Friday, January 17, 2014

"NO NEED OF DOING ANY WORRYING..."

My great-grandparents, John Allen and Frances Sabin Gould, had five sons. Four of them were active in World War I (the fifth, Gardner, was exempt from overseas duty; his engineering position at US Naval yards near Boston was considered vital to security):
          Allen (see last week’s post), member of the Cleveland, Ohio Cavalry;
          Richard, Naval aviator;
          Howard, sailor on a submarine chaser; and
          Prescott, Sergt. in the Massachusetts Cavalry.

The Goulds had a “Sons in Service” flag hanging in their window at 1206 Boylston Street; red border, white field and four blue stars – one for each son in active service.

Almost all of them came home.

 Prescott Wilder Gould was born in 1894 in Newton Upper Falls. He attended grammar and high school in Newton, then Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He played ice hockey in school, succeeding his brothers, who had made a name for themselves as the well-known “Gould trio” (Gardner, Richard and Allen) on the varsity hockey teams of both Newton High and MIT.

He enlisted with Co. C of the First Cavalry (Massachusetts), going with them to the Mexican border to chase down the infamous Pancho Villa; his brother Allen, in Ohio’s Cavalry, was also there – the brothers managed to meet up in El Paso!

Company C later merged with the Machine Gun Battalion; Prescott was shipped overseas to France in September, 1917.

The Goulds were all prolific letter-writers. Family members at 1206 wrote daily to their sons/brothers in uniform, and the boys wrote back as frequently as they could.

Prescott wrote in January, 1918:
Dear Ma, Received your letter...also one from Pa... came yesterday along with the three boxes. Certainly was a fine collection of eats and smokes and wish you would thank all concerned...I haven’t wanted for sweet things for the past few days...

And later:
Dear Ma...don’t feel worried about Dick’s flying. I’ve seen so many planes floating around over here that they don’t attract my attention any more than a fliver would... guess he was born to be an aviator...

And in March:
Dear Ma...have just had a shower and a complete change and just about at present feel as if I could knock the stuffing out of the whole German Army...

And then in April:
Dear Ma...the men are so well protected that it is mighty seldom anyone is hit...provided they stay where they belong and I’m one of the best little fellows at doing that you can imagine, so you see there’s no need of doing any worrying on my account...

But on the 21st of May, 1918, Prescott’s grandmother, Roxanna Sabin, wrote in her diary:
Terrible news came to night that Prescott is dead in France...

Prescott was  buried in Grave 15 of Plot B, Row 8 at St-Mihiel American Cemetery in Thiaucourt, France; his mother, Frances Sabin Gould, visited his grave as a Gold Star mother in the 1930s.

The family established a memorial stone in the family plot in Newton, one that I've visited many times over...tucked in among the members of his family: 

In Memoriam
Prescott Wilder Gould
Sergt. Co. C. 102nd M.G.B.
Died in France
May 16, 1918

Aged 24 years

35 comments:

  1. Oh how sad Prescott's family must have been upon hearing the news of his death!

    I love how you included snippets of his letters in this beautifully written tribute to him.

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    1. I can't imagine having four of my five sons off fighting in that awful war...three of the four came home, and, from what I understand, their mother considered herself lucky...

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    2. Deb,

      I want you to know that your blog post is listed in today's Fab Finds post at http://janasgenealogyandfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/2014/01/follow-friday-fab-finds-for-january-24.html

      Have a great weekend!

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  2. I was so hoping, reading through all those communiques, that Prescott had survived, but knew, really, from your hint ("Almost all of them came home") that he had not. Still, one keeps hoping anyway, darn it!

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    1. I know. That thread of hope just keeps you hanging on! No, Prescott never came back. Howard died in his 30s, but the others (Richard, Allen, Gardner, who was my grandfather) I remember well...they were all fun, charming men!

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  3. I am touched by having read your relative's reassuring words to his family, and then the sad news that he died in the conflict. So sad. But it does make a touching story, and you've written it well.

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    1. It is sad, isn't it, Barbara? The family got three or four more letters from him after he'd died...the mail took about three weeks from France to USA. Can't imagine how hard that would be to read...

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  4. I had never heard of a “Sons in Service” flag hanging in the window. It is terrific to still have the letters that Prescott wrote.

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    1. It was part of that "patriotism" encouragement, I think; one of those awful things governments do to instill pride (or something) in folks who are "contributing to the war effort" by sacrificing their children...will we ever learn?

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  5. Another life lost at such a young age.

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    1. I know, Bob. It's endless, isn't it? I sound old and grim, I guess; but...

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  6. He looks so confident in his picture, and his letters seemed so confident that he was safe, though he actually wasn't.

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    1. They all seem to have "that look," don't they? Even now; even when I look at photos of soldiers today, they have "that look." And they're still not safe, are they?

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  7. Such vibrant letters unfortunately not quite the 'best little fellow' for dodging a bullet. Sad such a lovely smile never returned. I had never heard of a Gold Star mother until I looked it up now, amazing.

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    1. My great-grandmother thought the Gold Star was kind of an insult, actually...as if that star could ever compensate for her loss. Tough stuff, Joy, isn't it?

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  8. A beautiful tribute and how sad that Prescott died just a few months before the end of the war - what a waste of a fine young man. Your story reminds me of my own Danson family where five sons served (and two died), but it was good to read your story from an American perspective. I too had never heard to the "Sons in Service" flag - I don;t think we have adopted anything like that here.

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    1. The Sons in Service Flag may be a strictly American thing. And Gold Star Mothers might be, too. Is there a family anywhere that hasn't been touched by war?

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  9. Thanks for the story. Loved the letters home, so personal a post.

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  10. Those letters break my heart -- so cheerful, so positive!

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  11. What a lovely but sad post. We pass through Northern France often. If I'm near the cemetery I will go and look up his grave as it's good to have one that you know something about, amongst all the hundreds.

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    1. Oh, that would be absolutely wonderful! I'd love a photograph...and wouldn't THAT make a great Sepia Saturday post...Sepians connecting, helping each other! Thank you so much...

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  12. I had a horrible feeling where this post was leading and I knew I would be sad when the news came too. How awful for your grandparents; all those reassuring and positively chirpy letters (he wasn’t alone in gulling their loved ones for fear of them worrying too much), and then the devastating news.

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    1. A scenario that repeated again and again, I'm sure, all over the world. What a dreadful time!

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  13. Oh man. Here I was thinking "what a great guy, a great son, a great brother" and then I got to the end of this post. But he got to chase Pancho Villa -- he had a real adventure in his too-short life.

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    1. He did have great adventures, Wendy -- my goodness, living in that house in Newton with his brothers (and one lone sister) was probably adventure enough...it was pretty chaotic!

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  14. Such a positive attitude with such a sad but predictable outcome, when his luck ran out. Americans seem to be much more patriotic than Australians for example, you don't see national flags flying outside people's homes here like you commonly do over there, and we also don't use flags to mark the graves of those who served.

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    1. We're not so much displaying "love of country" (patriotism) as we are displaying "love of violence and war...." I DO appreciate living in the USA, believe me, but I think we need to rethink our obsessions with guns, violence, and aggression in sports; must be the Quaker part of me!

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    2. I don't have any Quaker parts but I agree totally. Such a terrible waste of a promising young life. And it just goes on and on.

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  15. A fine post. You give us a dramatic peek into history with a personal connection. thanks.

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    1. That's the nicest thing to say, thank you! I've always thought that history is about the everyday people, which is what makes it personal...

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  16. Dear God.That Is So Sad.Prescott's Letters Were So Full Of Love of Others:Optimism:Hope......What Fine Young Man.

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    1. He really was, Tony, a fine young man (such nice words -- thank you!) The whole thing is sad -- from A to Z -- and it happens over and over again.

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  17. It echoes much the post I wrote, young men trying to sound reassuring and brave, yet Destiny would have it otherwise, sadly...
    24!!! A pity...

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    1. It's a sentiment a lot of us share, TB! And I'm not so sure about "destiny;" I think it's more about terrible moral and ethical choices we make...

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