Soldier News - continued

Private Donald Peckham Reports for Duty

Bainbridge News & Republican, June 24, 1943

 



Private Donald C. Peckham, of the Enlisted Reserve Corps, son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles H. Peckham, of 24 Johnson street [Bainbridge, Chenango Co., NY], has been called for active duty and is reporting today at Fort Dix, N.J. for assignment.  He enlisted Aug. 12, 1942 at Cleveland, Ohio. 

 

Pvt. Peckham has just recently returned from Oberlin, Ohio, where he has completed the first semester of his Junior year at Oberlin College.  He graduated from Bainbridge Central School with the Class of 1940 of which he was awarded the valedictory honors.  During his school days at B.C.H.S. he was particularly interested in sports and music, playing baseball, basketball and tennis and serving as manager of the school football team.  He was a member of the glee club, band and orchestra and was the first drum-major to lead the High School Band. 

 

Donald will be the third member of his family to enter the Armed Forces.  His brother, Cpl. Rolland C. Peckham, is with the Weather Squadron somewhere in Arabia and his brother-in-law, Dale H. Wade, C.M. 1/C is located somewhere in the Pacific.   

 

Isabelle Smith to Serve as Army Nurse

Bainbridge News & Republican, July 1, 1943

 

Miss Isabelle Smith, R.N., of St. Luke's Hospital, New York City, has been a guest of her aunt, Miss Kittie M. Ellis, and of her sister, Miss Vera Jean Smith.  Miss Smith will leave soon for McCaw General Hospital at Walla Walla, Wash., having enlisted in the Army Nurses Corps with the rank of Second lieutenant.  Miss Smith is a graduate of Afton High School and St. Luke's Hospital; since completing her training she has remained on the staff as supervisor of the Orthopedic Ward.  Her two brothers, Sgt. Leland Smith and P.F.C. Lynn Smith, are serving with the A.E.F in North Africa. 

 

Leon Mott was Aboard Ill-fated U.S.S. Strong

Bainbridge News & Republican, July 8, 1943

 

Leon R. Mott, 18, was a Fireman First Class on the U.S.S. Strong which was reported sunk by a submarine Tuesday in the latest Solomons Naval battle.  His relatives have as yet received no official notice concerning his fate but since most of those aboard were rescued, it is believed he too may have been saved. 

 

He is the son of Mrs. Ralph Mott and the late Mr. Mott, of Bainbridge R.D.1, and enlisted in the Navy in January, 1942, during his senior year at Bainbridge Central School.  He was home on a furlough June 4th and then left to board the ill-fated ship.  He has a younger brother, Charles R. Mott, whom has just completed boot training at the Sampson Naval Training Station.

 

Sgt. Edward Peckham Missing in Action

Bainbridge News & Republican, July 1, 1943

 

Tech. Sgt. Edward Peckham, 24, serial gunner in U.S. Army Air Force, and son of Mr. and Mrs. E.J. Peckham, of Bainbridge [Chenango Co., NY], R.D.3, was reported missing in action by the U.S. War Department in a telegram to his parents which arrived here Monday morning.  Added to the startling shock of the sudden news of Sgt. Peckham's disappearance was the fact that the report arrived less than one month after his departure for duty overseas.

 

The War Department's announcement, the first of its grim kind to cast its shadow on Bainbridge, stated that young Peckham had been missing in action since June 26 and that his parents would be notified immediately of any further information that might be obtained.  It is assumed here, however, that Tech. Sgt. Peckham was on his first bombing mission, presumably over Germany, as he has been stationed in England since leaving the States a few weeks ago.  His post of duty was as aerial gunner in the top turret of the big bombers which have been blasting the Axis for so many recent weeks.  He had full charge of all the instruments in his plane and had received many commendations from his Army instructors for the excellence with which he handled his work.

 

Ed, as he was known to nearly everyone in Bainbridge, entered the service of the U.S. Army in April of 1942 and was primarily stationed at Keesler Field, Miss., Seattle, Wash., Las Vegas, Nevada, Kearns, Utah, and Boise, Idaho. At each camp his training in the intricacies and skill of aerial gunnery was advanced.  From the very first his work was considered above average.  In every course taken during his entire period, Sgt. Peckham's average was above 90 percent.  Promotion was rapid and he soon rose from the crowded ranks of the Army private.  A few weeks before leaving for active duty he was promoted from Staff Sergeant to Technical Sergeant and Engineer. 

 

So remarkable was his training record that he was repeatedly asked to remain in the United States as an instructor at Keesler and Las Vegas.  Despite this Ed insisted on going overseas for combat duty with his outfit and so was allowed to go with them.  In the latter part of May, immediately after spending three days on a final six-day furlough in Bainbridge with his family, Sgt. Peckham was part of a group which flew the ocean to England.  From this point news of his whereabouts was as certain as any news of our overseas boys can be.  Letters received here revealed that he was stationed in England and little else.  Mail delivery being so delayed today, the Monday  news of Edward was even more surprising since his latest letters arrived in Bainbridge that same morning telling of his being safe and well. 

 

Everyone in Bainbridge who knows Ed and his much-respected parents joins in with Mr. and Mrs. "Jack" Peckham, not in sorrow but in the fervent hopes that their son's name will turn up either on the lists of prisoners of war or of those rescued at sea.  On the far flung battlefields of this global war, hundreds of our boys, especially fliers and their crews, have been discovered months after their disappearance in action.  Today, anything is possible and nothing is certain until proved.  The news cites as an example of this the disappearance of Pvt. James Mulwane, another local boy who was also reported missing in action on the North Africa battlefront last Nov. 30.  Young Mulwane, later turned up safe and sound, a happy example of what we can all hope will prove the same with Ed Peckham.  Popular with young and old, prior to his Army career, he graduated from Bainbridge Central High School, Class of '38 and attended the Cornell University of Agriculture for two years.  He made many lasting friends among the students of both schools.  On the football team at school he displayed the same fearless fighting courage and the same splendid clean sportman's attitude which was later to make him push aside the chance of an Army instructor's job with a safe future in the States to enter into the thick of the fray with the comrades he trained with and, when the entire story comes out,  it can be sure that the same fighting spirit with which he carried the pigskin for B.C.H.S. held him ready and strong in the much grimmer game of war.  There will be no elegy in these paragraphs for Sgt. Peckham, only our united prayers for speedy news of his discovery.

 

Edward's family, in addition to his parents, includes three sisters, Mrs. Alene Smith, of Ripon, Wis., Miss Norma Peckham, of Bainbridge, and Mrs. Helen Eckert, of Andes, Miss.; and a brother, Bruce Peckham, of Bainbridge.  Tech. Sgt. Peckham's engagement to Miss Amen Vawter, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W.E. Vawter, of Juliand street, was recently announced. 

 

Hope Remains for Two Boys Missing  in Action

Bainbridge News & Republican, July 22, 1943

 

Hope is in the hearts of all residents of Bainbridge for the safety of Leon R. Mott, 18, of the U.S. Navy, reported missing in action in a telegram to his mother, Mrs. Ralph Mott, from the Navy Department, early Tuesday evening; also for the safety of S/Sgt Edward L. Peckham reported missing in action about three weeks ago.

 

Leon was a Fireman First Class on the U.S.S. Strong which was sunk two weeks ago Sunday in the latest big naval battle at the Solomons.  It is reported that the Strong was screening other ships when struck by a torpedo from a Jap submarine.  The survivors were picked up by the Quinn which later was also sunk. 

 

The young seaman enlisted in the Navy in January 1942, during his senior year at Bainbridge Central School.  He was home on leave shortly before Christmas and upon his return boarded the new destroyer Strong, which apparently had been serving with the Pacific Fleet since February of 1943.  He had been on the Strong since it was commissioned in August.

 

He received his boot training at Newport, R.I., and attended service school in Norfolk, Va., and New York City.  His younger brother, Charles, also of the U.S. Navy, is stationed in New York City.