Jim Nolan's Blog

Veterans Day, Part II

Two years ago my son Edward and I visited Sara Curry's grave in Plains, PA and put a metal Gold Star Mother gravemarker next to the headstone. Sara lost her son Lt. John V. Curry in WWI (and her husband Gilbert to lighting in 1899) and is an incredible example of courage and strength in the face of adversity. I know the members of the Plains American Legion, including my friends Bob and Bobby Corcoran, will once again honor our vets and Sarah as they do every year. 

102 Henry Street, Revisited

Eddie and I visited my great grandmother's old house on a snowy day in March, 2010. I'd gotten the address from correspondence between Sara and the Army Quartermasters Corps after her son, Lt. John Curry, was killed in action in 1918. We knocked on the door, not expecting anyone there to remember Sara or John. No one was home, but I was wrong about anyone remembering the Currys.

The week after Christmas, 2011, Eddie, George and I went back to 102 Henry to meet the Corcorans. Bob's dad bought the house from Sara in 1939, and Bob knew all about Sara and John, and knows all about the history of Plains as well. That's Bob, George, Ed, and Bob's son Bobby in the photo. We're so happy we got to meet them. Click to enlarge.

1906 Letter Found in 1873 Teacher's Handbook

Below is a letter from "Mayme" to my great grandmother, Sara Curry, dated August 2, 1906. That was about eight years after Sara's husband Gilbert was killed by lightning, and 12 years before her son John was killed in the Battle of Cantigny in France. The letter was folded up in "The Teacher's Assistant, or Hints and Methods in School Discipline and Instruction" by Charles Northend (Sara was a teacher in Plains). It was one of the Curry books left in the house that Bob Corcoran kindly gave me yesterday. I wonder what Mayme's referring to when she writes on page 3: " I have something to tell you when I return. I would not trust it to paper." Guess we'll never know. Click on any page to enlarge image.

David McCullough on Bastille Day

Illustration by Ross MacDonald for NY Times.

Great salute to France by two-time winner of Pulitzer Prize McCullough (Truman, John Adams, 1776) in today's NY Times. He mentions that two million Americans served in France in WWI and 800,000 in WWII. Sixty-thousand of them remain behind, buried in French cemeteries, including my great uncle Lt. John V. Curry, First Army 28th Infantry. When my great grandmother, Sara Curry, went on a Gold Star Mother Pilgrimage to visit his grave, she and the other mothers and widows were treated like royalty by the French. In a book about the Pilgrimage, the author writes that our unfriendliness with France today would have been inconceivable to that generation.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/14/opinion/14mccullough.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

 

Memorial Day

My father's uncle, Lt. John Curry. He's buried in the Somme American Cemetery outside Bony, France. John was 22 when he was killed in action.

Should Frank Buckles Lie in Honor in the Capitol Rotunda?

The Times had an article today about whether or not the last WWI doughboy should lie in honor in the Rotunda, as his family is requesting, in recognition of all WWI veterans. I'm for it, because the sacrifices of our soldiers in WWI are all but forgotten in this country. They weren't forgotten in 1919.

My grandmother, Isabel Curry Nolan, saved this booklet in her scrapbook. (Click on an image to enlarge.) Lt. Curry was her older brother. The Souvenir Program mourns the lives of 18 vets from their community. You can listen to John's story by clicking below. And John's mother's story by clicking below that. 

Click here to hear May 28, 1918  

Click here to hear Sara Curry Is Grateful

Gilbert V. Curry, Killed by Lightning

My great-grandfather, Sara Curry's husband, and Lt. John V. Curry's father. He was killed by lightning walking through Plains, PA after a funeral. We had heard growing up that his last words were "Don't worry, it'll blow over," but we figured it was apocryphal. Then I read the 1899 newpaper account. His actual words were, to a man walking beside him predicting severe weather, "Pshaw, you're no weather prophet." Then he was stuck dead.

102 Henry Street, Plains, PA

Sarah Curry's grandson's grandson stands in front of the house she lived in when she wrote the Quartermaster Corps regarding her son Lt. John Curry's burial in the Somme American Cemetery in France. She and her husband, Gilbert, who was killed by lightning in 1898, are buried in the Irish section of Sacred Heart Cemetery not far behind the house. Their family's still going strong.

Our own pilgrimage

 Sara Curry's great great grand children visit the Somme American Cemetery in 2007. The cemetery is about a three hour train ride from Gare du Nord to Saint Quentin and then another 20 minutes or so by taxi to Bony. This is the same route traveled by Sara in 1923 and 1930, only the directions back then recommended traveling from St. Quentin "by motorcar." Lt. Curry is one of 33,000 Americans buried in Europe who died in WWI. Over 100,000 American troops were lost in the war.

"I have returned to my home safely"

From Graham's excellent Pilgrimage of Remembrance: "Most of the pilgrimage activities took place in France. At the time, France and America were common allies, bound together by the losses and sacrifice both had experienced in the war. The French were grateful for America's support during the war, and the French eagerly welcomed the Gold Star Mothers to France. Today's ruptured relationship between France and America would be impossible for the Gold Star Mothers and their hosts to understand." Sara adds "and gratefully" to her sign-off. But 80 years later, we're the ones who are grateful to her, still.