WWI Photo – Female YMCA Worker in Germany w/ Good Uniform Details and Rare Beret Cap

April 23, 2014 / portraitsofwar / Leave a comment

YMCA Ladies were sent overseas to help bring a glimmer of American home life into the trenches in France and Germany. YMCA workers were attached to specific divisions and were tasked with putting on events, providing comforts of home, and entertaining the US soldiers with music and reading material. Interestingly enough, female YMCA workers were only selected from a pool of women ranging in age from 25-45 with a few older exceptions. No women whose parents were born in an enemy country could serve and women who were British or Canadian could not be sent to France. The YMCA was often criticized for price gouging US soldiers when charging fees for cigarettes, shaving material and everyday odds and ends.

Through a collecting friend and author I was able to obtain a nice side profile shot of a YMCA woman associated with the 9th Infantry Regiment of the 2nd Division. The uniforms for the female YMCA workers was designed by Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt and was a gray-green in color with a French horizon-blue collar. The pair of US triangles on the upper collar lapel were embroidered in silk and sported red-edged details. This particular woman is wearing an incredibly rare beret stye hat with a felt YMCA patch attached.

WWI YMCA Worker

WWII War Orphans Pose in Germany – Barefooted German Children in Crisp B/W

April 8, 2014 / portraitsofwar / 2 Comments

Digging through backlogged collections is fun. I always seen to unearth a photo, negative or slide that eluded my initial passover. In this case, I found a poignant negative from 1945-1947 showing two barefoot children who survived the war somewhere near Munich. The photographer (unknown) had quite the eye for detail as evidenced in his 400+ negatives in my collection.

Bare Feet on Cobble

Winooski, VT WWI Veteran Photo Identification – eBay Photo Yields Vermont History Golden Research!

March 23, 2014April 7, 2014 / portraitsofwar / 1 Comment

This story starts with a 23 year old Earl F. Lavalle scribbling his name on the back of a photo to pass along to a friend during WWI and ends with a full identification of Mr. Lavallee’s life experience. The main goal of PortraitsofWar is to research and seek out every possible lead to identify an early 20th century photograph; recent digitization efforts have enhanced our ability to complete genealogical research from the confines of a remote desktop.

Earl in 1918

Our first accounts of Earl show him being born on November 29th 1894 to Fred Lavallee of Canada and Emma Pollinger of (my current hometown!) Colchester. Earl worked his entire life as a laborer in the American Woolen Co. in Winooski, VT, located along the Winooski/Onion River near Burlington,VT. He lived at various locations during his tenure at the woolen mill including 36 Hood Street, Winooski, 102 Mallets Bay Ave, 22 Park Street and many more.

Earl Lavallee Reverse

Earl enlisted on February 11th, 1918 at Camp Green, North Carolina. He served with Company G, 58th Infantry Regiment, 4th Division until August 21st, 1918 when he was transferred to Supply Co, same regiment. He was overseas from May 7th, 1918 to August 1st, 1919.

Earl was wounded in action on September 30th, 1918. This photograph depicts Earl after his wounding evidenced by his right-hand wound stripe. Earl was discharged on August 7th, 1919.

Earl Lavallee Draft Card WWI

Earl Lavallee WWII Draft Card

Lavallee Signature

Lavallee Family Story

The 1900 US Census from Colchester, VT shows the Lavallee family as a solid unit with five family members comprised of Earl’s dad Fred Lavallee, his mother Emma, brother Charles, sister Florence and himself (Earl).

1900 Census, Colchester, Vt

WWII Photo Identification – US Nurse and Navy Husband from Plymouth, Pennsylvania

February 23, 2014February 23, 2014 / portraitsofwar / 4 Comments

Family heirlooms come in many forms, shapes and sizes. It always amazes me what types of material appears on eBay as part of estate liquidation sales. Family scrapbooks, bibles, photo albums and personal diaries. In this case, I was able to purchase a small group of photos and a War Department Identification card from a nurse who served in WWII. Included were a few photos of her in wartime garb, shots of her husband (pre-marriage) and her wartime ID card. As I always say, it’s about the research….

Helen (Boretski) Bronesky’s WWII ID Card

Reverse of Card Showing Fingerprints

It’s sad to thing that a family would sell off relics of their family’s past, but it’s not for me to judge. I’m here to interpret the material at hand and figure out as much as possible with scant information.

I always start off with a quick ancestry.com search to help figure out the background story. We have a name – Helen Boretski and a birthdate of March 31st, 1924. Helen was 5’6″ when the photo was taken and a healthy 142 pounds. Her hair and eyes are listed as brown. Her thumb and right index finger are both present on the back of the ID.

A quick ancestry and google search helped me discover that Helen was dating and eventually married to a Navy man named Paul Bronesky in 1946. A few photos included in the purchase we indeed identified to a Paul, so this helps confirm the identification. In fact, further research into Paul’s WWII service shows that he was a radio man on a Navy aircraft. This is further confirmed through the photo included in the group. He is wearing a rare set of Navy air crew wings with a radioman rate patch on his sleeve.

Paul Bronesky in WWII

Hubba Hubba

Helen Wearing “Sweetheart” Navy Wings

What makes this grouping of photos interesting is the fact that both the husband and wife (dating in wartime) were both service members. Helen was a nurse and Paul was a Navy radioman. Helen strikes a chord with me. There’s just something about her gaze and smile that make me want to reach out and talk to her. Sadly she passed away in 2008. Please see below for an obituary record from Plymouth, PA:

“Helen (Boretski) Bronesky, 83, formerly of Plymouth, died March 24, 2008, in Mequon, Wis., of a cerebral aneurysm. Mrs. Bronesky was born March 31, 1924, in Plymouth and raised in Lyndwood. She graduated from area schools and RN school and was a veteran of the U.S. Army Nurse Corps in World War II. She was preceded in death by her husband, Paul; parents, Michael and Susan Boretski; her brother, Michael Boretski. She is survived by son, Paul; daughter, Susan; granddaughters, Michelle, Erica and Leslie; sisters, Mary Koliga, Anne Kochevar, Margaret Cowan and Dorothy Bedosky; numerous nieces, nephews and friends.

Interment will be Saturday, July 26, 2008, at 11 a.m. in S.S. Peter and Paul Cemetery, Plymouth Township. Arrangements are by the S.J. Grontkowski Funeral Home, 530 W. Main St., Plymouth.

Helen as a Nurse in WWII

Helen and Paul Marriage day 1946

Helen’s Kiss

WWI Photo – Silver Lake, MN Pvt. Edward Prochaska Killed in Action, 118th Infantry, 30th Division

February 15, 2014April 12, 2016 / portraitsofwar / Leave a comment

Each of the 116, 516 US soldiers, Marines and sailors killed during WWI deserve a narrative on the world wide web. In this case, a photo of Edward Prochaska of Silver Lake, MN recently arrived in the mail from an eBay seller in the Midwest. I purchased the photo after doing some brief research on the photo, finding that Prochaska was killed in action while serving with the 118th Infantry, 30th Division.

Ed Prochaska ca. 1918
France

Incredibly, Prochaska is referenced heavily in a postwar book following the exploits of Private Oscar Dahlgren during WWI. The full text version of the book can be found here: http://bit.ly/1bSx4h9

Some excerpts from the book are incredibly detailed and give us a unique view into the experiences of a doughboy on the frontlines.

Page 59

“In the evening of this day (August 4th, 1918), we started for the front line trenches carrying with us rations. Myself and Prochaska toted a bag of coffee together changing off with other when tired. Getting on the road just east of Valencies, we got caught in a shelling that Jerry put over on the roads every day at Valencies toward evening. The big shells dropped so close that we expected to be blown to pieces for every shell. We threw ourselves flat, favoring the fall. Luckily, my platoon got through the shelling without any casualties, except for a bag scare. I could tell how bad when I noted how extremely pale they all got. It struck me so funny that I wanted to laugh. Ed Prochaska noticed it too, and felt kind of ashamed saying he could laugh at death grinning us in the face.”

Page 105

“Again between August 26th and 27th Prochaska was with me when another heavy shelling took place. The trench here was shot up bad so there was little protection. A heavy shell tore into the bank behind our backs. We both flopped down with pan. I said it felt like my fingers had been shot off, but I found all my fingers there.”

Page 117

“It was dark and rainy as we walked up the line we had to step over German dead who were lying thick around there (sic) holes they had made in the ground. When we halted we took into those holes which weren’t very deep. The hole I got wasn’t more than a foot deep. Schellenburger got to be my partner. 4 or 5 dead Germans lay dead by my hole. Prochaska was close by digging in together with R.L. Ross, we not set to work and dug our hole 4 feet deep and wide enough to stretch out.”

Page 65

“Someone caught sight of one coming towards us from Company Headquarters. He was already half ways and now there was some hollering for him to get down, especially by the sergeant. It turned out to be Prochaska. Poor boy – they had him pretty nervous before he came up. He did not know we weren’t allowed to cross now……… They asked him what he meant by coming over…… He told them he had been at the canteen having bought some cakes, cookies and a can of salmon saying I wanted to bring Dahlgren some! ……. It touched my heart that he had so much friendship and love for me – he thought so much of me.”

And the sad details leading up to Edwards death:

Page 135/6

“I stopped to talk to Prochaska who had dug in deep by himself and was carrying straw to bed down with. I and he had always dug in together before, but now as I was a runner, we were parted. Well, he did not get used to his foxhole as he was put on guard at Company Headquarters where I was. There in the hedges he slept when off guard, that being the last time I talked with him. That night, though I had a warm bed, I was not able to sleep as the cooties and German fleas started going over the top and giving me no peace……

After getting through the hedge and the wire fence which separated us from the field, we noticed an observation balloon. We had a funny feeling something terrible was in store for us. My heart made a few quick beats and I felt pale. All of us runners said to the Captain that it would be suicide to cross the field……. I noticed dozens of Americans lying on the railroad bank killed and the rails lay twisted up…….. We now got to talk to some men of the 128th Regiment who said the same thing happened to them at Brancourt…… The first I got across, one of the boys called me and said, “Prochaska, Dahlgren is killed.” He had out names mixed up. The boys were lying close to Prochaska told me his head and shoulder were knocked off by a shell. He had been my best friend for a long time……”

Prochaska

WWI Draft Card

WWI Photo – Intense Research Yields an Identified US Pilot in Italy – One of “Fiorello’s Fogianni”

February 11, 2014January 28, 2016 / portraitsofwar / 2 Comments

Generally my WWI photo identifications come with a name, unit, and typically a home state or region. In this case, the only direct ID information to come with the photo was a first name – Harry- and the name of his brother. The rest of the information was hidden in the nuanced details of the photo postcard. See below for the main photo included in the eBay listing.

“Harry” in Italy

The eBay listing also made reference to the fact that the studio stamp was an Italian photographer. With this in mind, I bid to win.

After successfully winning the photo I began the laborious process of identifying the photo. Here’s the info I was basing my research on:

1. The photo depicted a US pilot who had served at least 6 months overseas at the time the photo was taken.

2. The pilot was named Harry and had a brother named Robert.

3. The pilot had a distinctive signature and handwriting style with large crossed H’s and a penchant for flourishes.

4. The pilot was in Italy at some point during the war.

I first started my research with a general reference search to find out how many US pilots were in Italy during the war. Lots of websites popped up and generally pointed towards the Fiorello’s Fogiannia, a group of US pilots who trained in Italy on Italian bombers. We’ve all been stuck in LaGuardia airport at some point in our lives, so I instantly recognized the reference to Fiorello LaGuardia. I had no idea he was in WWI! Further research made it clear that only 500 or so US pilots were in Italy during the war.

Italian Photo Studio Stamp

I started by tracking down a copy of the roster of the pilots who trained with the “Fogianni” during the war. A good friend, Chuck, was extremely gracious enough to take photos of all the pages and send them to me. I finally had the whole roster to reference. With this in hand, I identified all the Harold’s and Harry’s in the roster. This helped narrow it down to less than 30 candidates! From there I looked at the 1900 and 1910 roster for each of the men in hopes of finding a brother named Robert. A small handful of candidates trickled through.

Perfect Match!

Harry’s Signature

My first cross reference for the Harry’s with brothers named Robert brought me to Harry S. Manchester from Canfield, Ohio. The signature on his WWI draft card almost knocked me over! A perfect match. Note the intense cross on the H and the overly dramatic crosses on his T’s. With further research I was able to find a TON of information on Harry. He was indeed a pilot in Italy during the war and also served in France as a test pilot, testing new US planes as they were unloaded in France. His brother was Robert Manchester Jr. I was able to find Robert’s son (Robert Manchester III) and grandson (Robert Manchester IV) online, both prominent lawyers in the midwest.

Harry’s War Record

Ohio Newspaper Reference

Harry Wearing Italian Wings

Harry Home from Wooster College 1916

Harry in Italy

Harry as Test Pilot

Harry’s WWI Flight Helmet

Also, the National WWI Museum apparently received a donation of a series of photos from the Manchester Estate. Check out these additional portrait shots of Harry from the collection! (Used without permission but with watermark)

WWI Nurse Photo Identified – Massachusetts Female Veteran in France, 1918 Base Hospital #6

October 22, 2013 / portraitsofwar / 2 Comments

I’ve been lucky in the past few weeks to pick up some fun WWI shots of US female nurses and auxiliary service members. US women in France were outnumbered by the men, and to be able to positively identify a nurse is a fun way to learn about female service roles during the war. In this case, I was able to purchase a small group of photos and a Thanksgiving menu from a woman in Base Hospital #6 stationed in Bordeaux, France during the war. The standing studio portrait was identified on the reverse as HK Judd of Base Hospital 6. On a whim I searched for Helen K. Judd (thinking that Helen was a likely candidate for H) and came up with a positive hit on a woman named Helen K. Judd from Southhampton, Mass. I cross referenced with the digitized passport records from 1917 and 1918 and had a positive match. Luckily the passport applications come with little snapshots of the applicants. The amount of material available to identify WWI photos is incredible.

J. Sereni Studio Portrait of Helen

1917 Passport Photo of Helen

1918 Passport Photo of Helen

Physical Description

Passport Application Info

Base Hospital #6 Thanksgiving Menu

WWI Photo Discovery – Norton-Harjes Ambulance Drivers w/ Richard Norton!

September 29, 2013February 7, 2015 / portraitsofwar / 2 Comments

I often check eBay listings for groups of assorted black and white photos in the hopes of discovering some exciting WWI material hidden in the mix. In this case, I was lucky enough to recognize the uniforms and insignia of the Norton-Harjes Ambulance Corps amidst the piles of junk photos. An astoundingly cheap $20.00 Buy-it-Now option was on the photos, so I purchased them without haste. What a rare treat! Scroll down for cropped versions of the photo.

US Ambulance Drivers in France

This is possibly one of the clearest shots of Richard Norton I’ve seen in a digital form on the internet. Norton was the son of an influential Harvard archaeologist named Charles Norton who bankrolled a group of well-to-do American men to travel to France to assist in the movement of wounded soldiers from the battlefields. In this photo we see Norton posed with his fur overcoat, swagger stick and uniform. I’m guessing this photo was taken to depict a certain group of men overseas at the time. My best educated guess is that it was a photo taken of all the Harvard men in the Ambulance Corps at the time. Who knows?

Richard Norton

E.E. Cummings?

Edward Estlin Cummings
1917 Passport Application for travel to join the Norton-Harjes Ambulance Corps

WWI Portrait Photo – Italian Born US Soldier 1st Mobile Veterinary Hospital Farrier

September 7, 2013September 7, 2013 / portraitsofwar / 1 Comment

John Belli in WWI

John Belli was born in Italy in 1895 and traveled to the United States during a big wave of Italian immigration in the early 1900s. I was lucky enough to purchase a superlative WWI German-shot studio portrait of a helmeted US soldier wearing his gas mask with patches attached to his jacket. To sweeten the deal, the photo came identified to a John Belli. A few John Belli’s appeared on ancestry.com, but only one was associated with a veterinarian unit as evidenced by the veterinarian corps collar disc visible in the photo. A great shot with an interesting back story!

John Belli Service Card

John Belli Draft Card

WWI Middlebury, Vermont Soldier Photo – 102nd Field Artillery – Curtis J. Sawyer

August 27, 2013August 27, 2013 / portraitsofwar / 1 Comment

My passion for WWI Vermont material is endless and I make every effort to track down unique, original photos and objects related to Vermonters in the Great War. It’s not easy to find and often comes at a price; 26th Division material is popular with French collectors and fetches a high price when purchased on eBay. In this case, I was able to purchase a studio photo of a 102nd Field Artillery Vermonter of Battery A . Curtis J. Sawyer was born in Middlebury, VT on September 13th, 1893 – nearly 120 years ago!

He worked at hotels most of his life, having worked at Clark’s Hotel in Boston in 1917 when he registered for the draft. Previously he served as a clerk for City Hall in Barre, VT – not far from where I work! He started his career early at the age of 17 (at least) and worked as a clerk and hotel man unit his death. He is listed as being tall with a slender complextion with blue eyes and brown hair. He lived nearly 90 years and died in 1980 in Arlington, MA – not far from Boston.

WWI Vermont Roster Entry

1910 Barre, Vermont Directory

Sawyer in Burlington, VT 1910

Middlebury News Reference

Portraits of War

Snapshots in Time

Collecting