Ken thought that we would like to read this story posted on their site.
A Veteran’s Day Story: Three Pals from Siwanoy School
By Kenneth G. Kraetzer, Jr. Sons of the American Legion, Pelham NY
Pelham, N.Y., November 9, 2006
Siwanoy School is a place of fond memories for me. Mostly I think of countless hours on the playground playing softball and basketball, but this Veterans Day I will remember the story of three Pelham youngsters who grew up in the same neighborhood a generation before.
As anyone who has attended the Pelham Memorial Day ceremonies knows, each year the names of all town residents are read who have given their lives in the continuing fight for freedom. American Legion Post 50 and SAL 50 wanted to take as many of those names as possible and learn the stories they represent. Some time ago, a long time resident gave me a note briefly describing 23 Pelham residents who were lost during World War II. A few days ago, I reviewed the note and from research on the Internet was able to add some additional
details to three of these stories.
Pelham, located in the close in suburbs near New York City, is one of the rare places which has not changed that much since the 1930s when my mother’s family lived there on Witherbee Avenue. Back then, Maurice “Mo†Collette, Bertley Moberg, and Eddie Potter were close “pals,†growing up as neighbors near Siwanoy School. Mo was “An Outstanding Scholar,†skipping four semesters at Siwanoy and graduating from PMHS at the age of 16 with my Mother’s class of 1938. He was an avid golfer at the Pelham Country Club and later at Princeton, where he earned a degree in 1942.
"In the mid-thirties,†the note recalled, “Collette, Eddie Potter and two other pals took tap dancing lessons from Jim Kennett, who later abandoned show business ambitions to become the successful editor-publisher of the original Pelham Sun which had been founded by his father, Thomas M. Kennett. Bertley and Eddie were members of the Huguenot Memorial Church. Bertley graduated from PMHS in1941 and Eddie with the class of ‘42.â€
When WWII broke out, the trio went into military service along with over 1,000 other Pelham residents and headed in different directions. Collette joined the US Army in 1943, and trained at Camp Hood, Fort Benning GA, and Fort McClelland. He was sent overseas in November of 1944 as a Lieutenant and aide to the commanding general of the 80th Infantry Division. Moberg became a pilot, trained to operate a B-17 “Flying Fortress.†He was assigned to the 20th Bomber Squadron, 2nd Bomb Group Heavy, known as the "Defenders of Liberty" which flew missions out of Italy into Germany and Eastern Europe. Potter became a US Marine, training for action in the Pacific.
Sadly, tragically, heroically, the three friends from Siwanoy were lost in service to our country in far away places around the world:
Just a month after arriving in Europe, Collette was reported seriously wounded in action at the German counter-offensive known as the “Battle of the Bulge,†near Bastogne, France. On March 9th of 1945 the Standard Star reported that his parents had been notified by the War Department of his death on December 24, 1944. In a sense, Lt. Maurice K. Collette remains in service; he is interred overseas at the American Military Cemetery in Luxembourg.
On March 14, 1945, Moberg was co-pilot on a B-17G, serial number 44-6428, on a mission to bomb the Szony Oil Refinery in Hungary. The plane was hit by flak and the number two engine of the four-engine bomber caught fire. Four parachutes were seen before the plane exploded and crashed near Tata, Hungary. The American Legion honored Flight Officer Bertley A. Moberg, U.S. Army Air Forces, during the WWII 60th Anniversary Ceremony Post 50 conducted last May at the Florence American Cemetery in Italy. His name is listed there on the Wall of the Missing.
Potter served in the largest amphibious assault during in the Pacific Theater of Operations –
the invasion of the island of Okinawa. Running from late March through June of 1945, conditions on Okinawa were brutal and the fighting was intense. Private First Class Edward Dawley Potter Jr., United States Marine Corps, was one of 12,520 Americans killed or missing in the conflict, which also saw 36,631 Americans wounded. It was the last battle of WWII. Potter is listed as having died on June 27, 1945. He was awarded the Purple Heart and is honored at the Honolulu Memorial in Hawaii.
Post 50 and SAL 50 will honor all veterans and current military members at its annual Veteran’s Day Ceremony on Saturday November 11th at Pelham’s Veteran Park on Fifth Avenue starting at 11 a.m. I will salute them all, especially three friends from Siwanoy School.
The American Legion, with 2.7 million members, is the world's largest veteran's association. The Department of New York is one of The American Legion’s largest state organizations with 1,003 local “Posts†and membership of more than 170,000 Legionnaires. Post 50 in Pelham, N.Y., commanded in 2006-2007 by Phillip Perrorazio, has served as a Fleet Week host the past four years, organizes Pelham's Memorial Day parade and a variety of other veteran's and community support projects. In 2005, Post 50 SAL 50 initiated and conducted ceremonies commemorating the 60th anniversary of the end of WWII at the American Battle
Monument Commission military cemeteries at Florence and Nettuno Italy.
Proud Daughter of Walter (Monday) Poniedzialek
540th Engineer Combat Regiment, 2833rd Bn, H&S Co, 4th Platoon
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