Last year, I focused on this day, at this time – and how it was inextricably linked to WWI and the Armistice signed to end the fighting for that “War to End all Wars”.\u00a0 In many ways, we still mirror that time, including a world struck with a global pandemic.<\/p>\n
Just as we are meeting here today, Judge A. Demorest Del Mar spoke here in 1938.\u00a0 Del Mar was a lieutenant in the Navy during WWI and he said to those assembled: \u201cWe fought to retain that which we value above all earthly things \u2013 liberty.\u00a0 We will fight again and again to preserve it if necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, those words would become true too soon.<\/p>\n
Today, I wanted to take a little time to talk about Teaneck\u2019s WWII veterans and specifically the way Teaneck was molded by their service.<\/p>\n
Over the course of WWII there would be over 10M Americans called up to service. The first major wave<\/a> including many from here in Teaneck. I\u2019m sure, most people are familiar with popular portrayals, such as \u201cSaving Private Ryan<\/span>\u201d, where 4 four brothers went off to fight from a single family.<\/p>\n That happened here.\u00a0 In Teaneck, the Busund brothers all left on the same transport in 1942, along with over 100 other boys from our Town.<\/p>\n Mr. and Mrs. Busund lived not far from here at 75 East Forest Avenue.\u00a0 Their sons, Niles, Harold, Ralph, and Ernest all said goodbye to their parents at the same time.\u00a0 There was a fifth Busund brother William that would be called up later.<\/p>\n This was NOT a rare occurrence.\u00a0 The Fader\u2019s who lived at 102 Genesee Avenue sent Fred, Sigmund and Leo.<\/p>\n One of the first heroes of WWII to return home was First Lt. Arnold “Skid” Johnson who flew the flying fortress during the war.\u00a0 During his last mission, the bomber was sent up over Rabua in Papua, New Guinea.<\/p>\n Another hero was the first Teaneck youth to become the Holder of the Distinguished He was Lt. Joseph B. Boyle who lived at 539 Standish Road.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n On that first mission, he was a co-pilot on the Flying Fortress dropping bombs on German factories in Lille, France.\u00a0 After the mission, Nazi fighters killed the pilot of his plane and half a dozen Nazi planes swarmed in an attack.\u00a0 You may be familiar with the WAVEs or WAACs<\/p>\n Women like Marjorie Peto from Sussex Road spent 3 years as a nurse overseas.\u00a0 Emma Florence Smithers of Bedford Avenue, Ensign Mary Birch of Warwick Street and Lucille Graf of Chestnut Ave were accepted as a WAVEs (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service)<\/p>\n Margaret Roemer, of Roemer Avenue, Ruth Martin of Fycke Lane and Sally McCracken, who graduated Teaneck High School before serving in a hospital in England volunteered through the WAACs (Women\u2019s Army Auxiliary Corps).\u00a0 Sally attended the Teaneck Presbyterian Church before shipping out.<\/p>\n Her Chaplain at the Teaneck Presbyterian Church at the time was Rev. Reginald Rowland.\u00a0 He left on August 9th<\/sup>, 1942 to be an Army Chaplain, a position he also held in WWI.\u00a0 Other churches also lent personnel to the war effort.\u00a0 Rev. E. George Bayer of the Teaneck Methodist Church also went to serve as a chaplain.<\/p>\n World War II swept many changes to our town in its wake and like the times preceding it, in large part, Veterans permanently changed the look of our town.<\/p>\n There was a need for immediate help as members of our uniformed fire and police departments reported for war service.\u00a0 Someone still needs to put out the fire. Teaneck developed the Defense Council and staffed departments with vets from WWI that had the requisite experience to help.<\/p>\n Seaman Franklyn Rothe was on a ship in the Pacific when it was attacked.\u00a0 He was set drifting in a life preserver for 12 hours in freezing waters after the ship sunk and was miraculously rescued by another ship.\u00a0 While recuperating in Massachusetts, his training proved helpful when a fire broke out at a Boston night club.\u00a0 He assisted the survivors through his emergency squad, which was first on the scene.\u00a0 He was a lifelong Teaneck resident and his brother, Clarence was still a 17 year old at Teaneck High School when he volunteered for the fire auxiliary to make up for those that left to serve in the armed forces. Of course, life keeps going for those left behind and changes had to be made to accommodate those that left.\u00a0 No area of life was unaffected, be it education, town planning, or even parks and recreation.<\/p>\n Fire, police, and nearly every aspect of the town were impacted.\u00a0 Volunteers would take up the slack, as we geared up for years of war.<\/p>\n There was concern that between an army base and NYC, we would be a target here in Teaneck for the enemy to attack. The town had to practice blackouts, where even the streetlights were painted black to obscure our existence from the enemy.<\/p>\n Try to imagine what it\u2019s like when people start leaving all of a sudden in every walk of life.<\/p>\n The Board of Education had to scramble when two members of the coaching staff were transferred to Uncle Sam \u2013 Tommy Della Torre was the coach of the winning Teaneck football team in 1941, but someone still had to keep time at the football game after he got 1A.<\/p>\n Roy Thompson, age 35 was a coach for the Bergen College Baseball team until his enlistment in the Seabees, a US Navy force that would help in engineering issues at airbases.<\/p>\n Even if you wanted to escape the war at the local movie theater, you first had to deal with the missing staff.\u00a0 John Maher, who lived on Chestnut Ave was an usher working for his dad until he was called up.<\/p>\n Every area of life was upended because war required people from every area of life.\u00a0 Take Albert Hirt, a 33-year-old pharmacist from Maple Street, he became a pharmacist’s mate, second class, serving the troops.\u00a0 He said goodbye to his brother Julian, who was drafted shortly after Albert enlisted.<\/p>\n Raymond Wild was Superintendent in charge of parks here in town. A graduate of Teaneck high school with a wife and a son, he was sent to train pilots as a wing adjutant & cadet captain in the Army Air Corps. Teaneck\u2019s first Commissioner, Lacey Walker would say goodbye to his son, John Walker as he became Private First Class as a technician fifth grade.<\/p>\n Everyone was affected.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Paul Zitelli went overseas and his dad Joseph operated a shoe store on Cedar Lane.\u00a0 He saved 300 lbs of rubber to donate to the war effort.<\/p>\n The auxiliary police department created under the Teaneck\u00a0 Council continues to this day.<\/p>\n One of the veterans that served under the defense council command was Charles Andrew Wild from Woodbine Street.<\/p>\n He was a 45 year Teaneck resident and vet when WWII started and was put in charge of all Civilian Defense programs.<\/p>\n Of course, the look of Teaneck and its single-family homes would need an update for all the returning GI\u2019s.<\/p>\n Prior to WWII, you wouldn\u2019t find many apartments here in town.\u00a0 If you were a returning vet, that meant a need for housing and additional housing meant significant changes.<\/p>\n Like most times that vets came back, returning vets in the \u201940s weren\u2019t, at least at first, presented with top-notch accommodations.\u00a0 \\<\/p>\n But this being Teaneck, we rose to the challenge.<\/p>\n In 1946, when vets were returning from service in need of new places to raise their families, State Street was looked at for multi-family housing. \u00a0The Patterson Plan caught the attention of Teaneck\u2019s leaders.\u00a0 The plan contemplated permanent housing rather than temporary housing, as long as the State money was used to back up private funds in constructing apartment houses.\u00a0 It gave our vets a real apartment to live in, instead of makeshift temporary housing — and a chance to start their lives here.<\/p>\n Mrs. Mockel, a resident on Palisade Avenue came to protest just one point – that the Teaneck girls that served deserved apartments just as much as the boys.<\/p>\n By 1948, Veteran\u2019s housing was approved on Palisade Avenue and the Veterans’ Housing Committee was working feverishly to ensure everything went as smoothly as possible.<\/p>\n As I end, I\u2019d like to mention one last Teaneck WWII veteran named Dr. Walter Farr of Griggs Avenue.\u00a0 Dr. Farr was commissioned as major in the Army medical corps.<\/p>\n He came back in 1945 and was honored by the Mayor, Council, and other visiting dignitaries, often speaking of his service.\u00a0 He said at the time:<\/p>\n “So today let us not forget that the greatness of America is not an accident but the result of our national honesty, energy, and ideals.\u201d\u00a0 He said that America must remain strong \u201cso that she can lead, not lift the other nations, of the world to a higher plane of living a higher standard of international dealings and toward Peace on Earth. Good Will to Men.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s my hope that as we honor those veterans that served for the ideals Dr. Farr described, we recognize the work that lays before us locally and as a nation<\/p>\n I\u2019m proud to say that Teaneck has always been so thankful, both in word and deed towards our veterans. We give thanks that such soldiers lived and we will continue to honor the debt we owe you, both by welcoming you here in our town and by celebrating the sacred freedoms you risked everything to protect for us.<\/p>\n Thank you, all.<\/p>\n
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<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a> \u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>Six Japanese fighters attacked and four had closed in on him.\u00a0 The fight went on for an hour and he shot two of them down.\u00a0 His co-pilot was struck in the chest and the tail gunner was killed.\u00a0 They shot out one of the engines and riddled the gas tank with 40 holes in the Fortress.\u00a0 A second engine went dead as they tried to land and successfully navigated to safety.\u00a0 He was 27 years old when he came back home.<\/p>\n<\/a>Flying Cross, the Air Medal, and the Order of the Purple Heart with an Oak Leaf Cluster.\u00a0 for valor beyond the ordinary call of duty. After being shot down, recuperating and returning to active service, he downed 10 Nazi planes in 10 minutes in one battle and was held as a prisoner of war by the Nazi\u2019s until he was released towards the end of WWII.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a>Joe was wounded, along with two others but still managed to take over the controls.\u00a0 He brought the huge ship away from the enemy and while wounded, navigated back to his base.\u00a0 His face was cut up from bits of debris from the ship’s windshield and one leg was badly torn.\u00a0 In the hospital, he was met by Brigadier Generals and others who were amazed at his heroism.\u00a0 But the one that literally nursed him back to health was his nurse, Ruth Varnum, a Teaneck girl from Sherman Avenue, who went overseas to take care of the wounded in France.In fact, there were many women involved in the war effort from Teaneck and beyond.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>As part of the war effort, the government rationed food and labor &<\/a> transportation shortages made it hard to move fruits and vegetables to market. Victory Gardens were encouraged for people to make their own food locally.\u00a0 Property with such a garden sold in Teaneck could only be transferred after the harvest.<\/p>\n