By E. Ashley Rooney
Chuck French, a committee member, with Bill Pierro, who identified many East Lexington residents who were WWII veterans.
Sixty-two Lexingtonians died in World War II, and more than 14,000 enlisted in the military services. The Lexington Remembers WWII committee has been looking for information, photos, or other “treasures” to honor World War II veterans and those who survived the war. One of our members, Sue Stering, has been going through high school yearbooks page by page; Paul Doherty tries to upgrade those images to use in the eAlbum that George Gamota and Chuck French are compiling. On March 11, we held a Gathering at the Community Center, for all those who had information on their Lexington WWII veterans.
Many came with their loved ones’ pictures, their medals, and honorable discharge papers. People talked about Lexington in those nostalgic times, where the guys hung around the local drugstore, and the girls were babysitting. There were only three banks then, and many stores. In 1940, Lexington had three trains a day, and five railroad stops.
Todd Cataldo spoke about his father’s family farm. There were five brothers, and since they were farmers, they were not drafted. Finally, the Draft Board came to them, saying, “We are getting a lot of flak,” and they drafted the youngest brother, Robert. William H. McAlduff’s daughters were sure he lied about his age to enter the Navy because he received his diploma from Arlington High School when he returned home from the Pacific Theater.
