1940s: August 2009 Archives

Nagasaki Destruction, August 1945

I am continuing to read through the Red Lion Echoes newsletters from World War II. Previous posts told of two Colonels from Yoe, Red Lion man present at Tojo's attempted suicide and the quiet heroism of a Red Lion sailor.

The photos above are four of a dozen published in the January 1946 issue of Red Lion Echoes. These scenes of the horrible devastation at Nagasaki on August 9, 1945 were loaned to the Echoes editor by Sgt. Joe Tyson, 7th Combat Cargo Sqdn., 2nd Combat Cargo Group.

I assume they were taken by Sgt. Tyson soon after the bombing. One photo seems to show servicemen riding in an open truck as a lone bicyclist passes by.

They really do underscore the hell of war.

The editor of Red Lion Echoes wrote:

Fig orchard on East King Street

I came across the striking photo above while looking for something else on the database at the York County Heritage Trust Library/Archives. Volunteers are loading images from the vast photo collection into the database so that they can be easily viewed without handling the original photographs. I was surprised to see the lush, tropical fig trees growing in York County. How Mr. Cicero accomplished the feat is explained below, transcribed from the September 6, 1946 Gazette and Daily.

Check out this link to Mr. Cicero's Sicilian home town, Cattolica Eraclea. It is still only about 5,000 inhabitants, but it sounds like a great place to visit with lots of history, including a significant archaeological site of Greek ruins. By clicking Local Family Names on the site and doing a search, I found that there are about six people in Cattolica Eraclea now with the surname Cicero. There is also a list of families there with over 100 people per surname. There are some familiar local and national names on that short list.

I am still going through some of the Red Lion Echoes passed on to me by a friend. The World War II newsletter was for and about Red Lion area service men and women.

Some of my favorite historical sources are letters, diaries and newspapers, all created at the time. The following letter was shared with the community in the December 1945 issue of Red Lion Echoes. I'm sure similar letters were written many times over. You get the feeling that the officer whose life was saved by the Red Lion seaman thought that sailor might be too modest to relate the story when he returned home.

The article reads: