WWII Army Service Patches

 

Isn't this a great looking patch?  

I'm currently working with the Bethlehem Historical Association on an exhibit about what our town was like in the 1940s.  It will, of course, look at World War II service people as well as the home front. 

If you've got a minute, you can pop over to this blog post for a snippet from that era https://bethlehemnyhistory.blogspot.com/2019/06/a-wwii-story.html

As part of the exhibit prep, the committee is looking for things related to that era in Bethlehem.  I found an Army uniform in an antique shop in Coxsackie and scooped it up for the exhibit.  It had a couple of patches on it but no identifying information about who owned/wore the uniform.  

Various websites concur about the imagery of the patch above.  The thunder bolts are snapping the chains of Nazi oppression. The patch indicates service in the European Theatre of Operations - the ETO. 

One site specifies that it is part of the ADSEC, the Advanced Section, Communications Zone, European Theater of Operations, United State Army.  ADSEC supported the operations of the Army in a myriad of ways including establishing supply dumps and depots, reconstructing railways, repairing bridges and building fuel lines. One newspaper clipping I found reported that "One ADSEC Dump Has Food for 33,000,000 Army Meals" (Brooklyn Eagle, April 5, 1945)

Also on the uniform is the patch below. It has the wonderful nickname of the Ruptured Duck.  This is an honorable discharge insignia that would have been sewn onto the uniform jacket after the veteran left military service. 

With these two patches, we can speculate that the owner of the jacket served behind the lines in Europe suppling and supporting the front (maybe they were an engineer or truck driver or served in one of the ADSEC field hospitals) and that they were honorably discharged after their service. 

If you have 1940s related memorabilia, especially with a Bethlehem connection, I'd love to hear from you.  The BHA exhibit will be installed in the late fall this year - hopefully! We are planning to set up an "office" display and are on the look out for desk top items from that era, like fountain pens and an ash tray (remember when those were ubiquitous? - kind of hard to find these days!) 

Feel free to email me, sleath@townofbethlehem.org

Too Many James Selkirks

 There are just too many James Selkirks.  All of them are intriguing, but I am having a time sorting them all out. 

My latest Selkirk family research lead me to this wonderful picture (thank you Sharon and Keleigh!)

A note with the photo says it is "James Selkirk who settled in Texas and fought for the south."  But which James is it?

It is certainly not my # 1 James Selkirk (1757-1820), that is the Revolutionary War veteran, memoir writer, tailor, farmer who married Elizabeth Henry (1766-1844) in 1786.*  And it is not his son James who died in 1821 because the image is a daguerreotype probably from the 1840s or 50s. 

The person pictured has to be one of James and Elizabeth's two grandsons that are named James. Both of the cousins went to Texas. 

The first possibility is James Selkirk (1815-1862) son of William Selkirk (1792-1828) and Matilda Hallenbake (1794-1820).  William (son of #1 James) was the first to go to Texas about 1822. This James was born in Bethlehem and went to Texas after his father died out there. 

The second is James Selkirk (c. 1824-1869), son of Robert Selkirk (1797-1872) and Maria Boucher (1802-1881). Robert is also a son of #1 James and a brother to William. That makes these two James cousins.  A genealogist in the family, Theodore Selkirk, compiled an extensive Selkirk family tree and a descendant, Michael Wolf added to that with this paragraph:

"James Selkirk born circa 1824 died April 18, 1869 at Brenham Washington County Texas. Cousin of James Selkirk 1815-1862 and lived in Matagorda with him. Built the dock at Matagorda. In Confederate Army Capt. Co D 6th Texas Infantry. War record in National Archives, visited in prison of war camp at Columbus Ohio by his father Robert."

So there you have it.  Add in the fact that this photo came down through the Willis family who are descendants of Robert and Maria, and I am pretty sure this is the right James Selkirk. 

And just for fun, here's a picture of Robert Selkirk, father of  James.

And here's a picture of his brother John 

And his sister Lucinda Selkirk Leedings.  Hopefully by now you see the family resemblance!

* I'm not even going to deal with the family tree on Ancestry that has my #1 James as the son of James Selkirk (1733-1758) who is the son of James Selkirk (1702-1727). Do you see how those dates don't really line up?