Epilogue II: Subsequent Lives
Parr mentions many fellow pilots, family members, and old and new acquaintances and friends. The following are brief summaries of the subsequent lives of those of them I have been able to identify and find information on. Each entry provides a reference to Parr’s first mention (place and date of letter) of the person.
Bateman, Arthur James (August 29, 1899–?). [Pilot’s Flying Log Book] 5:30 to 7:35 P.M. 8–J–18. Bateman’s R.A.F. service record indicates he was admitted to hospital in July of 1918 and sent back to England where he worked in various non-flying capacities. I have found no information on his activities after he was discharged in April of 1919.494
Bates, Jane Augustine, née Smith (March 20, 1844–December 26, 1918).495 London Colney, January 8, 1918 and March 2, 1918. Mrs. Bates, on whose poor and then improved health Parr commented, died at the end of the year.
Blackie, Ellen (Nell) Arthur, née Botts (April 18, 1868–October 23, 1954).496 Tarbet Hotel, Loch Lomond, April 30, 1918. The only information regarding Mrs. Robertson Blackie’s life after Parr’s encounter with her that I have been able to find comes rather unexpectedly from a biography of the American songwriter, Johnny Mercer. In 1936, Mercer was in England.497 Gene Lees, in a biography of Mercer, quotes him saying: “‘I couldn’t wait to get to Scotland, where I had been invited to visit a relative who lived just outside of Edinburgh. Nell Blackie was my father’s cousin, but we called her Aunt Nell. . . . She was blind and her husband, who had been a prominent publisher, in London, had died, leaving her a nice estate on the water in Scotland’.”498
Brown, Charles Edward, Jr. (August 2, 1894–November 8, 1949).499 London Colney, December 24, 1917. One source sketches Ted Brown’s military career after his training with the R.F.C. as follows: “Commissioned 1st Lieutenant in the A.S., U.S. Army, May 30, 1918. Trained further and awaited assignment from July 1 to Aug 7, and was then sent to A.S. Production Centre No. 2, Romorantin, France. Served there as Ferry Pilot until Dec. 25. Arrived in the U.S.A. Feb. 5, 1919. Discharged Feb. 8, 1919.”500 After the war Brown was in the electrical supply business in Chicago, eventually becoming vice president of the Okonite Company.501
Burwell, Paul Verdier (October 17, 1891–April 8, 1955).502 London, May 9, 1918. “Vertie” Burwell served in No. 40 Squadron until early September 1918. He is credited with a victory on July 25, 1918, and he is among those mentioned in a New York Times article of September 29, 1918, titled “British Tell Feats of American Airmen.” In September, along with Rorison, he went initially to the third Aviation Instruction Center at Issoudun, France, and then was transferred to the American 25th Aero Squadron. Like Rorison, he served briefly as a ferry pilot.503 Burwell attained the rank of captain before being discharged in 1919.504 He continued active in aviation after the war and was a major in the Air Corps Reserve.505
Callender, Alvin Andrew (July 4, 1893–October 30, 1918).506 [Beauvois]. May 21, 1918. Callender participated with No. 32 Squadron in the Amiens Offensive, which began on August 8, 1918, and shot down enemy planes on August 9 and 10.507 On the 16th, he began two weeks leave, which he spent largely in Scotland, starting in Edinburgh “with the aunts” (his father was Scots—which makes his labelling Major Russell an Englishman in his letter of May 30, 1918, all the more puzzling) and then journeying as far north as Inverness.508 He returned to his squadron September 1, 1918, and in that month shot down three more enemy planes. On October 30, 1918, with the squadron now based at Pronville—moving eastward as the Allies gained ground—the R.A.F. engaged in some of the heaviest and most successful fighting of the war: “Sixty-seven enemy planes were downed,” but among the large number of aviator casualties were four from No. 32 Squadron, including Callender.509 Many years later, in 1978, his brother, Gordon W. Callender, Sr., and his son, Gordon W. Callender, Jr., published selections from his letters, extensively annotated, under the title War in an Open Cockpit: the Wartime Letters of Captain Alvin Andrew Callender, R.A.F.
Caswell, George Frederick Charles (February 3, 1887–November 3, 1947).510 [Fouquerolles]. June 5, 1918. The man I take to have been Parr’s roommate at Beauvois and Fouquerolles spent a period ill in hospital starting June 24, 1918.511 Recovered, he at some point was transferred to No. 60 Squadron. Henshaw (The Sky Their Battlefield) indicates that on September 20, 1918, G. F. C. Caswell, flying an S.E.5a with No. 60 Squadron, crashed near Marcoing (about 4.5 miles southwest of Cambrai), was wounded, and was taken prisoner. He was repatriated on December 19, 1918.512 He appears to have settled in England after the war, presumably continuing to work as an engineer; his name comes up in connection with the British company “Caswell Cranes & Erection, Ltd.” On July 11, 1939, he was commissioned as a Pilot Officer; in January 1945, he relinquished his commission as a flight lieutenant for ill health.513
Claydon, Arthur (September 25, 1885–July 8, 1918). [Pilot’s Flying Log Book] Armentiers [sic] + LaBasse. May 21, 1918. Claydon achieved four more victories for a total of seven before being shot down and killed on July 8, 1918 by Paul Billik of Jasta 52 (who also shot down William Jameson Cairnes). Claydon was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.514
Coffman, Milton Buell (January 28, 1885–February 6, 1954).515 London Colney, January 8, 1918. “In the spring of 1918 [Coffman] was sent to France and attached to the 12th Royal Irish Rifles, with whom he saw active service from the opening of the great German drive in March to the date of the armistice, and for some time he served with the army of occupation in Germany.”516 He “was wounded and awarded a Military Cross for gallantry in action.”517 He returned to Virginia and continued to practice medicine.518
Coleman, DeWitt (Oct. 29, 1892 or 1893–October 27, 1918).519 London Colney, January 26, 1918. Parr’s ground school classmate “Dewey” Coleman trained at Foggia, was briefly an instructor, and was then posted to the Italian 6th Squadron, 11th Caproni Group, on July 23, 1918.520 On October 27, 1918, during the Battle of Vittorio Veneto, the Caproni bomber he was flying was attacked by five enemy planes. Coleman and his co-pilot were credited with downing two of them, but their plane also crashed, and all four crew members perished. For his valor during this action, Coleman was posthumously awarded the Italian Medaglio d’oro al valor militare, the only American awarded this honor, and only one of four non-Italian recipients during World War I (one of the three others being Tsar Nicholas II).521
Culley, Olive Mary (1895–September 3, 1956). Edinburgh, 7 p.m. Feb. 27, 1918. Olive and her husband, Percy Henry Walker, an accountant, apparently moved to Cardiff and had a daughter, Constance May Walker, in 1919.522
Culley, Francis John (1857–February 24, 1935).523 Edinburgh, 7 p.m. Feb. 27, 1918. I have found no further information on Parr’s host from that evening.
Douglass, Charles William Harold (April 1, 1894–June 11, 1918).524 London, May 9, 1918. Douglass, one of Parr’s ground school class mates, was assigned to No. 73 Squadron, a Sopwith Camel squadron, on May 11, 1918, the day Parr went to 32. 73 was stationed alongside 32 at Beauvois and Fouquerolles.525 On June 11, 1918, during the Montdidier-Noyon offensive, Douglass was shot down near Méry, probably by the German ace Olivier Freiherr von Beaulieu-Marconnay, and killed in action.526 It is presumably to him that the War Birds entry of Jun 25, 1918 refers: “I heard up there [at Dunkirk] that about fifteen of our boys have been killed. Hooper and Douglas [sic] are among them.”
Dwyer, Geoffrey James (June 26, 1890–February 9, 1952).527 Camp Harrowby, Grantham, November 19, 1917. After the war Dwyer returned to the U.S. and lived for a time in Toledo, Ohio, (which accounts for his inclusion in the Official Roster of Ohio Soldiers, Sailors and Marines in the World War, 1917–1918) where he and his brother Charles were in the automobile business.528 By 1925, he was in Westchester, New York, in advertising.529 The 1930 census shows him still living in Westchester, working as a stockbroker.530
Edlund, Sidney Wendell (June 1, 1890–March 22, 1979). London, Colney, January 27, 1918. After the war, Sid Edlund returned to an evidently enthusiastic career in sales, marketing, and human resources, setting up the “Man Marketing Clinic” in New York and publishing books on aspects of salesmanship.531
Fleet, Charles Carvel (August 4, 1894–April 6, 1941). Camp Harrowby, Grantham, November 19, 1917. After training in England, “Rox” Fleet served in the U.S. 135th Aero Squadron, an observation and reconnaissance squadron that flew DH4s. After the war he initially joined his brothers in managing his late father’s furrier business in New York; he later managed hotels in Florida and New Hampshire.532
Gaines, Albert Belding, Jr. (August 11, 1884–July 13, 1933).533 London Colney, Aerodrome, December 10, 1917. According to the obituary for him published in the Princeton Alumni Weekly, Gaines, having completed his training in England “was sent to Issoudun, 3rd Aviation Instruction Center, where he became staff instructor and test pilot. He was later ordered to St. Jean De Mon [sic], where he was in charge of artillery gunnery.”534 After the war his interest in flying continued, and he designed, built, and flew planes.535 He is included in a New York Times article from 1928 listing the 387 owners of private planes in New York.536 He died in a car crash in New Jersey.537
Goodwin, Alice Dorothea (Sept. 18, 1891–after 1973).538 London Colney January 8, 1918. Jean McLelland’s chum, known to Jean, apparently, as “Dot,” returned to Canada with Jean and Jean’s father in March of 1918, but came back to London at the end of the year.539 During at least part of her time in England, she was a V.A.D. nurse. She returned once again to Kingston at the end of 1919, this time, apparently for good.540 In September of 1921, she married Arthur Fordyce Grant Cadenhead, a prominent chemist who was at that time teaching at Queen’s College, Kingston.541
Grafflin, Amne (March 12, 1850–May 9, 1932).542 Royal Flying Corps, Ruislip, Middlesex. Nov. 26 [1917]. Grafflin returned to the States in 1919. During her last years she lived in New Milford, Connecticut.543
Graham, Sumner Watson (January 11, 1891–1957).544 [Parr’s Pilot’s Flying Log Book] 5:10 to 6.00 AM 9–J–18. Graham was transferred to England towards the end of June and returned to Canada in March of 1919 where he resumed his practice as a barrister.545
Green, Helen Hamilton Leiper, née Henderson (March 19, 1890–January 1984).546 Camp Harrowby, Grantham, Eng. November 16, 1917. Helen, her husband Sydney M. Green, Jr. (September 15, 1882–June 15, 1959), and their children, Sydney M. Green III and Louisa L Green, moved in the twenties from Virginia to Atlanta, and then in the thirties to Pennsylvania.547 She eventually returned to her birthplace, Cumberland, Maryland.548
Green, Wilfrid Barratt (April 9, 1898–September 13, 1947).549 [Pilot’s Flying Log Book] 21 My 18. Armentiers [sic] & Bethune. Green had by mid-May 1918 already achieved two victories; he went on to four more in July and one in August.550 His squadron mate, Bogart Rogers, in a letter of August 16, 1918, reports Green’s having been awarded the Croix de Guerre and Palm in an impressive ceremony. Green’s Distinguished Flying Cross citation appeared in the London Gazette in early December 1918. Soon thereafter (December 10, 1918) Rogers reported that Green “has received another French decoration, the Legion of Honor, and looks like a Christmas tree.”551 After the war, Green returned to his native Staffordshire where he was a master grocer and continued to fly.552
Greville, Annie Maria (1892–October 10, 1971).553 Turnberry, March 20, 1918. Miss Greville married George William Anderson (1885–1948), a Canadian physician serving in the C.E.F. and, after the war, returned with him to Toronto, where he pursued a career in psychiatry.554
Hall, Richard Thornley (August 18, 1899–November 12, 1938). [Pilot’s Flying Log Book] 5:10 to 6.00 9–J–18 AM. Hall was wounded on July 15, 1918, and transferred to England in early August. A newspaper account reads: “. . . wounded on July 15. During an engagement with hostile aircraft he was wounded in the feet. His injuries were not serious, but were complicated by a crash when landing on an aerdrome [sic], when he was severely burned.” After the war he returned to Canada and formed an investment company; in 1938 he moved to England where he died the same year.555
Harrower, George Hayward (September 1857–April 16, 1926). Carmania, Sept. 21, 1917. (A
“Canadian civilian,” with a son “in the cavalry in France” and a son “flying on the
Verdun Front”;
none of the three actually named by Parr). There is a record of his return to Canada
in December
of 1917.556
Two days after Parr’s September 21, 1917, entry in his shipboard letter, George Harrower’s
younger son, Gordon Stuart Harrower (October 12, 1895–after March 3, 1958) was wounded in
aerial combat near the Flemish town of Diksmuide. He presumably returned to Canada
for a
period of convalescence; there is a record of his arriving on the Lapland at Liverpool from New
York on April 19, 1918; his profession is given as “RNAS,” his last permanent residence
“France,” and there is a notation that he is “returning to duty.” Credited with shooting
down at
least two German planes, he survived the war to participate in a reunion of former
RNAS officers
in Canada in 1922; the latest record I can find for him shows him stopping in Hawaii
in transit
from Hong Kong in 1958.557
On April 15, 1919, exactly three years after his enlistment, the older son, Robert Hamilton
Harrower (April 11, 1895[?]–after May 17, 1951) is described as a “returning convalescent
officer” on the passenger list of the Chaudière arriving at St. John’s, New Brunswick, from
Bermuda. A passenger manifest from 1951 lists Captain Robert Hamilton Harrower, 56,
and Mrs.
Sybil Harrower arriving in Montreal.558
Harvey, Frederick Barton. See entry for Rose Lindsay Hopkins.
Heater, Charles Louis (August 5, 1894–January 23, 1989). Carmania, Sept. 30, 1917. Heater, like Parr, trained with the R.F.C., initially at Oxford and Grantham. After Grantham, however, he went to a night flying detachment near Sunderland, then for flight training to Amesbury and then, in late May, after Parr had left for France, to Turnberry. Sometime in June he was assigned to No. 55 Squadron, a bomber squadron flying DH4s in Hugh Trenchard’s Independent Air Force. He served with 55 throughout the summer, flying numerous bombing raids over Germany from a base at Azelot, south of Nancy. In early September, he was informed that he was one of a small number of American pilots who were to be awarded the British Distinguished Flying Cross. In late September he was recommended by Trenchard to the 11th Aero Squadron, which had just suffered catastrophic losses of personnel and machines. He became its commanding officer and led it with distinction until the end of the war.559 After the war, he co-authored, with Frederick William Zinn, the report “American Fliers with the I[ndependent] A[ir]. F[orce],” which is included in Gorrell’s History.560 Upon returning to civilian life, he worked for American Steel Foundries in Chicago before retiring to Irvine, California.561
Henderson, Charles Martin (February 19, 1891–after April 26, 1942). London, May 9, 1918. “Pickels” Henderson returned to the U.S. in early 1919.562 The Baltimore Blue Book for 1921 lists his marriage in 1920 to Estelle Mathiot Stirling.563 The 1940 census indicates he was a banker, and his World War II draft registration card indicates he was living in Kensington, Maryland, and working at the Union Trust Building in Washington, D.C.564
Henderson, Mary (August 6, 1896–June 24, 1959). London, Colney, January 27, 1918. In 1921 Mary Henderson married John Saeger Bradway, a lawyer and professor noted for his championship of access to legal aid.565
Herbert, Thomas John (October 28, 1894–October 26, 1974). Camp Harrowby, Grantham, November 19, 1917. Herbert flew with No. 56 Squadron through August 8, 1918 when he was shot down. He was awarded the British Distinguished Flying Cross; the citation (which lists actions in reverse chronological order) reads: “For skill and gallantry. On August 8th, 1918, [the opening of the Battle of Amiens] when with a formation of six machines this officer attacked from 18–20 Fokker Biplanes N. E. of Chaulnes and shot one down in flames. During the fighting Lieut. Herbert was hit in the leg and his machine was shot through the petrol tank. It was only by skillful maneuvering that he managed to recross the line. As he was landing he fainted from the loss of blood and his machine crashed. On August 4th, 1918, he destroyed a Pfalz Scout which broke up at 9,000 feet over its own aerodrome at Cappy. This machine was at the time on the tail of the patrol leader and Lieut. Herbert’s dash and clever maneuvering undoubtedly saved his patrol leader from a very dangerous position. This officer took a very prominent part in a low bombing attack on Epinoy aerodrome on August 1st, from a height of 200 feet. On this occasion he killed 3 mechanics by machine gun fire and shot up hangars and billets. The influence of this officer’s keenness, determination, and gallantry has made itself felt throughout the squadron.”566 Herbert spent two years in hospital recovering and also completing his legal studies. He pursued a career in public service, becoming attorney general of Ohio in 1939 and governor in 1947; a decade later he was elected a judge on the Ohio Supreme Court.567
Hibbard, Stephen Leslie (July 30, 1893–March 22, 1922). Grantham, November 16, 1917. Parr’s gunnery instructor achieved the rank of major and apparently served in Russia in 1918–1919.568
Hoffman, Mary S. (February 9, 1894–August 1979).569 London Colney, February 18, 1918. Mary Hoffman worked as a librarian for a time before marrying George De Armond Curtin in about 1919 and moving to West Virginia where he was in the lumber business.570 She either continued or resumed her interest in libraries, as she appears as the president of the Clarksburg, West Virginia, city library board in 1960.571
Holland, William Ernest Bertram (November 1, 1893–?). Northolt Aerodrome, November 22, 1917. Holland was for a time at the headquarters of the Eastern Training Brigade, and then off and on at 204 Training Depot Station (formerly RNAS Eastchurch), with two periods in hospital. He was made a captain in April of 1918; he relinquished his commission due to ill health in May of 1919.572 In the same month he was elected a member of the Royal Aero Club.573 He apparently made his home in Shanghai. A note on his R.A.F. service record indicates “Applicant for RAF VR [Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve] 25–10–40.”574
Hooper, Herbert (December 6, 1852–February 7, 1924).575
Hooper, Margaret Parr (October 1, 1858–May 5, 1927).576 Parr’s mother lived long enough to be presented with copy number 33 of the “special edition of War Birds . . . prepared for the members of the detachment whose story it is, limited to two hundred and ten copies and autographed by the commanding officers and the artist.” This book, signed by Dwyer, Springs, MacDill, Oliver, and Knight, has been handed down in the family and is currently in my possession.
Hooper, Mary Bowen (June 5, 1888–July 11, 1972). Exeter College Oxford, October 27, 1917. On January 18, 1919, Mary married a British-born American soldier whom she had met on the Merion during her 1912 voyage to Europe, John “Jack” Osborne Powell (December 13, 1872–March 3, 1960).577 In the summer of 1921, Mary and Jack traveled to England with the intention of visiting Jack’s ailing mother. Jack’s passport application indicates they also planned to visit France; perhaps Mary hoped to find out more about Parr.578 Returning to the U.S., Jack retired from the army about 1923, and not long after that they bought a house and land, which they named “Ballyhooly” (which means, according to family tradition, “bloody battle”), on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, near St. Charles, on the Chesapeake. Eventually they moved to southern California, to La Jolla, outside San Diego.579
Hopkins, Marion Byrd (June 24, 1899–April 9, 1976). [Fouquerolles] France June 5, 1918. Marion worked as a chemist for the city of Baltimore for a time, before moving to New Jersey, where he worked for Standard Oil.580
Hopkins, Rose Lindsay (May 13, 1897–February1980). London Colney, January 8, 1918. Rose Hopkins married Frederick Barton Harvey (August 13, 1891–June 1977) in 1919 after his return from France, where he had served from May, 1918, through June, 1919, at least part of the time in the Meuse-Argonne sector.581
Howard, Ottilie Frances, née Wright (September 20, 1892–February 25, 1976). Exeter College Oxford, October 27, 1917. Ottilie Howard and her physician husband Campbell Palmer Howard lived for a time after the war in Iowa, where he held a chair in medicine at the University of Iowa, before moving to Montreal, where he held a similar post at McGill until his death in 1936.582 She later married Warwick Chapman, who also predeceased her.583
Johnson, Charles Reid (July 19, 1891–March 7, 1959). London Colney, February 18, 1918. Just before the end of World War I, Reid was transferred to the Navy’s submarine base at New London, Connecticut. He remained in the navy after the war, attaining the rank of captain. In World War II he “commanded 10,000 Seabees in the Normandy invasion.” He moved to San Diego where, after retiring from the Navy, he became director of the new San Diego office of the Los Angeles architectural and engineering firm of Pereira & Luckman.584
Kidston, Agnes Annabel (1896–December 20, 1981). Tarbet Hotel, Loch Lomond, April 30, 1918. The youngest Kidston daughter studied art in Glasgow and Paris, and at the Slade School in London. In 1936 she joined her sister Margaret in St. Andrews and became an active member of the arts and preservation communities there. She taught in a number of venues and exhibited her paintings and woodcuts in galleries and solo exhibitions. Additionally she created illustrations for various publishing undertakings ranging from poems by Matthew Arnold to the Chambers Encyclopedia.585
Kidston, Alice Maud, née Hedderwick (August 18, 1863–October 21, 1934). Tarbet Hotel, Loch Lomond, April 30, 1918.586
Kidston, Helen Maud (about 1895–February 11, 1978). Tarbet Hotel, Loch Lomond, April 30, 1918. I have found no further information about the eldest Kidston daughter, beyond the fact that she, like both her sisters, was unmarried at the time of their mother’s death in 1934.587
Kidston, James Burns (about 1861–October 30, 1925). Tarbet Hotel, Loch Lomond, April 30, 1918.588
Kidston, Margaret Hedderwick (about 1895–January 9, 1977).589 Tarbet Hotel, Loch Lomond, April 30, 1918. Margaret settled in St. Andrews, where her sister Agnes Annabel joined her in 1936.590
King, Frank B. (March 28, 1855–January 26, 1931). Northolt Aerodome, Nov. 27, 1917. Mr. King continued to live on Rhode Island Avenue in Washington, D.C. 591
Knight, Duerson (January 21, 1893–April 23, 1983). London, May 9, 1918. Knight flew with No. 1 Squadron R.A.F. from May through August 1918, scoring ten victories. In September he was transferred to an American squadron, but was not involved in further combat. After the war he returned to Chicago and resumed his career in real estate.592
La Guardia, Fiorello (December 11, 1882–September 20, 1947). Carmania, September 24, 1917. While the cadets with whom La Guardia crossed the ocean remained in England for training, he went on with Major MacDill to Paris and then in mid-October travelled with another group of cadets to the 8th Aviation Instruction Center at Foggia, Italy (not far from his father’s birthplace).593 Once in Italy, La Guardia wore many hats. He trained with his men,594 served as representative in Italy of the joint Army and Navy Aircraft Board,595 travelled to Spain in May 1918 with his assistant, Lt. Albert Spalding, to secure steel badly needed for Italian airplane production,596 took command of American aviators assigned to combat,597 served as Chief of Air Service in Italy,598 served for a time as acting C.O. in Foggia,599 and, as a pilot & bombadier assigned to the Italian 5th Squadron (4th Bomber Group), flew five combat missions in the Piave district in September 1918.600 He had been promoted to Major towards the end of August 1918; in October he returned to the U.S.601 Returning to civilian life, he reentered politics and served three terms as mayor of New York.602
Latta, Hilda May (1899–1997).603 Carleton House, Ayr. Friday April 19, 1918. Miss Latta married Ian Pountney Coats (of the family that founded the J. & P. Coats thread manufacturing company) in 1927. She was awarded an M.B.E. in 1960 “for political and public services in Argyll.”604
Lawson, George Edgar Bruce (April 26, 1899–November 19, 1923). [Pilot’s Flying Log Book] 5:30 to 7:35 P.M. 8–J–18. Lawson went on to become an ace, with a total of six victories, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (UK). After the war he apparently returned to South Africa, where he joined the South African Air Force. He was killed in a flying accident.605
Leese, Henry Clifford (June 14, 1894–1985).606 [Pilot’s Flying Log Book] 5:30 to 7:35 P.M. 8–J–18. Leese was returned to Home Establishment on June 19, 1918; he appears to have remained in England, perhaps as an instructor, until he was “repatriated” in August 1919.607 Once back in New Zealand, he apparently returned to using the talents that landed him in the Army Pay Department in 1914. A Henry Clifford Leese is listed regularly in the New Zealand electoral rolls starting in 1919, with profession given initially as “[bank] clerk,” then as “bank officer” until 1957, when he is described as “retired.”608 He served as a Flying Officer in the Royal New Zealand Air Force during World War II.609
MacBean, Ralph Ellsworth Leete (November 30, 1893–October 7, 1980).610 [Pilot’s Flying Log Book] 5:30 to 7:35 P.M. 8–J–18. There are three victories recorded for MacBean, all with No. 32 Squadron, with which he served until the end of the war, when he returned to Canada.611 In 1921, he moved to Derby Line, just across the border in Vermont, but returned to Canada in the early thirties when he married.612
MacDill, Leslie (February 18, 1889–November 9, 1938).613 Carmania, Sept. 21, 1917. After arriving in Liverpool with his contingent of cadets, MacDill was ordered to Paris along with La Guardia and others.614 At the beginning of 1918 he assisted in choosing a site for an aerial gunnery training school at St. Jean de Monts (some sixty miles north of La Rochelle on the Atlantic Coast), and on May 16, 1918, he returned there to serve as commanding officer of the school until the end of the war (he was promoted to lieutenant colonel in the course of the autumn).615 After the war, MacDill pursued graduate studies in aeronautical engineering at M.I.T. and received a doctorate. In 1930 he joined the Plans Division, Office of Chief of Air Corps, in Washington D.C. He died in an airplane crash in Washington, D.C., on November 9, 1938. MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, is named after him.616
Maloney, Clarence Bernard (May 1, 1889–May 4, 1931).617 London Colney, No 56 Training Squadron, Royal Flying Corps, December 18, 1917. “Mac’s” sketchy R.A.F. service record indicates that on January 26, 1918, he was transferred from No. 112 Squadron to Stamford. The only other entry reports that he was admitted to hospital in Norfolk on November 21, 1918.618 A brief biography of him in a 1920 publication about Kalamazoo men in the war reports that he was “assigned to 95 Sqdn. Royal Air Force at St. Omer, France; injured in flying accident at Marquis[e], France, Oct. 11, 1918.”619 No. 95 Squadron was disbanded in July 1918 before it became operational; it began to reform at Kenley early in October 1918, but was never stationed in France.620 If Maloney’s accident did, indeed, occur at Marquise, it suggests he may have been serving as a ferry pilot, as Marquise was a hub for plane deliveries. On returning to the United States, Maloney studied law and architecture at Columbia before traveling back to Europe in 1925.621 1930 finds him in real estate in California, where he died the next year.622
Matthiessen, Conrad Henry, Jr. (June 3, 1894–December 21, 1966).623 Ruislip, Middlesex, Dec. 4, 1917. Matthiessen received his commission as a first lieutenant along with Thomas Herbert in early March 1918.624 He served with No. 74 Squadron R.A.F. and then, along with John Rorison, with the American 25th Aero Squadron, 4th Pursuit Group.625 On returning to the U.S. he went into manufacturing and was the applicant on a number of patents, including one for an airplane.626 At some point he and his growing family relocated to southern California, where he died in 1966. He was the cousin of the Harvard literary historian F. O. Matthiessen and the uncle of nature writer Peter Matthiessen.
McIntyre, Margaret Alison (April 25, 1900–December 26, 1984). Carleton House, Ayr, April 19, 1918. Miss McIntyre married Henry James Johnstone in 1923.627 Her father, Thomas Walker McIntyre, died September 20, 1920, and Sorn Castle passed to his son, James Gordon McIntyre.628 Her mother, Jeanie Paterson McIntyre (née Galloway), died in December 22, 1947.629
McLelland, Jean (May 22, 1897–1945).630 London Colney, No 56 Training Squadron, Royal Flying Corps, December 18, 1917. Parr’s friend Jean departed for Canada with her father and her chum Dorothy “Dot” Goodwin in March 1918, returning to England in December. She wrote to Parr from the Lancaster Gate Hotel on January 1, 1919: “Hello Parr, Dot and I send you a happy new years greeting. I was thinking of a year ago last night. Do you remember? We got back here [London] last week and we came over on the Olympic.”631 The letter was forwarded to the Hoopers at Bolton St. During at least part of her time in England Jean did Red Cross work.632 On December 16, 1919, she married Sidney Murray Wren, a New Zealand journalist who had been in Canada when the war broke out and had joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force.633 Their son, Reuben A[lexander] V. Wren, was born in 1920 in London.634 In October of 1921, Jean returned to Canada.635 Her marriage apparently did not last: in May of 1928 Wren remarried.636 Jean’s father, Reuben Alexander McLelland (January 17, 1867–February 15, 1936), went bankrupt with the downturn of the shipping industry after the war; whether his fortunes recovered between 1922 and his death in Canada in 1936, I have not been able to discover.637 I have also not found further information about his wife, Lulu Belle (Isabelle) McLelland (née Magee), (December 13, 1861–1945), other than her date of death.638 Mary Charlotte McLelland studied at St. Hilda’s Hall, Oxford, and then returned to Canada, where she worked for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind before moving to Florida in the 1940s.639 Her older sister, Helen Grace, also returned to Canada; she married Norman Clair Sutherland in 1924 (Henry Bayly Ransom died in 1918).640
McQueen, Annie Jennie, née Russell (1868–June 17, 1957). London Colney January 8, 1918. Canadian born Annie Jennie Russell McQueen, probably Parr’s “Mrs. McQueen” and sender of fruitcake, resided in Forest Glen Maryland until about 1952, when she moved in with daughter Katherine (“Kass”) Zinkhan in Georgetown.641
McQueen, Margaret Hooper (February 24, 1890–April 1, 1990). Exeter College Oxford, October 27, 1917. Parr’s sister Margaret and her husband, James Russell McQueen (December 13, 1890–September 27, 1981), who worked in the engineering department of Washington Gas Light, lived in Linden, Maryland, until the early 1940s. Four months after her brother’s death, Margaret had a second son, who was christened Parr Hooper McQueen. At some point after 1940 the family, which now included John Herbert (my father) and Kathleen, moved to O Street in the Georgetown section of Washington, D.C. Earlier, in 1935, they had purchased from Otto Dubrau, a German-born Baltimore artist, and his wife Louisa, a summer home, which they named “Queen’s Point,” on St. Leonard’s Creek, tributary of the Patuxent, in southern Maryland. This house eventually became Margaret and Russell’s full-time residence.642 Their oldest son, Parr’s nephew “Jimmy,” James Russell McQueen, Jr. (March 7, 1917–November 28, 1980), inherited the family fascination with boats and flying. He was a pilot during World War II; upon returning from the Asia Pacific Theater, he founded Trojan Boat Company in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.643
Millikin, Louise, née Harriman (March 18, 1886–December 7, 1968). Carmania, September 21, 1917. Mrs. Millikin and her husband, Bryson Carter Millikin (December 31, 1882–Jun 19, 1944) moved, sometime after the war, to Pennsylvania where he worked in insurance.644
Miller, Joseph Maxwell (December 23, 1877–February 20, 1933).645 London Colney December 28, 1917. Miller’s Confederate Women’s Monument was installed at the intersection of Charles Street and University Parkway in Baltimore and unveiled on November 2, 1918.
Milnor, Joseph Kirkbride (March 11, 1893–October 2, 1965). Oxford, Oct. 7, 1917. Milnor trained with the second Oxford detachment at Oxford, Grantham, and Tadcaster. At some point he moved to a non-flying job in London. He appears among the staff officers at American Aviation Headquarters in London in a group photo taken August 1, 1918.646 After the war, he resumed his work as a bond salesman.647
Mudge, Dudley Hersey (November 24, 1893–August 8, 1982). Camp Harrowby, Grantham, November 19, 1917. I have been unable to find information about “Dud” Mudge’s activity during the war after his flying accident on December 5, 1917; possibly the injury to his arm prevented his continuing as an aviator. After the war he settled in Chicago where he became an advertising executive.648
Osler, Grace Linzee Revere (1855–1928). Christ Church, October 18, 1917. Lady Osler remained in Oxford after the war and her husband’s death in 1919.649
Palmer, Robert T. (May 19, 1895–October 7, 1985).650Grantham, November 4, 1917. In early December 1917 Palmer went from Grantham to No. 50 Squadron (a home defense squadron stationed in Kent) and then, in late January of 1918, to Stamford.651 In early April, he, along with Mudge, Milnor, Maloney, and many others, was recommended as a first lieutenant, aviation reserve, non-flying.652 In October he joined the American 85th Aero Squadron, an observation squadron, which had been at Chaumont-sur-Aire since September 30, and most of which moved to Toul in early November.653 He apparently participated in a reconnaissance mission over the enemy lines in DH4s on November 10, 1918.654 1930 finds him an attorney in New York; he and his family subsequently settled in Boston, where he continued his law practice.655
Paskill, Reuben Lee (April 6, 1893–August 9, 1918).656 London Colney, January 8, 1918. Paskill was assigned to Parr’s squadron, No. 32, on June 15, 1918.657 He was credited with a combat victory on July 4, 1918, when he attacked one in a group of eight Fokker biplanes, driving it down out of control.658 However, on August 9, the second day of the Battle of Amiens, while on offensive patrol near Misery (about 30 miles east of Amiens) he was initially lost in action, then determined to have been killed.659 His name is inscribed on the tablets of the missing in the Somme American Cemetery at Bony in France.660
Piggot, Charles Snowden (June 5, 1892–July 6, 1973). London, Colney, January 27, 1918. Charlie Piggot received his Ph.D. in chemistry from Johns Hopkins in 1920 and went on to become an early and important ocean floor marine researcher, working for a number of years at the Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution of Washington.661
Ransom, Henry Bayly (August 1, 1893–October 30, 1918). London Colney, January 8, 1918. Helen Grace McLelland’s husband, invalided out of the army in which he had served from June 1914 through early 1917, had begun a course in forestry at St. Edmund’s Hall, Oxford, “with a Government appointment in prospect in the spring,” when he succumbed to pneumonia.662
Read, Francis Kinloch (September 5, 1895–December 21, 1963).663 London Colney, January 8, 1918. After attending the School of Aerial Fighting at Ayr with Parr, Frank Read was assigned to No. 60 Squadron. On July 2, 1918, apparently as part of a group of planes from that squadron engaging “a formation of Pfalz over Villers Bretonneux,” he was badly wounded but able to land in allied territory.664 At the end of the war, he returned to Baltimore where he managed a lumber company.665
Redden, Cecilia Olive (February 25, 1892–June 26, 1969). Ayr, Scotland, April 3, 1918. On July 13, 1918, Miss Redden was assigned to Base Hospital No. 42, organized under the auspices of the Red Cross in cooperation with the University of Maryland and based at Bazoilles-sur-Meuse in the Vosges Mountains. At the beginning of 1919, she was transferred to Evacuation Hospital No. 21. In June of 1919, she was demobilized and returned to Baltimore where, in 1920, she successfully petitioned to become a U.S. citizen.666 Sometime in the next few years she married the Swedish-born U.S. soldier, (eventually Major) Gunnar John Mortenson (April 1, 1883–December 17, 1959), and they settled in San Francisco.667
Reese, Frederick Focke (October 23, 1854–December 22, 1936) and his wife Ella (née Parr) (October 4, 1854–November 29, 1924). Royal Flying Corps, London Colney, Herto., Jan. 14, 1918. Parr’s Uncle Fred and Aunt Ella continued to reside in Savannah, where Reese served as bishop until his retirement in 1934.668
Ritter, Roland Hammond (October 23, 1892–August 24, 1918).669 Camp Harrowby Grantham, November 19, 1917. “Rit” was posted to No. 56 Squadron, stationed at Valheureux, around the time Parr was posted to No. 32 Squadron.670 On May 16, 1918, flying S.E.5a B4880, he crashed near Naours and was injured, but evidently not badly, for he apparently continued to fly with No. 56 Squadron until June 14, 1918, when he was “struck off strength” and sent to hospital, possibly laid low by the Spanish influenza which affected a number of the squadron’s officers.671 Ritter’s R.A.F. service record indicates he subsequently went to No. 1 Squadron (stationed at Clairmarais South until 4 Aug 1918, then Fienvillers) but does not supply a date.672 On August 24, 1918, flying S.E.5a D6970 on a special mission, he was shot down over enemy lines near Bapaume. Initially listed as missing in action and possibly a prisoner of war, he was eventually confirmed dead and buried in the Somme American Cemetery in France.673
Robin, Mary Katherine, née Whiting (August 4, 1887–November 1989). Post card, February 25, 1918. Mary Katherine Robin’s daughter, Anne de Quetteville Robin, was born on June 18, 1918. I have been able to discover little else about Mary Katherine Robin, other than her death in Sutton, Surrey, at the age of 102.674 Anne de Quetteville Robin became an art teacher and painter.675
Robin, Herman de Quetteville (November 4, 1889–March 31, 1935). London, May 11, 1918. Not long after Parr met Mary Katherine Whiting Robin’s husband and his second cousin, and shortly before the birth of Herman’s and Mary Katherine’s daughter, Herman had a breakdown from which he apparently never entirely recovered. His obituary in the Sydney Morning Herald describes his death in 1935 as the “result of war service.”676
Rogers, Bogart (June 24, 1897–July 24, 1966). [Beauvois]. May 21, 1918. Rogers became an “ace,” with six victories to his credit.677 As he recounts in his letter of February 27, 1919, he was left in charge of what remained of No. 32 Squadron when Major Russell departed to take command of No. 20 Squadron. Rogers returned to California in May, and in June married his sweetheart and correspondent, Isabelle Young. He pursued a successful career in the young motion picture industry. His wartime letters to Isabelle were published by his son in 1966 under the title A Yankee Ace in the RAF: The World War I Letters of Captain Bogart Rogers.678
Rorison, John Lee Chadbourn (October 22, 1894–January 13, 1970).679 R.F.C. Ruislip, November 23, 1917. In mid June Rorison was assigned to Billy Bishop’s No. 85 Squadron, where Grider and Springs were serving. On August 8, he was transferred to No. 84 Squadron, and then on August 14 to No. 24 Squadron. The War Birds entry for August 8, 1918, (apparently inaccurate as to either squadron or date) notes “24 squadron got caught out by a bunch of these new Fokkers and got shot up badly. They had to have some men with experience so we sent over Capt. Caruthers and Rorison.” Rorison was involved in a number of aerial fights that resulted in downed German planes; his description of them is included among the “Extracts from Experiences of Individual Pilots” compiled by Munsell as part of his Air Service History. Munsell’s comment is “Lieut. Rorison was undoubtedly a hard-fighting pilot who was unfortunate in not receiving clean-cut victories.”680 In September, along with Burwell, Rorison was withdrawn from the R.A.F. and went to No. 3 Aviation Instruction Center at Issoudun, ready for transfer to a U.S. squadron.681 He was assigned to the American 25th Aero Squadron on September 23, 1918; before the squadron could receive its full complement of S.E.5a’s, the armistice was signed.682 During this period he also served as a ferry pilot.683 A collection of Rorison’s wartime photos, published by Peter Doyle, Jr., provides valuable documentation of Rorison’s fellow pilots. After the war, Rorison was a “Salesman, Compo Thrift Bond Corp.” living in New York; in his 1922 passport application, he gives his occupation as “banker” and is planning to research shipping in China.684 His brother, Harmon Chadbourn Rorison (1893–1976), who graduated from the Ohio State University ground school a week after John (September 8, 1917), arrived in England in January 1918, along with other members of the 25th Aero Squadron. He had a distinguished career that included flying for Poland after World War I.685
Russell, John Cannan (March 6, 1895–August 15, 1956).686 [Beauvois]. May 21, 1918. Major Russell survived the war; it was with him that Bogart Rogers sought out Viscount Glentworth’s crash site in December of 1918. In his letter of February 27, 1919, Rogers reports that “[t]he major went up to Cologne today to take over a squadron there. . . . He’s taking over one of the best squadrons in France and will probably get to India in a few months.” This was No. 20 Squadron, which went to India in June 1919; on June 3 of that year, Russell was awarded the Distinguished Service Order.687 In 1930 he was serving in Amman, Jordan; in 1938 he was appointed “Air Aide-de-Campe to the King.” He retired in 1943 with the rank of Air Commodore.688
Sehested, Knud (March 13, 1886–September 13, 1980). Oxford, November 1, 1917. Knud Sehested married Paula Hennings on June 27, 1919. Their son, born in 1920, died in 1926; Paula died in 1927. Knud apparently continued to work for New York Ship until 1953. In 1954, he married Elisabeth Sehested; he died in 1980 in Florida.689
Slingluff, Arthur Fenelon (September 7, 1896–May 31, 1962).690 London Colney, March 2, 1918. Arthur, like his brother Jack, moved to Florida, where he worked for a tire company.691
Slingluff, MontgomeryJohns (October 22, 1890–January 1969).692 London Colney, December 28, 1917. Parr’s next door neighbor in Baltimore, “Jack” Slingluff, arrived in France just a few days after Parr’s death and served as a first lieutenant in the ordnance corps in the St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne offensives.693 When he returned to the U.S., he lived for a while with his family on Bolton Street and worked in an auditing firm.694 He relocated to Florida, where he pursued various business interests.695
Spalding, Albert (August 15, 1888–May 26, 1953).696 Carmania, September 21, 1917. Spalding separated from the second Oxford detachment after their arrival in England; he presumably accompanied La Guardia to Paris and then Italy. He was commissioned a first lieutenant in November of 1917.697 He served as La Guardia’s assistant while they were in Italy; towards the end of the war he, like the other American Air Service soldiers in Italy, was assigned to the 1111th Aero Replacement Squadron, although in a non-flying capacity.698 On his return to the United States in 1919 he resumed his concert career.
Springs, Elliott White (July 31, 1896–October 15, 1959). Camp Harrowby, Grantham [November] 4, 1917. Springs served in France under Billy Bishop in No. 85 Squadron. He was wounded in late June of 1918; once recovered, he was transferred to the American 148th Aero Squadron. He became an ace, with a total of sixteen victories, and received both the Distinguished Flying Cross (UK) and the Distinguished Service Cross (US). After the war he returned to South Carolina and became a writer and businessman.699
Stonier, George Alfred (1863–February 23, 1948)700 and Ethel, née Saise (January 2, 1881–February 2, 1957).701 London Colney, March 7, 1918. By the time Parr met the Stoniers, George Stonier was retired; I have found nothing about him after this time. Their son George Walter Stonier became a distinguished man of letters; son Alfred William Stonier pursued a career in economics.
Stratton, Lynn Lemuel (February 23, 1893–September 27, 1964). Exeter College Oxford, October 27, 1917. Stratton was injured while still training in England (see commentary to Parr’s letter of April 13, 1918) and was invalided out. He settled in the Maryland suburbs and worked in Washington D.C. for the Joint Committee on Internal Revenue Taxation.702
Taber, Arthur Richmond (July 22, 1893–February 11, 1919). London Colney, February 10, 1918. Taber left for France not long after his dinner in February 1918 with Parr, Jean McLelland, Ted Brown, and Harold Vassar in London. He trained at the Second Aviation Instruction Center at Tours and then at the 3rd AIC at Issoudun. In early July 1918, became a ferry pilot based at Orly. He was killed in a flying accident at Orly on February 11, 1919; he was buried at Suresnes American Cemetery in the western suburbs of Paris.703 His father, Sydney Richmond Taber, compiled a memorial volume that contains a number of Taber’s letters.
Van Sickle, John Valentine (30 April 1892–October 1975).704 [Fouquerolles] France June 5, 1918. After his discharge from the military and return to the U.S. in January of 1919, Van Sickle went back to France, for “a 14 months tour of duty at the American Embassy in Paris where I prepared daily summaries of the press for an Ambassador [Hugh Campbell Wallace] who could neither speak nor read the language of the country to which he was accredited.”705 He then served with the American unofficial delegation (“unofficial” because of the failure of the United States to ratify the Treaty of Versailles) to the Reparations Commission, Austrian section. He remained in Vienna until late 1923, during which time, under the influence of Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises, he completed his Harvard doctoral thesis on direct taxation in Austria.706 Awarded his Ph.D. in 1924, he taught economics for a time at the University of Michigan before becoming an officer of the Rockefeller Foundation and living again in France. He later taught at Vanderbilt University and at Wabash College before returning to Colorado, where he died in 1975.707
Vassar, Harold Worth (December 6, 1889–April 28, 1972). London Colney, February 10, 1918. Vassar presumably went to France not long after his dinner in February 1918 with Parr, Jean McLelland, Ted Brown, and Arthur Richmond Taber in London. He was recommended for a first lieutenancy in late March 1918.708 Like Taber, he was apparently for a time at the Third Aviation Instruction Center at Issoudun.709 I have found no other information about his wartime activities. He returned to architectural practice in New York after the war.710
Vaughn, George Augustus, Jr. (May 20, 1897–July 31, 1989). London, May 9, 1918. After his brief stint as a ferry pilot in early May, 1918, Vaughn was posted to No. 84 Squadron, commanded by Sholto Douglas and based in Bertangles, France, where he served until he was transferred in August to the American 17th Aero Squadron, a pursuit unit with the British Second and Third Armies on the Western Front. Over the course of five months (June through October 1918), flying initially an S.E.5a and then a Sopwith Camel, he scored 13 victories, bringing down 12 airplanes and 1 balloon. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (UK), the Distinguished Service Cross (US), and the Silver Star (US). On returning to the U.S., he graduated from Princeton in 1919. In the 20s he helped organize an aviation unit of the New York National Guard; he went on to a career as an engineer for Westinghouse and Western Electric.711 In 1980, with the editorial assistance of Marvin L. Skelton, he published some of his letters from 1917–1918 under the title War Flying in France.
Vizard, Harold Charles (February 1, 1894–1969).712 [Pilot’s Flying Log Book] May 15, 18 Offensive Patrol. Albert, Bapaume, Douai. On June 27, 1918, Vizard was sent to hospital and a few days later back to England. He remained on sick leave until the end of July. Thereafter he served as an instructor at 51 Training Depot Station (Shotwick).713 After the war, he returned to his birthplace, Cheltenham in Gloucestershire,714
Welsh, Russell Dutton (November 16, 1889–1954).715 London Colney, February 18, 1918. Parr’s Cornell classmate entered military service as an engineer in May of 1918 and served overseas from August 1918 until July 1919. After the war he pursued a career as a civil engineer.716
Wheeler, Guy Samuel King (March 28, 1891–September 24, 1932).717 Camp Harrowby, Grantham, November 19, 1917. After serving with No. 112 Squadron at Throwley, “Red” Wheeler was transferred to No. 44 Training Squadron at Waddington in Lincolnshire, and then to No. 48 Training Squadron; there are no further entries in his presumably incomplete R.A.F. service record.718 In the meantime, he had achieved a peculiar kind of literary immortality: his Haverford classmate, Christopher Morley, included “Guy S. K. Wheeler” among the possible dedicatees of a collection of essays published in 1918 under the title Shandygaff (the dedication is dated November 1917). Wheeler survived the war, returning to Pennsylvania to teach high school and practice law.719
Whiting, Madeline Holland (4 August 1891–August 1988).720 London Colney, Thurs. Jan. 31, 1918. The “math shark” continued her teaching career; in 1919 she founded Wimbledon Common Preparatory School (also known as “The Squirrels”) “as a place of education for the sons of local gentry in the neighbourhood of Wimbledon Village and . . . a preparatory school for King’s College School and other notable public schools. The premises were in the basement and ground floor of 45 High Street and the principal was Miss Whiting, ‘young middle-aged, a sweet, charming lady’ according to a distinguished former pupil.”721 She “left in 1922. In 1930 she became mathematics mistress at Wimbledon High School and was deputy headmistress there until she retired in 1951.”722
Whiting, Marian Ellen, née Little (1853–November 3, 1927).723 London Colney, Thurs. Jan. 31, 1918.
Whiting, Marian Muriel (April 12, 1881–February 25, 1978).724 London Colney, Thurs. Jan. 31, 1918. After the war Muriel pursued her interests in horticulture and plant collecting. She made a second, longer, trip to Hong-Kong and Canton in 1919–21, another trip to the far east in 1934–35, and, when she was well into her seventies, two collecting trips to Morocco.725 Specimens she brought back were deposited at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, where she worked in a volunteer capacity for many years.726
Whiting, Maurice Henry (October 12, 1885–June 19, 1984). Post card, February 25, 1918. Captain Whiting served in France and was awarded the OBE; after the war he had a long and distinguished career as an ophthalmic surgeon.727
Whiting, Ralph Oakley (January 16, 1893–October 21, 1978). London Colney, Thurs. Jan. 31, 1918. Ralph Whiting pursued a career in the Royal Navy and was an associate member of the Royal Institution of Naval Architects.728
Whiting, William Henry (December 25, 1854–August 27, 1927).729 London Colney, Thurs. Jan. 31, 1918. Mr. Whiting had retired from the Admiralty in June of 1917, but continued professional involvement with the Royal Institution of Naval Architects until very near the end of his life.730
Whiting, William Robert Gerald (May 15, 1884–September 5, 1947). Edinburgh, 7 p.m. Feb. 27, 1918. The oldest Whiting sibling was awarded the MBE for services in World War I; in 1928 the King of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes conferred upon him the Third Class of the Order of St. Sava “in recognition of valuable services rendered by him.”731 He continued working for Armstrong-Whitworth; during World War II he oversaw warship construction on the east coast of Scotland.732
Williams, Francis Thomas (March 5, 1887–December 9, 1966). London Colney, February 10, 1918. Frank Williams was promoted to captain in October of 1918; he was discharged from the military in June 1919; thus far I have found no information on his post-war activities.733
Wilson, Bishop Arlington (November 6, 1896–September 6, 1961). Northolt Aerodome, Nov. 27, 1917. After his time at No. 2 Training Squadron, Northolt, where Parr knew him, Bishop Wilson was assigned to No. 74 (training) Squadron, and then, in March, to No. 94 Squadron.734 74 did not go to France until April of 1918, and 94 did not arrive until the end of October, too late to take part in operations.735 Wilson returned to Canada and settled for a least a while in Alberta, where he operated a coal mine.736 He died September 6, 1961, in British Columbia.737
Winslow, Paul Stuart (April 20, 1892–April 3, 1970). London, May 9, 1918. Alex Revell writes: “Winslow served with 56 Squadron until 12th September 1918 when he was posted to Issoudun as a lecturer on scout fighting, but on 25th September he managed to transfer to London as Assistant to Training Officer Capt. Geoffrey Dwyer. He sailed for the USA on 8th December 1918, arriving on the 17th and was discharged on 23 December 1918. . . . Paul managed the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Honolulu during 1927–1928 and later worked for the Dole Pineapple Company. During WW2 he ended up as Lt. Col. Commanding the 1411 Air Base of the Air Transport Command at Marignane (Marseilles) France in 1945. Paul died in Pebble Beach, California on 3rd April 1970.”738
Wipperman, Frederic Bazin(e) (January 6, 1892–May 22, 1960).739 London Colney, December 28, 1917. “Wip” served with the 311th Engineers in France. Upon his return to the States, he settled in St. Louis and pursued a career in electrical engineering.740
Wolfe, Eugene Lewis (August 20, 1892–September 23, 1942). London, May 9, 1918. “Pete” Wolfe served in naval aviation in France through the end of the war, stationed variously at aviation headquarters in Paris, at the naval air station at Paimboeuf, and at Brest. He returned to Baltimore and founded Wolfe and Mann Manufacturing Co., which his son, also Eugene Lewis, also a Cornellian, joined in the 1940s.741
Wright, Jean Grahame (July 17, 1894–March 1984). Exeter College Oxford, October 27, 1917. In early 1919, in London, Jean Wright married Toronto born Allen Picton Osler Meredith (a great nephew of Sir William Osler), who had joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force in 1914. They lived in Canada, where he pursued a career in real estate.742
Wright, Marion Grahame (February 11, 1862–September 3, 1945). Exeter College Oxford, October 27, 1917. Mrs. Wright returned to Canada and lived in Montreal where her physician son Henry Pulteney Grahame Wright (Sept. 10, 1888–January 27, 1952) and her daughter Marion Gertrude Wright (January 31, 1896–March 9, 1987) also resided after the war.743
Wright, Ottilie Frances. See Howard, Ottilie Frances, née Wright.
Wright, Palmer Howard (February 2, 1891–January 15, 1952). Exeter College Oxford, October 27, 1917. Palmer Howard Wright returned to Canada; he became secretary of the Ontario Jockey Club and lived in Ontario until his death on January 15, 1952.744
Wright, Phoebe Marion (February 7, 1890–December 31, 1972).745 Exeter College Oxford, October 27, 1917. On June 28, 1918, William Osler wrote to a friend: “We marry Phoebe Wright tomorrow (Latin Chapel of the Cathedral) to Reginald Fitz—our old friend’s son.”746 Harvard-trained physician Reginald Fitz was on the staff of Base Hospital 5, the Harvard unit based at Boulogne under the directorship of William Osler’s friend and biographer Harvey Cushing.747 After the war, the couple settled in Massachusetts; he became a dean at Harvard medical school.748