|
The news is rather sad
Next year, 2009, would have marked the centenary of the Chapel of St.
Sebastian, the YMCA/Service Club, Raymond Hall, and post HQ.
They will not be around to mark their hundredth anniversaries. Until
recently, it was still feasible that most of the above buildings might be preserved in some way. Now it has been decreed, all the buildings will be demolished by Oct. 2008. The city of New Rochelle
owns the property, and this is what City Council, meeting in closed executive session, decided unanimously on 4 Dec. 2007.
The Rodman Gun will remain. The water tower will tumble sometime
this year. [In fact, 9 September. See below.]
The process began in 2005 and was expected to last until 2013. The
overall process included study, and public debate, and an abatement process to consist of some mixture of demolition and preservation. But demolition picked up tremendous
momentum in the meantime.
Early in the process I mused: what implications would
future visitors to the island draw (say after 2013) if all that remained physically
were aspects of Fort Slocum’s (brief) coast artillery phase, simply because they were too cumbersome to remove? Wouldn’t the tail end up wagging the dog?
That is exactly what will happen, but as early as 2008. The
flagpole, the seawall, the remaining mortar batteries, the Rodman gun, the benches, the light poles, the roads (though covered
over by leaves) and (yes) the little brick garbage shelters behind O row will
remain.
All that will be left of a thriving village with a history of occupation by the U.S. Army, and Air Force, spanning
a century.
Everything else, including the main items with historical significance, will be swept away. Some of it has already. The last remaining WWI building
(possibly the last remaining anywhere) was quietly carted to the dump in 2006.
All the NCO housing disappeared by 2007. All the 20th c. barracks
are gone, and what remained of the docks. Likewise the three oldest buildings,
the 1878 duplexes on O Row.
As I write this (on 6 Feb.) Quarters 1 is still standing. So is
post HQ, along with the northern half of O Row; the Hospital/Chaplain School; Raymond Hall; the Chapel of St. Sebastian; the
unique 1880’s barracks (and the mess hall) designed by George Hamilton
Cook (which included the Cold War Chapel Center, possibly the only building in history to house five separate houses of worship
under a single roof); and Margaret Slocum Sage’s YMCA. Until recently
it was still debated whether and how these buildings (such as they remain) might be preserved in some fashion.
As of December, all debate is over.
The news has just broken however -- after two months. Read Ken Valenti’s article, “All Buildings on Davids Island to Go,” The Journal News 2 Feb. 2008; online at http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008802020363.
Update, 9 September: at about 10h30, the water tower was pulled down.
These are historic times. In 1884 then QM Capt George Hamilton Cook (the Christopher Wren of Davids' Island) built
the first water tower, marking the first island-wide water system. It was pulled down in 1929 when the metal tower
we all knew was put on-line. So for the first time in 124 years, it is no longer possible to see a landmark water tower
from the shore. Soon the last building will be entirely demolished. This will be the first time since
before the Civil War that no structures at all will be visible on Davids' Island from the mainland.
Barbara Davis, the New Rochelle city historian, was among the witnesses to this event. She notes
that when the tower came down, so did a half-full bucket of paint that someone had used to paint "NAVY" on the tower years
ago.
Dunno, used to hate that Navy sign. Wouldn't mind seeing it back though . . .
As the song says: "Preserve your memories. They're
all that's left you."
One silver lining is that besides our memories, our collection of photos,
maps and documents continues to grow. The collecting season of Summer 2008 produced a real trove, from photos of post
CO's (including some that used to hang on the wall behind the CO's desk in WWII); some detailed contemporary histories
from WWII including org charts; some unexpected photos of buildings, and one really unexpected outstanding photo of
the WAC detachment marching in Central Park in 1944, which may turn out to the the first photo ever of the Duckworth
Chant in action.
The web list of Ft. Slocum Alumni &
Friends began in Feb. 2003 and has snowballed to more than 80 members. We are a motley collection of ex-GI's,
Army brats, mommies (daddies alas have tended to die) and also local Westchester County residents who also are attached to
our old island home. Over that time members have contributed their own photos and anecdotes. In addition, there
is a flourishing trade on eBay of Slocum items, mainly postcard views but some physical artifacts too. In
2004 we found a trove of digitized journalistic accounts of Davids' Island and Fort Slocum from the 19th
century onward that fill in, around maps, photos, and official records (from the National Archives and other public
sources) a sense of the texture of post life. I would say, conservatively, we now have upwards of 5,000 images.
I myself have finished about 4 of a projected 9 chapters of a full-length history of Davids' Island and Ft. Slocum.
Early in 2005 plans
were put into motion by the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers to demolish the remains of the post by 2013. (See next page.)
Beginning in March a series of public meetings was held to work out a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA). On 11
August a groundbreaking ceremony was held by the freight dock (bldg. 106). Our network is not
a formal signatory to the MOA but we do have an advisory committee on this issue and are participants in the process,
particularly with respect to the necessary documentation and historical preservation.
In 2006 many buildings were demolished. As of early 2007, plans were
in place to begin demolishing as many as 30 more structures. And now, of course, by the end of 2008, all the rest
will be gone.
The full history of Davids' Island including
its nearly century-long occupation by the Army has yet to be written; but it seems safe to say it was something
like "the Ellis Island of the U.S. Army." It was a hospital for both Federal and Confederate soldiers (and a prison
camp for the latter) during the Civil War. From 1878 through 1922 it was a major recruit depot; in WWII it
was a staging area for shipping troops to the European Theater of Operations. It was home to a series of Army schools.
Across its historic docks have passed hundreds of thousands and more, some obscure, some notable. Gen. Abner Doubleday
was CO in 1866, with one 2/Lt Arthur MacArthur under his command. In 1880 it was visited by Secretary of War Alexander
Ramsey, Gen. of the Army William T. Sherman, and Maj/Gen Winfield Scott Hancock, commander of the Department of the East.
Frederic Remington sketched there in the 1890's; in 1902 it was the second assignment out of VMI for 2/Lt George
C. Marshall; in 1905 the "Dook of Ft. Slocum," the Hon. Arthur Reginald French, later 5th Baron de Freyne, was
there as a Pvt. in Co. A, 8th Inf.; Eleanor Roosevelt and Francis Cardinal Spellman visited in 1951. As Phil Reisman
(a Westchester journalist who has covered Davids' Island over the years) put it in an article earlier this year, it
has been "a crossroads for several generations of soldiers sent to fight Apaches, the Spanish and Germans" --
not to forget the CSA nor the NVA.
On the subject of press
coverage in 2005, in addition to Phil's article above, and some coverage in the New York Times, Ken Valenti also published
in the Journal News an article drawing on some of his interviews with our members: Joanne (Gebhard) Geer, daughter
of the WWII post chaplain; Doug Looney, journalist & instructor at the Information School 1963-65; Richard
Lowery, radar operator with the Nike battery 1958-60; and Bob Sisk, a retired NCO and son of the long-time Chaplain School
1st/Sgt who lived on the island 1951-58.
We
also welcome our allies in the Coast Defense Study Group (CDSG; visit them at www.cdsg.org) who have provided lots of information about the post. Briefly around
the turn of the last century Davids' Island hosted 2 batteries comprising 16 mortars, 2 more batteries with 5" and 6"
direct fire guns, and several other guns including a formidable 15" Rodman gun which remains even today on the island.
There is perhaps no one alive who remembers those days when little Fort Slocum was positively fierce. It was not always
the tranquil campus we remember. (See the current Slocum Features page for more on the artillery.)
The Chaplain School was at Slocum from
1951-1962. After several changes of organization and venue the U. S. Army Chaplain Center and School is now at
Ft. Jackson, where the Chaplain Museum (founded at Slocum in 1958) is also. Their web site is www.usachcs.army.mil. Chaplain (Col.) Chuck Gibbs (Ret.) maintains a weblist
for retired chaplains; those associated with the School are invited to email him at cgibbs1@bizsatx.rr.com.
From 1951-1965 the Information School
(variously known as the Army Information School (1946-48, 1954-64), Armed Forces Information School [1948-54], and Defense
Information School [1964-present]) was also at Slocum. They too have moved a bit but are now at Fort George G.
Meade. Their alumni association is at www.dinfosalum.org.
The Spanish-American War Centennial website has kindly agreed
to host two articles about Fort Slocum during that war, which will also soon appear in the beta version of The Fort
Slocum Reader. "How the Private Fooled the Captain" first appeared in the Washington Post in 1904; it
concerns the 22nd NY Volunteers, stationed at Fort Slocum during 1898. It may be read at http://www.spanamwar.com/22newyorkdance.htm. "War Kites at Glen Island" first appeared in the New York Times in 1898; it concerns the experimental
bombing of Fort Slocum and an early attempt at aerial photography. It is at http://www.spanamwar.com/warkites.htm.
Harold Crocker, a long-time Westchester
resident whose parents were married in the post chapel in 1946, maintains a Ft. Slocum website at http://www.geocities.com/hcftslocum/index.html. Phil Buehler, a Manhattan photographer and filmmaker with an interest in documenting
modern ruins, has posted (note: now, 2 separate Davids' Island groups: 1998/9, & 1983) some of his photos
of the island at http://www.modern-ruins.com/attractions/davids.html. Rob Yasinsac of Tarrytown, who also has an interest in historic ruins in the region, has posted
some photos on his website www.hudsonvalleyruins.org. Marie Lorenz, a Brooklyn-based artist, runs an idiosyncratic "taxi" service using small boats she builds by
hand; one such run, out to Davids' Island recently, is documented on her website, http://www.marielorenz.com/inprogress/?p=1212. Tito Rosario, former San Juan coffee merchant (now living in Richmond, VA) and
former resident of Quarters 23A, started a Slocum chat room on his website, http://gicco.com/Slocum/chat.html. He has added a blog feature:
http://www.gicco.com/wordpress/.
George Willhite, who was at the Info School in the
early 1960's, organized the first Slocum reunion in 2006. This year's reunion took place on 13 Sept.,
and involved a trip back to the island. You can contact George at Slocumreunion@aol.com. Harold Crocker has posted
photos of that trip at http://www.flickr.com/photos/fort_slocum/. Bill Waterhouse is trying to organize a larger reunion for 2009; contact him at slocumreunion@yahoo.com.
For the Brat constituency:
many of us will know the classic novel and film, The Great Santini, by Pat Conroy. If Conroy is the godfather
of it all, the reigning doyenne of brat studies surely must be Mary Edwards Wertsch. Her pioneering work,
Military Brats: Legacies of Childhood Inside the Fortress, is a must-read. Where Conroy's
portrait of Lt/Col "Bull" Meecham is bitter, Wertsch's take is deliberately bittersweet:
there are upsides and downsides, and all sorts of ongoing tensions (destructive, creative), to growing up Brat and then to
living the rest of one's life outside the fortress. Full of insights into culture and social relations (e.g.,
different attitudes to regulations by officers & NCO's and how NCO's often become master of the master) as well as
to the development and maintenance of identity. Cf. also Wertsch's blog, http://bratblog.brightwellpublishing.net/. Wertsch's fortress metaphor also informs the recent film by Donna Musil, Brats: Our Journey Home, sometimes
informally known as the "bratsfilm" (cf. http://www.bratsourjourneyhome.com/). See the website for screening dates around the world; it is also available on DVD.
Current as of 2 October 2008.
| Our first Dalmatian, |
|
| Ryo (1991-2004). RIP |
The Doxie Chicks, Brunhilde & Maggie, are no more.
But we now have Hans, aka Hansel. Born in April 2005, he is a brown but slightly
dappled "Kaninchen Teckel," meaning "bunny Dachshund" -- even smaller than Brunhilde & Maggie,
who were miniatures. We didn't know they could get any smaller! But at 5 1/2 pounds, Hans is fully grown.
Dachshunds were bred as badger hunters, but the "Kaninchen" can't handle something as big as a badger -- only
as big as a bunny.
Already though he has his first duelling scars -- thanks to Griffin.
And now the passing of a living link to Fort Slocum -- sort of. Griffin (aka The Mighty Hunter,
scourge of all rodents; and a few small dogs) died on Thursday 24 January 2008, aged about 15. He was too young
to have been born on post! But he was a gift in 1993 from SFC Arley & Wilma Griffin, old friends of our family
from Slocum days. When we left in 1960, we gave them our cocker spaniel, Victor, who in turn had been given to
us by Col. Edward Donahue, commandant of the Chaplain School, when he left in 1957. This sort of thing happened
before; in 1942 Lt/Col. Walter McCord was transferred from Slocum to Brooklyn, but brought his bulldog Spike back
to live on post with M/Sgt William Everitt because the dog would have a better life at Slocum. Probably so.
It was a good place for dogs. (Spike was still there by late 1944 by which point Everitt had become Provost Marshal
at Slocum.)
Well: it was a good place for dogs, mostly.
When Victor moved in with the Griffins, I hope
he steered clear of Sgt. French's cat, who lived several doors away. Max O. ("Maxo") French, 1st/Sgt of the Nike battery,
had a fierce cat as territorial as any dog. One day a hapless dog crossed the line into French's yard; his
cat leaped off the porch & mauled the dog. Turns out, the dog belonged to the post C.O. who was furious: just
imagine! An NCO cat, assaulting an officer's dog! But the Colonel was powerless to do anything; for
the Nike battery was not under the garrison.
Today, of course, Sgt. French’s
cat is gone. So is the manicured yard he defended. So is the post, the orderly little village that sheltered us. For now,
there’s but a dog in the manger, and so far he’s not budging.
|
