WORLD WAR II

While at Law School during our first year, we had to register for the draft as the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor and the US became a participant in WWII. I registered in Boston and requested that my records be sent to East Providence. I was fortunate enough to escape being drafted for two years. Anthony Coelho who owned a drug store almost exactly across the street from my father’s liquor store, was a member of the draft board in town and in the summer of 1942 while I was in the drug store he mentioned that my name had come up at a meeting. Someone mentioned that I had been seen playing ball- my records indicated I had a broken leg. Very shortly thereafter, just before I was to start my last year on August 22, 1942, I reported for duty at Fort Devens, MA.

Normally troops were furnished clothing and shipped out to basic training camps within a week. Because of a shortage of clothing in my size, I stayed there for almost a month. On the 2nd or 3rd day, I was sent to the kitchen for KP (Kitchen Police) Duty, which was a job I certainly took no liking to. That night in our barracks I got to talk to a fellow who said he worked in the company “post office” and that his helper was shipping out the next day. He “invited” me to join him; no one questioned my right to be there, as he needed the help. The biggest part of the work consisted of forwarding mail to the men who had been shipped out. I stayed in the “post office” until the clothing in my size arrived in the middle of September and I was shipped to Camp Pickett, VA for Medical Basic Training, which I assume was “logical” for a law student, at least by military standards!

Basic training at a medical training center consisted mainly in getting every soldier in good physical condition, together with classes in first aid. The 1st Sergeant of the company to which I was assigned was a former gym teacher, and when he found out that I was one of the most educated men in the company, we became friends and from whom I learned the “ropes.” On more than one occasion I asked him why he hadn’t gone to Officer Commissioned School, but he never gave me an answer.

In December of 1942 after completing basic medical training I was granted a furlough, went home and while in RI I became engaged to the woman who was to become my bride in 1944. While at home I did visit the summer home that my parents had recently purchased on Platt St. in Bristol Narrows.

Sgt. Mitriga helped me in many ways and steered me to an Officer Prep School at Camp Pickett after which I returned to his company as an acting corporal until I left for Camp Berkeley, TX for OCS in June 1943, and from which I graduated as a 2nd Lieutenant, Medical Administrative Corps on August 18, 1943.

I attributed my success at OCS to Sgt. Mitriga. He loved to drill his men which he would do as often as possible and from him I learned and became a drill master, which I believe helped me at the OCS. Our company commander at OCS had made a remark I never forgot. While in formation the first day he remarked, “Look at the man on your left, now look at the man on your right. Now remember this, one of you won’t graduate!” Sometime later he started calling out some of the men to drill the company, or instruct the company in some movement. When it was my turn, I was told to form the company to pitch tents. Previously most of the men had been called to instruct a comparatively simple procedure. To pitch tents, I had to spread the men out in a special formation requiring 3 or 4 basic moves. The commander was standing behind me as I addressed the company, after the first commands, I turned to him, saluted, and said I could go no further because the men did not have their backpacks with the tents. He told me to bring the men back to their regular formation and then said I was to return the company to our barracks, and he left. As soon as he got out of earshot, a few of the men started to congratulate me for my work- not one of them said he could have done the job that I had done in remembering all the movements of the formation. From that day I became the person to whom all questions concerning drill formations were directed- and almost every night I was asked to go out and help teach someone in drill. I wrote to Sgt. Mitriga and thanked him for what he had done in helping me to do well in drill. I never heard from him until one day in Germany just a few weeks before the war ended, a 2nd Lieutenant Mitriga reported to me, the adjutant of the 327th Medical Battalion as a new officer for the battalion! Quite a reunion!

After graduation from OCS, I received a 7 day leave after which I was to return to Texas to report on August 30, 1943 to the 327th Medical Battalion of the 102nd Infantry Division which was at Camp Maxey near Paris, TX, near the OK border, so I was home for only 4 or 5 days, spending a few days of my leave on travel. The last leg of the trip was by bus to division headquarters, from where I was driven to the Medical Battalion Headquarters, and then to Company B where I found a captain sitting at a table on which there were a pile of papers. After saluting, giving my name, I asked what were my duties. He replied, “I am Captain Forejt, (I learned how to spell his name later), the company commander. You and I are at present the only officers, so you are the supply officer, motor officer…”, and he ran off a list of at least a half a dozen other duties! We became the best of friends- need I say more?

Boston College Law School

The summer before I broke my leg, my parents rented a home for the summer on King Phillip Ave. in Bristol Narrows and it was there that I really became interested in Odie. I had first met her at her 18th birthday party at the Oak Hill Tennis Club near their home in Pawtucket. And later we got to know each other better! While I was at BC Law and she was at Regis College in Weston, MA, she would come into Boston occasionally and we would meet.

The apartment that I occupied with my PC classmates, Dick Maciejewski and Bill McGair, was an old brownstone building on Newbury St. with a 3 window bay (where we each had a desk), a double door, a non-working fireplace, all with wooden frames that at the top were wide enough to be used as shelves. For several weeks there was a price war on liquor and a fifth or a quart of whiskey could be purchased for the price of a pint. We were able to buy at least one bottle a week and before going to bed we would have a drink or two. We would place the empty bottles a window, door, or fireplace frame, and our collection grew in numbers. One Sunday afternoon, Odie and her parents dropped by before driving her Regis. I don’t know how I survived as a potential son-in-law after they looked at our collection of empties!

BASEBALL

While living my younger years at Prospect St., I have never forgotten how the street in front our home was the playing field for all games. Across the street in front of our home lived the Covill family with 12 or 13 kids! I could never get their names right! But I can never forget Mrs. Covill. She would come out on the porch to call them in for supper, from the oldest, George, to the baby, Herbert, all in one breath! We played baseball and football on the street, and kick the can, and hide and seek, sometimes with as many as 20 kids or more!

I like to think I was a normal youngster, and loved most sports- earned letters in baseball and football at East Providence High School, from I graduated in 1936. The president of the dramatic society, Charlie Viall, whom I had known from first grade invited me to join his group when they needed a “coach” for one of their plays. I made my debut on the stage, and later had parts in more plays, and in one I got to sing the National Anthem on radio! I also took part in a couple of productions for our church- in one Passion Play and also sang a solo in one minstrel! I played sandlot baseball in a twilight league while I attended Providence College and Sunday Catholic Youth Organization ball with our church team. I also played softball as a member of the East Providence Fireman’s team, having been induced to become a “volunteer” fireman so as to be eligible to play in a league comprised of teams from different branches of the town government. In July of 1940, the year I graduated from Providence College, I broke my left leg while sliding into a base during a game while playing with the firemen. I was on crutches for several months, even after I started my studies at Boston College Law School. I spent the first two weeks in a 3rd floor room about three blocks from the Law School, near Copley Square. What a time I had on crutches! Luckily I met two former Providence College classmates and they found a larger apartment on Newbury St. on the first floor and we roomed together for two years until I was drafted into the Army.

I have never forgotten one incident as a ballplayer – David mentioned the Red Sox “Buckner” incident that brought it to mind. In the CYO State Semi-final championship game, playing second base, an apparently easy ground ball to me went through my legs allowing the winning run to score and eliminated us from the championship tourney- we lost 3 to 2. I had some consolation (?) however, I scored one run early in the game and later batted in our second run before I made the error!

The Early Years

At the request of David, I am starting to what may termed as an autobiography.

I was born on January 14th, 1918 on the second floor of a tenement house owned by my father at 64 Prospect St., East Providence, RI, the last house at the southwest corner of Prospect St. and Orchard St. The house is no longer standing, having been eventually purchased by the Holy Ghost Beneficial Brotherhood (HGBB) and later demolished for use as extra parking space for the club. I mention the name of the club as my father served as an officer, eventually president. It was the first Portuguese club in East Providence, and a stepping stone for my father who in the early 1930's was elected Supreme President of the Portuguese Fraternities, which at that time was comprised of Portuguese clubs in several states including, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, Ohio, Illinois, New York, California, and Washington, D.C. The Club served as the place where Masses were held until the St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church was built, and in which my father was an original founding member and served as trustee for many years until his death.

My parents were both natives of the Portuguese Azorean island of Faial (or Fayal.) My father was born and lived in Praia de Norte (North Beach) and came to the US at the age of 14 in 1902- at that time no one under the age of 12 could work here. My mother was born July 2, 1889. Maria Jose Costa came to the US when she was 12, born in the village of Pedro Miguel (Peter Michael), near the city of Horta, which was the capital of the island. According to maps I have seen they lived no more than five miles from each other, yet never did I find out if they knew each other as children! As I write this I wish I could offer more information about my parents! So I'm thankful to David for asking me to write my history.

My father boarded with a relative in East Providence and started working as a farmhand. I later discovered he stayed at the home of Louisa Maciel Cordeiro who was a cousin, but I do not know the relationship. He was living a short distance from the Grove Avenue School and started learning English at night school. I attended Grove Avenue for four years starting at first grade before transferring to the A.P. Hoyt Grammar School, then onto Central Junior High before East Providence High School, graduating in 1936. He later opened a small grocery store at the corner of Orchard St. and Purchase St., a block from the HGBB and 4 blocks from where the Portuguese church was built- an area that had a large number of Portuguese families. The store became successful, and as his younger brothers Harold, Joseph, and Frank came to the US, they joined him and later moved to a larger building on Warren Ave. and for many years it was the largest grocery store in town until the first A & P and then later other supermarkets came to town.

My mother came to East Providence and also stayed with some relatives. I know she worked in a local mill for a while, then became a maid to a Providence family- a lawyer with two daughters, at least one of whom was a school teacher. She stayed there until she married. They taught her to read, speak, and write English. I mention this because all my life the language in our home was English. I only heard Portuguese spoken when relatives or friends visited and the language was spoken by them.

I now recall that my father once told me that he worked for a while as a chauffeur for a lawyer. Could it have been the same lawyer for whom my mother worked, and how they met? Or did they know each other from their younger years in Faial?

In my father's notes, I found references to his parents who arrived in Providence from Faial on July 25th, 1920. I was too young to remember their visit and I might have mentioned somewhere in my notes that while here he worked on the stone wall around the Rumford [Newman] Congregational Church and Cemetery.

When I was less than one year old my parents purchased a home at 29 Prospect St. where we stayed until 1939 when they built a new home at 229 Mauran Ave. My Uncle Frank who served in the Army during World War I lived with us until he married. My Uncle Harold and his wife, Maria Estacia moved into our former tenement with my father's sister, Frances and her husband, Anthony Gomes, both of whom later purchased homes in the same area. Harold bought a home at 47 Prospect St., a few doors from our house and eventually had four sons- Frank, Anthony, George, and Harold. Frank was a few months younger than I, and we started school together and were classmates until we graduated from high school. But there were differences- I played baseball and football, Frank was a tennis player and captain in his senior year- as was Tony, two years later. I played tennis with them a few times when they were looking for someone to beat up! They seldom played each other- they fought too much!

Frank and I were altar boys at the St. Francis Xavier Church for almost nine years until we quit while in high school, although we used to enjoy serving funeral masses during the week and then going to school late- with valid excuses!

When I was less than one year old my parents purchased a home at 29 Prospect St. where we stayed until 1939 when they built a new home at 229 Mauran Ave.

Now Mickey, named Anthony after my father (who Anglicized his name from Antonio when he became a citizen), called Junior through his younger years, was a great brother. I grew up in the Babe Ruth era and had followed his career with the New York Yankees, and became a lifelong Yankees fan. In 1927, the Yankees came to play the Providence Grays of the old International League. Junior (as he was then called) was able to convince my father to buy two tickets so we could see the great Babe and the Yankees, and I saw the Babe hit a home run- when I was nine! It wasn't until I came home from World War II that I found out that Junior had become Mickey! Odie [short for Odette, his wife] had told me that during the war a song named "Mickey" had become quite popular and he began to sing and whistle the song so much that everyone started to call him "Mickey."

Earlier I mentioned the grocery business started by my father began to run into problems after the chain markets came into town. My father sold his share to his brothers and joined some friends in the formation of a loan and bank business, until the Depression just about ruined the business. Shortly afterwards in 1932, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected President, liquor Prohibition ended and my father owned and operated a liquor store until his death in 1958. Mickey had attended Providence College for one year but dropped out to work with our father which he inherited after my father's death and operated until his retirement when he sold the business.