and make sure much of the material is available on a thumb drive.

On the other hand, at the rate Metro-North is going, Aldrich may have even more time to write than before.

(For more information and to order Ted Aldrich’s book, click here.) 

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Posted in Categories, History, Media, Transportation

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Remembering Nicholas Rossi

Posted on January 2, 2022 | 3 comments

Nicholas Rossi — the World War II veteran who won the hearts of Westporters after moving here 3 years ago, and served memorably as grand marshal of last May’s Memorial Day parade — died peacefully yesterday morning. He was 99 years old.

Nicholas Rossi

Before his Memorial Day honor, I had the privilege and joy of interviewing him. Here is the story I posted.

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Nicholas Rossi’s mother did not want him to join the military.

Her first-born son, with 3 brothers and 1 sister, had just graduated from Long Island’s Oyster Bay High School. But World War II was raging. Her father had fought in World War I. Nicholas ended up in the infantry.

If he was going to be in the service, his mother thought, at least get a different assignment. Thanks to someone his father knew — he worked as a caretaker on an estate — Rossi ended up in the Army Air Corps.

After training in Texas, his 305th Bombardment Group of the 364th Squadron was assigned to the 8th Air Force Bomber Command in England.

They flew B-17 “Flying Fortress” bombers in the European Theater. Rossi was a technical sergeant.

Technical sergeant Nicholas Rossi.

“I was not a professional engineer,” he recalls from his home in Westport, where — age 98 — he lives with his son Paul and daughter-in-law Marguerite. “But that aircraft was like a baby to me.”

Besides taking care of the planes on the ground, Rossi flew multiple missions. Seated behind the pilot and co-pilot, he handled fuel and any mechanical problems.

The Germans “shot the hell out of us,” Rossi says. But he was never shot down.

He survived the war. Now — over 75 years later — Nicholas Rossi is the grand marshal of Westport’s Memorial Day parade, on May 31.

When the war ended, Rossi’s mother hoped he’d come home. But superiors suggested he stay after his discharge, and help locate and identify the remains of military personnel.

He spent the next 4 years in Liege, Belgium as a civilian, employed by the government with the American Graves Registration Command.

Nick Rossi, during wintertime service.

“It was not a nice job,” he says simply. But it provided closure for families, particularly those that traveled to Europe to reclaim their sons and husbands.

After returning to Long Island in 1949, he entered Hofstra University on the GI Bill. “They treated soldiers well,” Rossi says. After graduation he earned a master’s degree in industrial engineering.

A successful career in the furniture industry followed, with Kroehler, Thomasville and Lexington. As a manufacturer’s representative and regional sales manager — and with an intuitive sense for sales and business — he earned accolades and awards.

After more than 40 years — by then in his 70s — Rossi retired. He had more time for hobbies like golf (he’d won the Brookville Country Club championship, and played into his 90s), gardening, Knights of Columbus, Oyster Bay Italian-American Citizens Club, and the country club board.

He especially enjoyed his many grandchildren.

Rossi first met Betty Braun on the Long Island Rail Road, heading home from work. Married for 60 years, they raised 5 children — Paul, Christine, Caren, Carla and Peter — in the house he built in Mill Neck.

When Betty died 3 years ago, Rossi moved to Paul’s house in Greens Farms. Almost instantly, he became a Senior Center regular. He had a regular lunch table group (ladies flocked to him), and enjoyed chair aerobics, bingo, conversation groups and Dr. Paul Epstein’s mind/body sessions. All that is now on hold, due to COVID.

“He’s taken full advantage of Westport,” his daughter-in-law — and ardent companion — says.

“The war made him resilient. He just picked up, came here and rolled with it.”

Nicholas Rossi in Westport. He and his grandson Nick built this model of the B-17 bomber Rossi serviced and flew in during World War II. (Photo/Dan Woog)

Rossi also got involved with St. Luke’s Church. He met fellow veterans at the VFW. He especially loved watching his grandchildren Caroline, Charlotte and Nick perform as actors, musicians and athletes at Staples High School.

Even before he moved here, Rossi attended the Memorial Day ceremony at Veterans Green, where his grandchildren performed.

Later this month, he’ll be back for another parade, wreath-laying and “Taps.”

This time, it will be in a well-deserved seat of honor.

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Nick Rossi — the grandson and namesake of last year’s Memorial Day grand marshal — delivered remarks for his grandfather. It was a remarkable speech, one that deserves to be read today as we honor our friend, neighbor, and member of the “Greatest Generation.” Click here to see. 

Grand marshal/grandfather Nicholas Rossi, and his grandson and namesake. (Photo/Dan Woog)

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John Gould’s “Rusty Rainbow”

Posted on December 19, 2021 | 3 comments

Surviving the London Blitz taught John Gould perseverance and grit.

World War II was horrific. When John was 2 years old, his father was killed in the Royal Navy. Three uncles were wounded. Another became a prisoner of war.

At home in London, hundreds of planes dropped thousands of bombs, day and night. His mother, sister, grandparents, aunts and cousins sheltered with him in a cupboard under the basement stairs.

But they survived. Gould emigrated to the US. and settled in Westport. For nearly 3 decades he was a well-known arborist and piano player (including a stint with the Average White Band).

The war is now a long-ago memory. Yet it lives on in “Rusty Rainbow.” That’s a musical he wrote, and has worked on for over 2 decades.

John Gould, taking a break from work.

He’s still fine-tuning it — talk about perseverance! – but he’d love to be able to get it in front of people who can make things happen.

This would not be its premiere. Over 20 years ago —  on November 20, 2001 — it opened at the Ridgefield Playhouse. Westporter Louis Pietig directed; Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward and James Naughton, and Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple were in the audience. They loved it, Gould says.

Set in London in the aftermath of World War II, “Rusty Rainbow” tells the story of a little boy, found by air raid wardens on the roof of a bombed building.

Polly and Rusty dancing in the garden of Bluebirds Over Farm.
(Illustration by Dominique Gillain from John Gould’s “Rusty Rainbow” book)

“It’s the classic struggle of an innocent, pitted against a cynical world of greed and avarice,” Gould explains.

“But impossible odds and evil adversaries are no match for the musically gifted runaway orphan. Rusty — who thinks he fell off a rainbow — is assisted in his search to find the rainbow of his drams by the seeming magic of a ragman, his horse and a dog.”

Rehearsal for “Rusty Rainbow.” Paul Newman’s goddaughter, Keleigh Brockman, is the little girl sitting next to the snail at the extreme left.

Gould’s 25 songs weave the story together, in an uplifting, humorous way. Engaging and philosophical, they promote goodness and sensibility, harking back to an era when the world — having just defeated a great evil — struggles to become a better, safer place.

A few years after that Ridgefield Playhouse premiere, Jerry Bock — the composer and lyricist of “Fiddler on the Roof” — read the show, and heard the music. He told Gould it would make a great animated musical movie.

“Now, if only I knew how to do that,” Gould says.

Hey: He survived the bleakest days of World War II. It’s time for his “Rusty Rainbow” to shine.

He’ll find a way.

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Memorial Day: We Remember

Posted on May 31, 2021 | 4 comments

The photo below shows the World War II memorial on Veterans Green, across from Westport Town Hall, where a ceremony takes place after today’s parade (approximately 10:30 a.m.). Other monuments there honor veterans of other wars.

If you’ve been to a Memorial Day ceremony on Veterans Green, you know how meaningful and powerful it is. If you’ve never been: make this the year.

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Posted in History, Westport life

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