Barnestorming: A tale of two tragedies across two centuries
I know many things these days are seen as tragedies and most are certainly tragic, but there are things I have seen or heard about that seem to rip your heart out.
There are two men who died a little over 100 years apart that embody this kind of tragedy that is nearly unbearable.
I have been reading a lot about World War I lately because the war has always been something of a mystery to me. The war was brutal, and it saddens me to imagine families back home waiting in vain for news that their loved one is coming home.
First Lt. and Catholic chaplain William F. Davitt came about as close as possible to coming home but never making it. Had he survived an hour-and-a-half longer, he might have lived to a ripe old age.
Davitt grew up in Chicopee and attended college in Worcester. He was killed in an artillery attack in France on Nov. 11, 1918, the day the armistice went into effect. He was 31.
It is one of those what-ifs that will never make sense. A 1907 graduate of the College of the Holy Cross, he was celebrating the soon-to-be end of the war when an artillery shell struck nearby, killing him.
Had he been in a different place, maybe a few steps away, he might have been spared.
There were many other times during the war when Davitt should have been more at risk. He was cited for bravery in action several times.
In 1917, Davitt rallied troops and fought through heavy machine gun fire to rescue Americans cut off during an advance near the Vesle River. For his actions he was awarded the French Croix de Guerre with palm. He never seemed to shy away from danger. His actions also earned him the Distinguished Service Cross and the Silver Star.
Davitt is believed to have been the last American killed in the war and may have been killed by one of the last shells fired by the Germans in what was supposed to be the war to end all wars.
In his memory, the intersection of Park Avenue and Pleasant Street in Worcester is known as Davitt Square. In Chicopee, the William F. Davitt Memorial Bridge commemorates his sacrifice.
On Nov. 13, a little more than 101 years after Davitt’s tragic death, Worcester lost another hero. Fire Lt. Jason Menard, 39, died Nov. 13, 2019, during a fire in a three-decker at 7 Stockholm St.
He died a hero, saving lives at a cost of his own. Menard and fellow firefighters from Ladder 5 out of the McKeon Road Fire Station were in the building searching to make sure no residents were still inside. There had been reports earlier of people trapped in the burning building.
Three-decker fires can get out of control fast. While Menard and other firefighters were battling the blaze, fire spread through the third floor. He and Firefighter Chris Pace became trapped and surrounded by the flames. In one of his last acts, he pushed Pace out a window to safety before he was overcome by the fire and died. He was credited to getting two members out of the building alive.
Menard was 39. He left behind a wife and three children. On June 3, 2020, he was posthumously awarded the Ray Downey Courage and Valor Award, created to honor firefighters whose actions deserve national recognition. On March 8, 2021, he was also awarded the Medal of Honor at the 31st annual Massachusetts Firefighter of the Year Awards.
Davitt volunteered to serve as an Army chaplain. He went into battle unarmed other than with his faith and a determination to do his duty. When many others lost their nerve under the constant shelling and machine gun fire, Davitt never flinched. He deserved to return home with his fellow soldiers, but it doesn’t always work that way.In Worcester, firefighters gather each year to remember Menard and others who paid the ultimate price.
On Dec. 3 the department also annually marks the Worcester Cold Storage and Warehouse Co. fire that took the lives of Lt. Thomas Spencer, Lt. Jay Lyons and Firefighters Paul Brotherton, Timothy Jackson, Jeremiah Lucey and Joseph McGuirk.
Firefighter Jon Davies Sr. was killed Dec. 8, 2011, in a fire at 49 Arlington St., and Firefighter Christopher Roy died Dec. 9, 2018, in a fire at 7 Lowell St. Each loss cuts deeply in the community.
Like the loss of Chaplain Davitt, firefighters put themselves in danger every time they are called to fight a fire. What is never easy to explain is why some of them are lost, but others facing the same dangers survive.
George Barnes is a former reporter for the Telegram & Gazette. His column appears regularly in the Sunday Telegram.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: George Barnes column on Chaplain William F. Davitt and Fire Lt. Jason Menard
