Massachusetts Commandery of The Military Order of the ...

The Companion

Massachusetts Commandery of The Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States

No. 4 / December 2013

Editor: R. E. Schecter

508-820-7789

bartscriv@

New Companions

Robert Frederick

(Bob) Anderson

Retired U.S. Army paratrooper Bob Anderson (82nd Airborne) is not new to MOLLUS; he's been a member of the Connecticut

Commandery for years. But now he's a "dual" member, and already involved in the promotion and production of the 2014 National Congress. Bob grew up with pride-in-regiment, which he says he inherited from his great grandfather, killed in the first assault on the trenches before Petersburg, and from his uncle, who was a paratrooper in the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment (the "Band of Brothers" unit) during WW II. Bob has designed and produced a MA MOLLUS polo shirt with embroidered MOLLUS badge.

Perley Mellor

Associate Companion Perley Mellor, twoterm Commander of the Sons of Union Veterans of Continued on page 2

Massachusetts to Host 2014 Congress

The Massachusetts Commandery is honored to host the 2014 MOLLUS National Congress--October 3, 4, 5, 2014--in historic Framingham, site of the first public singing of Julia Ward Howe's Battle Hymn of the Republic.

Friday October 3

Registration (all day) at the Framingham Sheraton Hotel and Conference Center

Commander Frederick Stevens

3:00 pm?5:00 pm--Visit to the Framingham History Center to view Civil War memorabilia displayed in this restored 1877 memorial to Framingham citizens who served in the War.

2:00?4:00 (estimated) --Optional Visit to McAuliffe Space Center, Framingham State University

6:15?7:30 pm --Cocktail Reception at Longfellow's Wayside Inn

7:30?10:00 pm--Dinner at the Wayside Inn, a hostelry made famous by poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in his Tales of the Wayside Inn--restored thanks to Henry Ford.

Saturday October 4

Framingham History Center

8:00 am?12:00 am--MOLLUS Business Meeting

8:00 am?10:00 am--DOLLUS Business Meeting

est. 10:30 am?11:45 am--Presentation of Julia Ward Howe by reenactor Libby Franck. Singing of Battle Hymn of the Republic.

12:30 pm-4:30 pm--Bus Tour of Civil War Boston-

Cambridge (box lunch served on board) A docent-led one-stop bus tour of Civil War-associated

Longfellow's Wayside Inn

locations in Boston, including: Mount Auburn Cemetery; the Au-

gustus Saint-Gaudens sculpted memorial to the first African-Amer-

ican volunteer Civil War Regiment; the Union Club; and more.

6:15 pm?7:30 pm--Cocktail reception at the Framingham Sheraton

7:30 pm?10:00 pm--Congress Banquet, including Civil War color guard; toasts and remarks; playing of the Loyal Legion March (composed for MOLLUS by John Philip Sousa); and keynote presentation by historian-mystery writer William K. Martin, Jr., author of The Lincoln Letter.

Sunday October 5

Self-guided tours of nearby places of historic and aesthetic interest, such as: Freedom Trail; African Meeting House; Public Garden; Museum of Fine Arts; New England Aquarium; Boston Symphony; Historic Concord; Tower Hill Botanical Garden

Gift Book

Companions will receive a gift bag of New England-associated food products, and a book, commissioned by MA MOLLUS for the Congress, entitled: Our Forebears and Massachusetts in the Civil War (Spring 2014).

Perley Mellor

Continued

the Civil War, counts three ancestors who served in the Union Army, two on his mother's side and one on his father's--one each in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont regiments. "I'm sure there are more," he says, because "the family in Vermont is very large, and I am still looking into that side of It."

"My family has been in the SUVCW for as long as I can remember. My grandfather, Henry Mellor, was, I believe, Camp Commander in 1945. I know he was Camp Sr. Vice Commander in 1944. Both of my grandmothers and some of my aunts were in the Auxiliary. I joined in 1960 as a member of Willie Grout Camp #25, in Worcester-- I became Camp Commander in 1964-- and I've added a membership in the W.W. Brown Camp # 1, New Hampshire Department.

"My wife of 46 years, Diane Mellor, past Department President of the Massachusetts ASUVCW, is now National President of the ASUVCW. I have three daughters in the Auxiliary: Jennifer Hosking, Heather Needleman, and Veronica Mellor."

Robert Schecter, PhD

Associate Companion Schecter is the principal of Bartleby Scriveners, a general writing service. Previously, he taught history at the University of Florida and the University of Virginia, and was Director of Publications for the American Family Foundation/International Cultic Studies Association. A resident of Framingham, MA, site of the 2014 MOLLUS Congresss, he has been commissioned by the MA Commandery to write Our Forebears and Massachusetts in the Civil War (Spring 2014)

2

Framingham Historian Wallace Presents on Gordon at Antietam

Frederick Wallace, the Framingham Town Historian, gave a pictorial and diagrammed account, at our Congress 2014 planning meeting, of the Battle of Antietam, with special reference to the part played by Gen. Charles Gordon. Fred is the author of Framingham's Civil War Hero: The Life of General George H. Gordon. His next book, on Antietam, should be out by the end of this year. It will be available for purchase at the Congress, along with the Gordon volume.

Planning for the 2014 Congress

Annual MOLLUS Congress

October 18?20, 2013 Lincoln Memorial University, Harrogate, TN

The Lincoln Museum (left), War, North and South," by

at Lincoln Memorial University, site of a presentation (right) on "Prison Camps of the Companion Tim Daley, Director of the Cuyahoga County (OH) Civil War Monument.

Installation of MOLLUS officers for 2013?2015, third from the right, incoming Commander-in-Chief Waldron Kintzing Post II.

Companions visit the Lincoln Museum Archive.

A 100th birthday card for former MOLLUS Commander-in-Chief and MA MOLLUS Commander Lenahan O'Connell. Guests also sang Happy Birthday to Lenahan over a phone hookup.

MA Mollus Commander LTC Frederick Stevens and his son, Wyatt.

Passages . . .

3

Steven G. Kelsch

Associate Companion Steven G. Kelsch, 62, of Hingham, Massachusetts died July 7, 2013, survived by his wife Stephanie. Steve, who retired from a thirty-year career teaching English at Stoughton Middle School, served in the Massachusetts Army National Guard for 38 years, much of that time as a 1st Sergeant. While in the Guard, he graduated from the United States Sergeants Major Academy, served on active duty in the War on Terrorism, and received numerous awards, including the Legion of Merit. Steve also served as Historian for the 54th Massachusetts. In 2012, he received the Hinghams Veteran of the Year Award. In addition to MOLLUS, Steve was a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, the Military Historical Society of Massachusetts, and Friends of Gettysburg. Joined by Stephanie, Steve sought, through presentations in public schools, to help others learn the lessons and richness of history.

George Brenneman Barner

Companion George Brenneman

Barner, 104, died on September

10. A resident of Kennebunkport,

Maine, Companion Barner--Har-

vard (1929) and Boston University

Law School (1934)--was a former Judge Advocate- in-Chief of MOLLUS, as well as a life member of both the Sons of the American Revolution and the Ancient & Honorable Artillery Company. He traced his Civil War-officer ancestry to Maj. Christian Long, of Shippensburg,

Pennsylvania, who received his commission as a pay-

master from Gen. Grant. Companion Barner's sur-

vivors include his son Christian Long Barner, also of

Kennebunkport, also a MA MOLLUS Companion.

MA MOLLS Companions will receive free hotel rooms at the congress

Dear MA MOLLUS Companion: If you attend the Annual National Congress and stay at the Sheraton Framingham Hotel and Conference

 ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download