The above pin is a very rare one from September of 1919. It was given to veterans of WW1 from Aston and Middletown Twps. at their Welcome Home Reception.
CHESTER TIMES – September 5, 1917
FAREWELL TO ASTON’S BOYS
Metropolitan Display of Patriotic Fervor by People of Rural Community for Army Recruits
Patriotism
in its richest glow was exhibited last evening by the men, women and children
of Aston and Middletown Townships in a farewell reception to 42 young men of
these communities who are soon to go into the world war.
It was
an occasion that will cling to the memory of the thousands who witnessed it,
and become more and more cherished as a fragrant recollection as the years go
by.
The
farewell was held in the Casino at Glen Riddle, and conducted on a truly
metropolitan scale. It had been arranged
that the 42 young men should assemble at Rockdale Hall at 6:30 o’clock and be
escorted by Rockdale Band to the Casino.
This procession was an inspiring sight to behold. Twilight had deepened into the dusk of an early
fall evening and the blue vault of heaven was glittering with innumerable stars. The martial strains of the bank awoke the
echoes of peaceful Chester Creek valley and hundreds and hundreds of hurrying
feet of young and old could be seen moving from all directions toward the
Casino.
Shortly
after seven o’clock the Casino was filled with people to so great an extent
that the youngsters had to find vantage points on the beams along the lower
walls. The sand bark floor made the
entry of this throng quiet and orderly.
To look from the stage toward the audience was in itself something
remarkable as the light of patriotic sacrifice beamed from the sea of faces.
A long
single row of tables was set in front of the stage, and around these tables
were gathered the 42 young men and 13 heroes of the Grand Army, who are
resident in Aston and Middletown. A
banquet was served to them by D. P. Desmond, proprietor of the Mountain House,
in the following appetizing courses:
Glen Riddle pickles, olives a la Lenni, cold roast beef, Rockdale style,
boiled Crozerville ham, sliced Elwyn tomatoes, chicken salad, Lima style, Wawa
potato salad rolls and butter de Village Green, Knowlton crackers, Mt. Alverno
cheese, Black Horse cake, Chester Heights ice cream, Aston Mills coffee, E!
Middletown Road cigars.
While
the banquet was progressing, either the band seated out far from the tables was
playing or the audience was singing favorite and familiar melodies, which left
no idle moments and made everybody cheerful and happy.
ORATORY
AND MUSIC – After the banquet a program of oratory and entertainment were
carried forward till nearly 11 o’clock, the conclusion being the singing of the
band. If Kaiser Wilhelm could have stood
on one of the hillsides, the music to his ears would have been the death knell
of Prussian militarism. It sounded like
a mighty huge plan of freedom on the solemn stillness of the night and was a
fitted finale to the splendid ovation.
The
speakers were the Hon. Isaac Johnson, president judge of Delaware County who
saw gallant service on the battlefield in the dark days of the Civil War, the
Hon. Richard J. Baldwin Speaker of the House of Representatives in Harrisburg;
W. A. Garrett of the Remington Arms Company who recently returned from France
as an envoy of this government to give the French government American ideas on
railroad transportation. Frank B.
Rhodes, Esq. of Media, one of the most eloquent members of the Delaware County
bar, and John Vance, the eloquent Chief of Police of Chester, whose birthplace
was not far from the meeting place.
Equal
in importance to this array of speakers was the talent secured for the
entertainment, Daniel J. Morterigan, who conducts an entertainment bureau in
the Emane Building, Philadelphia, had a dozen Philadelphia players to augment
the Rockdale band. Senate’s Philadelphia
orchestra and eight professional artists in the musician and comedy time who
gave a performance that abounded with enjoyment.
Mr.
McGarrigan opened the meeting by leading the audience in singing
“America.” Then the names of the heroes
of the Civil War and after them the names of the forty-two of 1917 were called
by Montgomery Smith. Each man stood on
at the table as his name was called and the audience gave each a hearty round
of applause. R. G. Taylor read the
letter of President Wilson to the army, and this was greeted with a wild volume
of applause.
HONORED
GUESTS – The roll of honored guests was as follows:
Civil
War Veterans – Major John H. Kerlin, William Roberts, James
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As the
names of the guardsmen, drafted men and other enlisted men were called, each
was presented with a gift package by the ladies at the tables. Similar gift packages will be forwarded to
other soldiers who have gone to the various camps as follows:
Fielding
Wilcox, W. Carson Rhodes, Richard Levis, Joseph Fitzpatrick, Bernard
Fitzpatrick Frank Fitzpatrick, Charles Holefelder, George Wood, John Jackson,
John Fanning, Horace Shefton, Lewis Lawton, William Ketchel and Bradford Smith.
Horace
S. Griffith, chairman of the committee that arranged the celebration presided,
and introduced Mr. Garrett as the first speaker. His remarks were intensely interesting and
gave the people an insight into conditions in France.
“As we
were nearing Europe,” he said on the way over there, we saw a sight off the
coast of Ireland which
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