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Thank You

I was just reviewing our Amazon book sales page and saw 5 books sold so far in September.  That was a lot of books but what surprised me was that they were all to one person.

3 were the “Heroes of Frankford High School” and 1 each of “Frankford Stories” and “Frankford Heroes“.

The “Heroes of Frankford High School” has been very popular this year.  It attempts to include all students (over 200 men and 1 woman) who attended Frankford High and later gave their life in service to their country.

Frankford Heroes is the story of the Frankford residents who gave their lives in service from the Civil war to the present time.  Frankford Stories is a good read about life in Frankford.  Its lots of nostalgia.

These books all came out of my experience of writing the Frankford Gazette for 13 years. I met Leon Brantley and he introduced me to Ned Johnson and they wanted some recognition for Frankford veterans.  Since I’m a veteran myself, I agreed and we started a monthly feature for the veteran of the month.

Doing all those stories, it reminded me that veterans are the ones who came home.  That was when I started to look for the stories of those who did not return. Every veteran remembers the day that he left home for basic training after taking the oath, not knowing what lay ahead.

Every Veterans Day we take pride in our service but think back to the sacrifice of those who did not return.  It could have been any one of us.

Veterans day is November 11th.

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In Memory of Those Who Died on D Day

I am certain there are other Frankford men who died on D Day but these 2 come to mind.  Both attended Frankford High School.

Ralph Daniel Fischer, Jr.
Ralph was born on February 25, 1921 in Philadelphia.  When he registered for the draft in 1942, he was living with his family at 1701 Kohl Street and working at Max Willi Pfau in Langhorne.    He enlisted in the Army on September 14, 1942.  Corporal Fischer was one of the HQ Company, 3rd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division who parachuted into France on June 6, 1944.  He was killed in action at 22 years old.   His body was brought home in 1949 and was interred in Ivy Hill Cemetery.

George Lee Meadows, Jr.
George was born in Macon, George on August 14, 1920.  By 1930, his family was living at 4243 Rhawn Street in Philadelphia.  He enlisted in the Army on March 1, 1940 and rose to the rank of Tech Sergeant when he shipped out to Europe on January 18, 1944.  He was in Company A, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division when he was killed in action on Utah Beach on June 6, 1944.  He was 23 years old.  His body was brought home and interred in Arlington Nation Cemetery.

Rest in peace.

 

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Frankford Hero to Frankford Saint

We have written a book about Frankford Heroes but at the Northeast Philadelphia History Fair a few weeks ago, Dan Cashin told us about a remarkable hero, Leonard LaRue.

At the Spring General Assembly of the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops (USCCB) in Washington in June of 2021, the Conference overwhelmingly approved the cause for sainthood of “Servant of God” Benedictine Brother Marinus LaRue.

But who was Brother Marinus?  He was born Leonard Panet La Rue on January 14, 1914, in Philadelphia on one of the coldest days of the year.   He was the youngest child in a family with 5 children.  His parents were Paul Philippe Eugene La Rue, a Canadian Immigrant who worked at the Frankford Arsenal as a machinist and Isabelle Catherine O’Brien LaRue. Paul and Isabelle were married at St. Joachim Roman Catholic Church in the Frankford neighborhood of Philadelphia on April 29, 1904.  The family lived at 5028 James Street.

Leonard’s brothers were Maurice and Paul and there were twin sisters Irma and Isabelle. A brother Hubert died at birth in 1912 and is buried in St. Joachim Cemetery.

Leonard was baptized at St. Joachim on Sunday, February 8th with Thomas Hickey and Frances O’Connor as his Godparents.  We do not know for sure where he attended Elementary School but the family lived across the street from the Henry Longfellow School (now Closed) so it is most likely he attended Longfellow until moving on the Harding junior High School for 7th through 9th grade. He then entered Frankford High School and graduated in January of 1932.

He entered the Pennsylvania Nautical School in Philadelphia  in May of 1932 and graduated in 1934 as a Third Officer and began his life as a mariner.  That path took him to Korea in December of 1950 where as Master of the merchant cargo ship Meredith Victory, he took on board over 14,000 Koreans to be evacuated to safety.

He said that experience changed his life and in 1954 he left the sea to join the Benedictine congregation of St. Ottilien at St. Paul’s Abbey in Newton, New Jersey.

The path to sainthood in the Catholic church can be long but there is no doubt that this man was a real Frankford Hero and maybe a saint.

Follow this link to learn more.

 

 

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Thank You For Your Support!

Pat Smiley and I thank you for your support of our Memorial Day fundraiser and efforts to promote his and Richard Johnson’s book, “Frankford Heroes, 2nd Edition”! If you’ve been busy or just didn’t quite get to ordering their book, you can still do so and we will still honor our pledge of 20% of book sales to be split between St. Mark’s Church and the Catholic Daughters’ Matthew 25 Food Cupboard. You will still get the ebook edition, too, for free. This effort will officially end on Friday, June 5. Here’s the link for you to use – https://frankfordgazette.com/books-for-sale/

We have mailed the books to those who ordered and have mailed the donations to St. Mark’s Church and Court St. Francis de Sales #2617 CDA. Every little bit helps!!!

For all of you who have purchased the book since it was available last fall, please check your email as Bob Smiley has emailed you a link to the ebook. Please check your email and let us know if you did not receive one and had purchased a book. We do our utmost to insure our records are accurate but… We hope you enjoy this ebook version, too. If you would like to share your comments about the book and allow us to use them as testimonials, please email gil@frankfordgazette.com

We would appreciate hearing what you think of the book!! Thank you again for your purchase and we look forward to sharing more publications with you that pique your interest. Stay well!

 

 

 

 

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Our “Frankford Heroes, 2nd Edition” Honor Roll!

This Memorial Day, May 25, 2020, we wanted to let the “Frankford Heroes” tell you their stories themselves. It’s true that Bob put their stories into the 2nd Edition of his and Richard Johnson’s book, but he is simply retelling the stories of the lives they lived and the sacrifices they have made so that they are always remembered!

At the end of this post, there is a a list of all those who are featured in this latest edition of “Frankford Heroes, 2nd Edition”. And here are some of their stories. Remember, through Tuesday evening, May 26, if you purchase a copy of Bob and Richard’s book ($14.95) through our website, we will donate 20% of the list price to be shared between St. Mark’s Church in Frankford and the CDA Court St. Francis De Sales #2617 Matthew 25 Food Cupboard at St. Mark’s. Also, by buying this print edition, we will give you the ebook free. The ebook has additional information and links and has just been finished. Nothing is ever as easy as it may seem. (So, if you bought the book previously, we will be emailing you the pdf asap. Thank you for your patience.) We accept PayPal, Credit or Debit Cards or you can mail us a check. You’ll find all the details at this link:    https://frankfordgazette.com/books-for-sale/

“Frankford Heroes, 2nd Edition” contains the stories of almost 190 Veterans from Frankford. Frankford was a small town before it incorporated with Philadelphia and patriotism and a sense of history continue to be a large part of our traditions. 147 of these stories are those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country and for our freedom. The rest of the stories are those who served proudly and most, if not all, still call Frankford their home. To all our Veterans, past and present, thank you! We thank also, all the men and women of our Armed Forces currently serving so proudly and in unexpected ways. Many have been a real support to areas of the country struggling with coronavirus. We salute you and ask God to bless you abundantly!!

I chose a story from Bob’s book that I wanted to share with you. The first is about a young man named Stephen Blanchett. “Stephen Paul Blanchett was born on October 20, 1947 and lived on Foulkrod Street in Frankford.  He enlisted in the Army early in 1965 and served as a corpsman. He was awarded the Silver Star posthumously: ‘He distinguished himself by exceptional valor while serving as Medical Specialist for his unit when it came under heavy small arms fire in rice paddies northwest of Dong Tam, Vietnam, on March 7, 1967. As the unit was maneuvering slowly through several rice paddies, they came under enemy sniper fire. Immediately, one of the unit’s leaders was hit and severely wounded. Private Blanchett, 350 meters to the rear, was notified, and began racing through the paddies in order to reach the wounded man. When he had come to within 50 meters of the casualty, he was urged by fellow comrades to go no further, due to the increasing amount of hostile fire. He courageously disregarded the warning and with fire all about him, ran to the side of the wounded man. He then pulled the wounded man behind the safety of a dike separating two paddies and administered vitally needed first aid. This courageous act was one of many times he unhesitatingly risked his life in behalf of his fellow soldiers.’” Paul was 19 years old – 19!!! There have been so many just like him – good men of valor, courage and a strong sense of duty and caring for their fellow man!

“Frankford Heroes, 2nd Edition” – Let’s take a look and see if you are familiar with any of the names! These are our honored Veterans who made the ultimate sacrifice by giving their lives for our freedoms during the following wars! There are two pages of names and there are two arrows at the bottom of the document to let you move between the pages. Remember our special offer ends Tuesday evening, May 26 at 11:59 PM!

FH Alphabetical LIsting