WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES SEPTEMBER 26, 2019 27
BY THE OLD TIMER
EDITORIAL@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@RIDGEWOODTIMES
The United States declared war
on Japan on Dec. 8, 1941, one
day after the Japanese attacked
Pearl Harbor. Nazi Germany
declared war on the United States
on that same Dec. 8, and America
was thrust into World War II.
Many of Glendale’s young men
and women joined the U.S. Armed
Forces and the Merchant Marines
to serve their country.
Msgr. Herman Pfeifer of St. Pancras
Church permitted the Glendale
Post of the American Legion and the
United Organizations of Glendale
to erect a large billboard on the
church property at the southeast
corner of Myrtle Avenue and 68th
Street, which today is the site of the
now-closed St. Pancras School.
In 1940, St. Pancras Church moved
their three-story brick rectory
from the southeast corner of Myrtle
Avenue and 68th Street to the west
side of 68th Street, right next to the
church. Moving the rectory made
room for the new school, but the
war delayed its construction until
1952, when ground was finally broken.
The new school was completed
a year later.
The billboard, designed and constructed
by L.J. Schmidt of Glendale,
was erected in 1942. As of 1943, the
Glendale Honor Roll (as it was called)
bore the names of 1,263 listed in service
in the U.S. Armed Forces.
By the time the war ended in 1945,
there were some 2,000 from Glendale
who had served; about 30 of
them had been killed in combat. One
of those who perished on the battlefield
was Sergeant Edward Miller;
the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post
7336 was named in his honor.
Many honor rolls popped up
across Our Neighborhood to honor
the local residents who went off into
battle. Another well-known honor
roll in Glendale was located at the
corner of 75th Avenue and 60th
Lane, and was formally dedicated
on May 9, 1943.
The Selective Service Draft Board
for Glendale was located in a storefront
on the north side of Myrtle
Avenue near 78th Street. On April
17, 1942, a large contingent of Glendale’s
young men were inducted
into service. They gathered that
morning in front of the draft board.
A special trolley car was reserved to
take them to Ridgewood, where they
boarded a subway and proceeded
on to South Ferry at the lower tip
of Manhattan.
There, they boarded a ferry to
Fort Jay on Governors Island to
begin preparing for deployment.
It happened to be a rainy, blustery
day in Glendale that morning, and
one of the inductee’s mothers had
brought her umbrella with her as
she saw her son off.
The head of the draft board started
to make a patriotic speech to the
young men who were leaving. For
whatever reason, this particular
mother didn’t appreciate his remarks,
and she proceeded to whack
him on the head with her furled
umbrella, thus bringing the draft
board head’s speech to an end.
Glendale, of course, produced its
share of heroes during the Second
World War. The Ridgewood Times
reported on one of them in its Feb.
2, 1945, issue.
The story, titled “Award Glendaler
the Navy Cross,” is as follows:
The Bronze Star Medal he
received last spring for heroism in
the Pacific has been supplemented
by the Navy Cross, Lieutenant
Commander Charles R. Stephan of
Glendale, a veteran of 10 years at
sea on Navy fighting ships, has been
informed.
Recently assigned to command
of naval training units at Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute, Troy,
Commander Stephan was awarded
the Navy Cross for his achievements
in the Philippine-Formosa area in
October, while in command of a
destroyer stationed out from the
fleet as a picket ship.
His citation credited him with
“extraordinary heroism” and with
having in one instance “initially
engaged the enemy, breaking up a
night torpedo plane attack by shooting
down three enemy planes.”
His earlier Bronze Star decoration
was awarded when he commanded
a destroyer in the Bismarck
Archipelago area and “contributed
materially in sinking three enemy
ships, destroying five enemy aircraft
and inflicting heavy damage on
short installations.
Commander Stephan’s mother,
Mrs. Elsie Stephan, lives at 76-11
Myrtle Ave. His wife, Mrs. Eleanor
Stephan, lives with her parents, Mr.
and Mrs. Louis Storck, in West Islip.
He is a graduate of Richmond Hill
High School and Annapolis.
As it turns out, Stephan might
have been one of the most distinguished
soldiers from Our Neighborhood
to serve in the U.S. Armed
Forces.
Charles R. Stephan graduated
from the U.S. Naval Academy at
Annapolis in 1934, and went on to
serve three decades in the U.S. Navy.
He received two Bronze Stars and
three Navy Crosses during his war
service.
Following his service to the
Navy, Stephan became a professor
of ocean engineering at Florida
Atlantic University, a department
which he helped to found.
Stephan died at a Virginia Beach,
Virginia hospital on Aug. 30, 1998,
at the age of 86. His wife, Eleanor,
had preceded him in death, but
he left behind four children, 11
grandchildren and nine greatgrandchildren.
The late commander received a
burial with full military honors at
Arlington National Cemetery.
Sources: the Feb. 2, 1945, and May
30, 1985, Ridgewood Times, the U.S.
Naval Institute, arlingtoncemetery.
net and findagrave.com.
* * *
If you have any remembrances or
old photographs of “Our Neighborhood:
The Way It Was” that you
would like to share with our readers,
please write to the Old Timer, c/o
Ridgewood Times, 38-15 Bell Blvd.,
Bayside, NY 11361, or send an email
to editorial@ridgewoodtimes.com.
Any print photographs mailed to
us will be carefully returned to you
upon request.
OUR NEIGHBORHOOD: THE WAY IT WAS
Glendale honor roll recognized local war heroes
The Glendale honor roll standing near St. Pancras. Ridgewood Times archives
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