[?]

INDUSTRIAL & OFFLINE TERMINAL RAILROADS
OF BROOKLYN, QUEENS, STATEN ISLAND, BRONX & MANHATTAN:

BROOKLYN ARMY TERMINAL & BUSH TERMINAL

World War II Fallen Servicemen Repatriation Program - November 1947

The following series of images was sent to me by Paul F. Strubeck, who had located them on the web on 17 June 2011.    Please note that these are not all the images in this series, but merely the ones that lend themselves to and in conjunction with railroading in Brooklyn, NY. The remainder of the images may be seen here: images.google.com.    These images were taken in accompaniment with an article carried in the November 17, 1947 issue of Life Magazine, which featured the journey and repatriation of the remains of Sgt. Arnold B. Werner from Henri-Chapple Cemetery in Belgium to his family plot in a cemetery in Hebron, Nebraska.    These images are a photographical accounting of the arrival of fallen servicemen from the European Theater of Operations following World War II who are being repatriated from former overseas burial.

   Following World War II, approximately 56% of families requested the remains of their loved ones to be returned to the United States for reburial in either a National Cemetery or a private cemetery. In 1946, Congress passed legislation authorizing the disinterment of and the shipment of those servicemen's remains back to the United States. The task was assigned to the United States Army Quartermaster General and the staff of the Graves Registration Units did a remarkable job.

  The following is an excerpt from the Henri-Chapelle Cemetery website:

   "This cemetery possesses great military historic significance as it holds fallen Americans of two major efforts, one covering the U.S. First Army's drive in September 1944 through northern France, Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg into Germany, the second covering the Battle of the Bulge. It was from the temporary cemetery at Henri-Chapelle that the first shipments of remains of American war dead were returned to the U.S. for permanent burial. The repatriation program began on July 27, 1947 at a special ceremony at the cemetery when the disinterment began. The first shipment of 5,600 American war dead from Henri-Chapelle left Antwerp, Belgium the first week of October 1947. An impressive ceremony was held, with over 30,000 Belgium citizens attending along with representatives of the Belgium government and senior Americans."

   Following disinterment, the caskets were then placed aboard the "Joseph V. Connolly" in the port of Antwerp, Belgium.

   The "Joseph V. Connolly" arrived in New York on the morning of Oct. 26, 1947, containing 6,248 steel caskets containing the remains of those killed in the European Theater of Operations. On the deck of the "Joseph V. Connolly" was a solitary flag-draped casket surrounded by an honor guard. This casket contained the body of an unnamed Medal of Honor recipient who died in the Battle of the Bulge, selected to represent the rest of the fallen aboard the "Joseph V. Connolly", and the tens of thousands more young men who would be coming home in the months and years ahead.

   Shortly before 1 p.m., the casket was carried ashore by pallbearers and placed on a caisson. A procession of 6,000 military personnel, including General Dwight D. Eisenhower, escorted the body up Fifth Avenue in a solemn parade to Central Park for a memorial service. More than 400,000 New Yorkers lined the streets to watch the sad procession and another 150,000 were at the park for the service.

From: http://www.memorialdayfoundation.org/articles/safely-rest.html

   "It was a parade of sorts that began shortly after the Joseph V. Connolly sailed past Ambrose Light, through the Narrows, and glided slowly into New York harbor in the early morning haze of October 26, 1947. Two sleek navy destroyers, the "USS Bristol" and the "USS Beatty", and the gleaming white Coast Guard cutter, "Spencer", wheeled into position to escort the Liberty Ship as their crews snapped to rigid attention along the guardrails. On the Connolly’s boat deck an honor guard surrounded a solitary flag-draped coffin that stood out in the defused autumn light, a swatch of red, white and blue against the ships gray flanks. The Connolly approached the towering mass of New York City as the huge 16-inch guns of the battleship, "USS Missouri", boomed a salute that echoed off the New Jersey Palisades and back through Manhattan’s man-made canyons. The thunder of the guns rolled away, and a flight of fighter planes roared overhead before gracefully turning to leave the city’s streets in an unnatural quiet. To fill the sudden void, a lone marine on the Bristol’s fantail raised his bugle and sounded “Church Call.” As the notes drifted away, a somber voice broke the silence to deliver a prayer.

   The Connolly slipped into Pier 61 at West Twenty-first Street in Manhattan with a reassuring nudge, marking the end of a journey to fulfill a long-held promise of a grateful nation in bringing her cargo safely home. The accompanying tugboats reversed screws and withdrew in a rush of churning water and pounding engines as the crew cast the Connolly’s lines ashore and she was firmly secured. In her reinforced holds she carried 6,248 coffins containing the remains of American soldiers killed in the European theater of World War II. The casket on deck, bearing an unnamed medal of honor winner killed in the Battle of the Bulge, was a symbol of all the young men who were coming home on the Connolly and of the scores of thousands more American dead who also would be returned in the months and years ahead.

   At 12:45 p.m. the heavy steel sarcophagus was carried ashore by pallbearers representing all the nation’s armed services and placed on a caisson that was hitched to a turreted armored car. A bugle sounded, onlookers wiped away tears, and the procession began, solemnly, quietly, 6,000 men strong, as it moved up Fifth Avenue, past the first ranks of 400,000 New Yorkers who lined the sidewalks on this warm autumn day to pay final tribute to the nation’s war dead. "

   The next day, the "Joseph V. Connolly" was moved to the Brooklyn Army Base, where the caskets were unloaded and prepared for shipments to cities and towns all over America. The caskets were then offloaded into one of four piersheds (which ever the Joseph V. Connolly moored next to) and the caskets transferred to Building B, which had internal trackage and loading docks. It should be noted, that once the caskets were offloaded from the ship and entered the piershed, subsequent movement of the caskets was all indoors, as all four of the two story Brooklyn Army Terminal piersheds were connected to the Building A, and Building A was connected to Building B via enclosed skybridges.

   Once in Building B, the caskets were placed aboard United States Army Transportation Corps Mortuary Cars. These "Mortuary Cars" appear to have been converted from six axle "heavy weight" Pullman passenger cars, but notice in the images that the windows are covered for dignity, respect & privacy.

   After the caskets were loaded aboard the Mortuary Cars, US Army locomotive #7896 (assigned to the Brooklyn Army Terminal), drilled the cars out of the south end of Building B, and placed under guard them in the Brooklyn Army Terminal east railyard (paralleling Second Avenue). Once all the mortuary cars had been loaded, the US Army locomotive moved the mortuary cars onto the First Avenue trackage in the Brooklyn Army Terminal where Bush Terminal locomotive #88 coupled onto the north end of the train.

   With the US Army locomotive uncoupled, Bush Terminal #88 would commence pulling the Mortuary Cars to Bush Terminal along First Avenue to 51st Street where the street trackage entered Bush Terminal Railyard. At this location, the cars were then placed on Bush Terminal Carfloats 41 and 44 via the Bush Terminal float bridges. From here, the carfloats were transported by tugboat to Greenville, NJ; which was a Pennsylvania Railroad facility at that time. Judging from the number of Mortuary Cars seen, this must have been a very labor intensive affair requiring numerous carfloat trips.

   Once at Greenville, NJ; the cars would be sorted and placed according to destination and transferred to their respective railroad carrier to get them to their final destination.

   Regardless of the end destination; these photos are of great historical nature, as they show the coordinated involvement and cooperation of one of Brooklyn's premier offline rail - marine terminals with, and the importance of; the Brooklyn Army Terminal.

   As this webpage shares posting on both the Bush Terminal page of Industrial & Offline Terminals of Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, Bronx and Manhattan website, as well as on the Brooklyn Army Terminal page of the Military Railroads of the New York Metropolitan Area website; you will find links under the last image to return you to the website of which you originated. Of course you can always hit the back arrow on your browser to return you to your originating place.