Almost fixed

I was pleasantly surprised when I drove by Miller Green this afternoon. The McGovern monument was removed (for the most part). Thank you to the family for doing the right thing. There will be a wreath laying at the site on Memorial Day, Monday, May 25th at 11:30.




Now we just need to get this hunk of cement, that was the base of the monument, unearthed and removed.

Sprinter* is over and Spring has officially arrived

Today officially marked the first day of spring for me because I spotted the season's first Fall River youth sporting a Fall River tuxedo, the wifebeater and baggy jeans. This reminded me that the ground is now soft enough to remove a certain monument squatting on the green dedicated to the Fall River war hero who died in a Japanese prison camp during WWII, Corporal David Miller.

An organization in Fall River is planning a memorial service and wreath laying for David Miller on his green next month. Pat Casey needs to get her ass in gear and follow through with the promise she made to correct the egregious error she and Bob Correia committed when they stole David Miller Green and renamed it for a local restaurant owner.

PAT CASEY and BOB CORREIA: WE WILL NOT FORGET!


*Sprinter is the name given to the season Pat Casey thinks comes between Winter and Spring (copyright WJ Bloggah/Westcoast transplant 2009)

Miller Green v. McGovern Square

1946 Dedication of Miller Green (Square)

"In honor of all the boys of the southern section of the city who served in the armed forces during WWII and to be named Corporal Miller Green"


2008 Order for McGovern Square by Councilor Pat Casey

"delicious American food for weddings, family gatherings and other occasions at the banquet facility while simultaneously running the restaurant."

POSTPONED - Help Honor a Hero

UPDATE:
Due to a scheduling conflict, the Miller memorial ceremony has been postponed. I will post the new date when I have it.
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Thanks to some concerned veterans, there will be a memorial ceremony to honor Corporal David L. Miller at 12:00pm on Sunday Dec. 7. The memorial will be held at the square previously known as Miller Square (currently known as McGovern Square thanks to Pat Casey, Bob Correia, and others). Please come and help honor the life and remember the heroic death of Corporal Miller.

Dec. 7, 2008 is the 67th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attacks and is a very appropriate day for Corporal Miller's memorial. I hope many people can join us. Hopefully we can either convince the powers that be to correct their error or we can join together to right the situation on our own.

In Memory of Corporal David L. Miller

66 years ago today, Corporal David L. Miller, son of Fall River, gave his life for our freedom in a Japanese prison camp after surviving the Bataan Death March.



(Due to the nature surrounding Corporal Miller's death, there is conflicting information about when he died. This plaque says 1943, however, the WWII Memorial site has Corporal Miller's date of death as November 23, 1942)

Corporal David L. Miller was born in Fall River in 1916. After graduating high school in Fall River, he spent some time working in publishing/printing. In 1939 Hitler invaded Poland starting WWII. One year into WWII, on 11/12/1940, at the age of 24, David Miller enlisted as a private in the Army Air Corps.

Private Miller soon became Corporal Miller. Corporal Miller was stationed in the American-held Philippines in 1941. In December of 1941, the Japanese Army invaded the Philippines. The combined Filipino and US forces were being gradually overrun and General Douglas MacArthur decided to make Bataan the site of a last stand. After months of fighting, on April 3, 1942 the Japanese began an all-out assault on the American and Filipino troops left on the Bataan peninsula. Bataan fell on April 9, 1942 when the Americans surrendered to the Japanese marking the beginning of the Bataan Death March. Corporal David L. Miller was one of the 70,000 soldiers captured, by the Japanese, and forced to embark on a 65 mile torturous hike from Bataan to a prison camp.

From the day of surrender on, the POWs were harshly beaten and killed for the slightest or no reason at all. Any troops who fell behind were executed. Japanese troops beat soldiers randomly, and denied the POWs food and water for many days. Anyone who dared ask for water was executed. On the rare occasion they were given any food, it was only a handful of contaminated rice.

The men, already desperately weakened by hunger and disease, suffered unspeakably during the March. Regardless of their condition, POWs who could not continue or keep up with the pace were summarily executed. Even stopping to relieve oneself could bring death, so many chose to continue walking while relieving themselves. Some of the guards made a sport of hurting or killing the POWs. The Marchers were beaten with rifle butts, shot or bayoneted without reason. Most of the POWs got rid of their helmets because Japanese soldiers on passing trucks hit them with rifle butts. Some enemy soldiers savagely toyed with POWs by dragging them behind trucks with a rope around the neck. Japanese guards also gave the POWs the "sun treatment" by making them sit in the sweltering heat of the direct sun for hours at a time without shade.

"Their ferocity grew as we marched ... they were no longer content with mauling tragglers or pricking them with bayonet points. The thrusts were intended to kill."-Capt. William Dyess, 21st Pursuit Squadron commander

Corporal Miller survived the death march beatings, starvation, and dehydration and made it to the Japanese prison camp, where 27,000 Filipinos and 2,200 Americans, including Corporal Miller died.
Click to watch the very emotional story of a Bataan Death March Survivor


Information compiled from:
National Archives - Military Record of David Miller
WWII Memorial site
National Museum of the USAF
University of San Diego

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As I mentioned in my previous blog post. Mayor Correia and City Councilor Pat Casey spearheaded the project to remove and relocate Corporal Miller's Memorial at Corporal Miller Square on Shove and South Main Streets and replace it with a new huge memorial to Paul McGovern. Correia dedicated the McGovern tribute and renamed the square after him. I am OUTRAGED that Correia stole this brave soldier's tribute. I, in no way, mean to disparage the memory of Mr. McGovern; that being said, this reeks of political patronage.

Shame on Bob Correia, Pat Casey, and all those involved in tearing up, relocating, and renaming Corporal Miller's memorial: You are stealing our history.

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
-George Santayana

Lest anyone forget

It is apparent that the system for commemorating notable Fall Riverites is severely flawed. Lackluster former mayors get rewarded with schools named after them:

while the shining stars of Fall River such as Dr. Irving Fradkin, the founder of Dollars for Scholars get this:

In 1958, Dr. Irving Fradkin founded the initial "Dollars for Scholars" chapter by challenging everyone in his community, Fall River, to give at least one dollar toward sending its youth to college. 50 years later Dr. Fradkin's "Scholarship America" has provided scholarships for over 1.5 million students and he still lives right here in Fall River.

I think that Mayor Correia may have gotten the commemorations backwards. Certainly Fradkin deserves something more honorable than a 1 foot by 1 foot sign hanging from a metal post.....

I recently went to visit the Paul K. McGovern square that Mayor Correia dedicated a few weeks ago. It is a lovely tribute to an obviously beloved restaurateur of Fall River but I couldn't help feeling that it belongs in a cemetery rather than a city square.

Hiding behind the giant McGovern memorial, was a tiny plaque that I discovered. The plaque indicated that the square, now McGovern Square, had previously been dedicated to Corporal David L. Miller, a son of Fall River. It reads "In Memory of David L. Miller, Corporal in the United States Army, a son of Fall River. Survivor of the Bataan Death March of 1942, he died in a Japanese prison camp in 1943. Lest anyone forget, may this garden serve as humble reminder of the sacrifice of all who gave their lives for liberty."

The plaque in the square that was once a tribute to a Fall River soldier who died in the line of duty now lies in the shadow of an enormous slab of granite memorializing a restaurateur.

If we are honoring notable Fall Riverites, where is the tribute to Fall River's resident Nobel Peace Prize winner, Dr. David Greer? In 1985, a group that Dr. Greer and five other American physicians established in collaboration with six Soviet Union physicians, The Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, won the Nobel Peace Prize.