Postscript:Camp Miles Standish

Camp Miles Standish closed the year of Alveda and Ziggy's marriage: 1946. 

It was decommissioned January 11th  and it  closed in one day.

All of the civilian workers were laid off in that one day.
There was a brief span of time when Taunton officials tried to get the Camp
 to be the location of the newly founded United Nations.

 That, as we know, did not work out.

                                                              The Echoes of Legacy

The over a million and a half service American and Allied men and women passing 

through the Camp were from :

17th Field Artillery Brigade

20th Fighter Groud

26th Infantry Division

29th Transport Squadron

34th Tank Battalion

372nd Military Police Company

395th Infantry Regiment

452d Bombardment Squadron (medium)

361st Fighter Squadron

49th Troop Carrier Squadron

501st Infantry Regiment

555th Signal Aircraft

57th Fighter Group

5th Ranger Battalion

68th Armor Regiment

70th Infantry Division

95th Infantry Division

99th Bombardment Wing

III Corps

30th Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop

167th  Engineer Combat Battalion

                                     A little spot in Taunton  played a pivotal role in WWII.





   To memorialize those from Taunton who made the ultimate sacrifice in the war an Honor Roll was placed was erected and for years had pride of place on Taunton Green.  The dedication was photographed by Alveda and here is that photograph.... date unknown.  That little boy looks familiar.....

For $1 in 1953, the state purchased the Camp, and on Oct. 26th of that year, former presidential candidate and Governor of Illinois, Adlai Stevenson, with  other dignitaries
 and Governor Paul Dever of Massachusetts  presided at the dedication of

The Paul Dever School for  Disabled Youth. A crowd of over 5,000 was present.
 The School was built at a cost of $10, 200,000.
 Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Becall were also present, remembers one of our readers who was there.
In  2002  due to changes in state policies, Paul Dever was finally closed and now its shuttered remains have joined those left by the Camp.

In 1973, the City of Taunton purchased 700 acres of the old Camp area to establish
the Miles Standish Industrial Park.

.......

Acknowledgements:  Sources:

*Wikopedia:  Camp Miles Standish

*Archives of Alveda and Zigmund Napieralski as shared by their daughter Shelley Au

*70th Infantry Division Association website: History and Remembrances of 

*Jim Koller- Remembrances of Camp Miles Standish- 64 Years Later
http://www.trailblazersww2.org/units_276_accounts_jkoller2.htm

*Archives: Taunton Daily Gazette online:
http://www.tauntongazette.com/news/x872933419/PRISONERS-IN-TAUNTON-Dr-Hanna-to-tell-story-of-WWII-POWs-at-Camp-Myles-Standish

http://www.tauntongazette.com/news/x1831798596/Overflow-crowd-turns-out-to-hear-history-of-Camp-Myles-Standish
History Of Camp Miles Standish and Prisoner of War Experience 1943-1946 review
of presentation by Dr. William Hanna, Taunton Historian and author History of Taunton.
Many of Dr. Hanna's quotes were used in these posts.

*The Taunton Public Library, Reference Department.


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Coming: interim posts as I prepare for the telling of The Origins of the people of the Village.
Welcome to any and all who wish to help with their family history in this regard,