Tri-Counties Genealogy & History by Joyce M. Tice World War 2 Memorials  Bradford County PA Chemung County NY Tioga County PA

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Wyalusing Rocket March 1, 2007  Celebrating the End of the War in Stevensville, PA O happy day! In a celebration from yesteryear, eight Stevensville youngsters marched around the neighborhood banging pots, shaking sleigh bells and waving American flags in celebration of the end of World War II. They include (left to right): Marlene Smith Gregg, Marcella Jayne Whitney, Dorothy Wilkinson Layton, Musette Jayne Kingsley, Philip Pease, Charles Pease, Beryl Smith St. Clair and Luke Vande Mark. The photo was sent to us by Dorothy Layton of Laurel, MD, who said the date was probably Sept. 2 or 3, 1945, to celebrate V-J Day (Victory of Japan). Submitted by Carol Hoose Brotzman

Wellsboro Agitator, March 25, 1942, p.3
Letter From DeWitt C. Smith
Tioga County Friends Will Be Interested to Hear From Him
 
D.C. Smith, of Wellsboro, writes from Trenton, NJ, as follows:
We read war news, we hear it through the radio, we talk about it and we dream about it. What are we doing about  it, or what can we do about it? Memory takes me back to when I was in my sixth year, and I stood by my father's knee and heard him read that Fort Sumter had been fired on. I sure was not old enough to comprehend what it meant, but as I saw and heard the alarm on the faces of and in the words from older ones, I knew that it was something out of the usual. As the war continued, and I came to be a little older, I clearly recall the feeling I had, in wishing that I was old enough to go to war.
 
Now I read and listen, to a war which encircles the earth, and I take notice of my years, and I am confronted with the fact that I am too old to be of any use. Again, I do feel, believe it or not, that I wish I was at an age which would allow me to go. In my slight knowledge of actual warfare, I feel that I would like to go, and would want to have my rifle, and show what I could once have done with it. While I have no sons to go, I do have five nephews who are in service, or in training. My nephew, Lt. Col. Paul R. Smith, is in the Post at Tampa, Florida. He will be remembered as a student in the Wellsboro High School, graduating with the class of 1908. He was president of the class, and has made good all the way along.
 
I have another nephew, Wayne Smith, son of brother Charles, who is serving on a submarine, but I surely do not know where he is located, and am not sure as to whether his father, or even his wife know. Dale Smith, who has taught in Morris the past several years, is in training camp in Illinois. Two others, Howard D. and Russell, sons of brother Eugene, of Kane, PA, and of Walter, of Geneva, NY, respectively. These two are in training camps, but I do not know where at present.
 
My coming to Trenton to spend the winter with my daughter, Elsie, Mrs. Floyd Lowell, and family, has meant much more than I anticipated. On Feb. 3 [1942] she, with three other women were in a collision and all four were seriously injured. Elsie came out of it with a broken wrist, and several bruises; not serious except the broken right wrist. The driver of the car had one arm broken in two places, several serious cuts about the face and head. The collision occurred as they were passing a bus standing, and a careless driver darted out from behind the bus, and with no time to even apply the brakes there was the collision. The driver had a slight cut in his lip, was not financially responsible and had no insurance. With this accident to my daughter I surely am glad that I could be here with two hands and two feet in working order, and able to be of some slight assistance.
 
I have recently received what has brought a degree of satisfaction. In my younger days I recall the fact that I had a first cousin, William H. Smith, much older than myself. While I was a small boy he was a young man and a law student, later an active attorney in Wellsboro. Some years later he removed to Lincoln, Nebraska. When I came to the courthouse in 1902 I was told by such men as Judge Niles, Judge David Cameron and Hon. Mortimer F. Elliott that William Smith was a promising young attorney when he moved away from Wellsboro. Evidently he was in the same class, as to age as the notable men mentioned.
 
During my term in the treasurer's office William H. Smith came back to Tioga county on a visit, then quite an elderly man. He passed quite some time with me in the Treasurer's office. Memory reminds me that one of his experiences was the fact that he was at one time dean of a law college in the University of Nebraska.
 
He took pride in the fact that one of his students at the law college was John J. Pershing, who was at the time beginning to gain some fame. The world has since come to hold in high admiration General John J. Pershing. The memory of what my cousin William Smith said has lingered, and when I have heard, or read of the famous general, my mind has been carried back to what I had been told.
 
In a recent issue of a Trenton newspaper I read an article, a part of which I quote: "General John J. Pershing, 81, white-haired, but still square of jaw and erect, sits in a two room suite at Walter Reed Army Hospital and reads the war news." Another paragraph reads: "He said in 1918 that unless the Allies exacted unconditional surrender from the Germans, the time would come when the bloody conflict would have to be fought over again?" Then passing over several other paragraphs, I find this: "Although he spends considerable time with his comrades of first world war days and in extensive correspondence with older friends, Pershing lives in the present as well as with his memories. By a special act of Congress his name was never removed from the active list." Much more is added of present day acts and words of this famous man.
 
With the memory of what my cousin, William H. Smith, had related to me, the reading of this article gave me the courage, or inspiration, whatever it was, to write General Pershing, reminding him of what I had been told several years ago. In a very short time I received a reply, the last paragraph of which I quote: "I was on duty as Professor of Military Science and Tactics at the University of Nebraska, in Lincoln. I attended the College of Law and was graduated with the class of 1893. At that time William Henry Smith was the Dean and President of the faculty of the College of Law." -D.C. Smith

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Published On Tri-Counties Site On 11/05/2006 By Joyce M. Tice Email Joyce M  Tice You are the visitor since the counter was installed on 05 NOV 2006