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VETERANS DAY
November 10 - 11, 2021 | Bradford Publishing Co.
Elmer DeLucia
Alexis captured by Germans in World War II
DeLucia served in five major battles E
lmer DeLucia – Army - 81st Chemical Mortar Battalion. DeLucia was in five major battles: Normandy, Northern France, Ardennes (Battle of the Bulge), Rhineland and Central Europe. He has been honored with Presidential Citation for D-Day, three Purple Hearts, two Silver Stars, five Bronze Stars, five Major Battle Medals, a Chevalier in the Legion of Honor in France and a Good
Conduct Medal. DeLucia remembers himself as a scared kid as he recalls June 6, 1944, D-Day and storming the beach at Normandy, later to learn three of his best friends did not make it. October of 1944, in France, he was wounded in action. December of that same year he was in the Battle of the Bulge and has strong memories of the freezing cold. The morning
of March 21, 1945, at the Wachenheim encampment, 45 Purple Hearts were earned in 10 minutes when German planes attacked; DeLucia was hit by machine gun fire. In World War II DeLucia gave of himself, lost a brother, saw another badly injured and still willing says he would do it all again.
Veterans Square continued from 1 Pennsylvania National Guardsmen from Bradford joined in the fight alongside 250,000 enlisted men and 11,000 officers. Three hundred and seventy nine men died, including four men from Bradford (although they died of disease, not combat). The war lasted ten weeks. The Treaty of Paris was signed in December, 1898 and consequently, the United States acquired Spanish possessions Puerto Rico and Guam and bought the Philippines for $20 million dollars. In 1912, after lying at the bottom of Havana Harbor for years, the USS Maine was raised by U.S. Army engineers and a commemorative plaque was commissioned by the Navy. Only 1,200 plaques were cast from the actual metal recovered from the USS Maine and these were only given to Spanish American War survivors and patriotic groups. One of those groups was Bradford’s Camp No. 54, United Spanish American War veterans. The memorial tablet is made of bronze, and has several patriotic symbols embossed on the surface. In the background of the plaque can be seen the mast and remnants of the USS Maine. World War I Memorial This large, hexagonal monument in the square was dedicated on May 13, 1919 in honor of the soldiers, sailors, and marines from Bradford who had fought in the Great War. The monument was the first of its kind to be erected in the city and was designed by W.H. Dennis of the Tuna Manufacturing Company. It has six ionic columns of granite litholite (a manufactured stone resembling
granite), a copper roof (although it appears that the original copper roof has been replaced), and litholite steps. Originally, between each column were six glass panels under which were suspended the names of the officers and men on corrugated metal. The officers’ names were on the panel which faced west, toward the then-St. James Hotel (now Emery Towers) and the other five panels held the names of all the enlisted men. During its dedication, Mayor Herman North declared that “the tablet would be lovingly and reverently cared for” but over the years it fell into disrepair, the glass panels broken, and the names scattered by vandals. In 1954 it was even suggested that the monument be demolished, and a flag pole put in its place! By 1998, it stood empty, abandoned, and derelict. But then, retired Navy commander and World War II veteran Vince Goodrich decided to step in and restore the monument. His plan was to identify the names of all Bradford area fallen veterans from both World War I and II and display them on a refurbished monument. It took two years to raise the money and gather all the names but Goodrich persevered and the ‘new’ monument was rededicated on May 31, 1999. Today, tempered glass shelters the names of those from the Bradford area who were killed in action during World War I and World War II and ten grave markers from each war that the United States has fought in. World War II Honor Roll An Honor Roll, dedicated to the
soldiers fighting in World War II was unveiled in 1943 in the center of the square. It was announced on Dec. 7, 1943 – on the anniversary of Pearl Harbor – that the Exchange Club of Bradford intended to erect a large ‘outdoor billboard’ that would commemorate the service and patriotism of local servicemen and planned to put this ‘honor roll’ somewhere in the city where everyone could see it. City Council suggested the public square and this idea was met with wild enthusiasm. When finished the honor roll was 20-feet wide and eight-feet high with names posted on both sides so that they could be seen from both Main Street and Parker Place on the square. By the spring of 1943, over 2,500 men and women from Bradford and McKean County were serving in the armed forces. By dedication day, May 16, there were 2,525 names listed. Those lost in the war were marked with gold bars. A rainy dedication day saw thousands of people in the square, watching as Mayor Hugh Ryan accepted the monument for the city. “These names are inscribed by an artist’s brush, but they are also inscribed with the blood of victory.” The Honor Roll stood in the public square until March 1954, when its deteriorating condition made its removal necessary. The Korean War Memorial and the Vietnam War Memorial This memorial, right in the center of Veterans Square, honors those who were killed in action in both the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. The Korean War memorial faces Marilyn Horne Way, and the Vietnam War Memorial faces Main Street.
Each is on the reverse of the other. The Korean War Memorial reads: “Dedicated to the men and women of McKean County who fought to preserve the freedoms of humanity for all ages to come and to show devotion to these honored dead.” The stone is engraved with the names of those died in the Korean War from Bradford, Duke Center, Eldred, and Kane, and gives their branch of service and the date killed in action. The Vietnam War Memorial is on the other side. It reads: “Dedicated to the men and women who served their country and to pay homage to those who made the supreme sacrifice to preserve our freedom and our way of life.” It contains the names of those died in Vietnam from Bradford, Hazel Hurst, Ormsby, Smethport, Port Allegany, Eldred, and Kane. Their branch of service and the date killed in action is also inscribed. Both were erected by the Disabled American Veterans, McKean County Chapter 72 and Eldred Chapter 56 and dedicated in Nov. 5, 1983. Keynote speaker U.S. Rep. William F. Clinger Jr. noted “not the end, but the beginning.” Msg. Thomas D. Maholic Memorial A small monument facing Main Street marks the memorial to Green Beret Thomas D. Maholic, who was killed on June 24, 2006 during Operation Enduring Freedom when his patrol unit came in contact with enemy forces using small arms fire during a cordon and search mission in Ghecko, Afghanistan. A Bradford native, he was 38 years old. The stone was placed in the square on June 24, 2016, the tenth anniversary of his death.
Pvt. E.J. Alexis
P
vt. E.J. Alexis, Co. B, 2nd Bn, 110th Inf. Reg. 28th Division, was captured 12 Nov. 44 at 3:15 p.m. in the Hürtgen Forest in Germany. In the next 5 ½ months Alexis marched over 500 miles, road in German boxcars, was used as a stretcher bearer for German’s wounded, was captured and released by the German Army and twice by our Army! Alexis survived, at the time, the worst winter (1944-45) in years in
Europe, as he marched with fellow G.I.s from a prison camp in central Poland back to Germany. Finally released in late April 1945, Alexis went to college, seminary and served over 35 years as a Lutheran Pastor. For 32 years he remained in the US Army Reserves, retiring as a “Full Bird” Colonel. One of his many highlights was interviewing “Ike” for what was to be 5 minutes, but ended up to be a half hour “visit” at Ike’s orders.
WORTH W. SMITH H A R D WA R E
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