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21-04-2025
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Look Back: Two volunteer firemen killed in 1942 shanty blast
Apr. 20—Sometime in the spring of 1941, Michael Piga placed 15 sticks of dynamite inside an outhouse turned shanty behind a home at 300 Market St., in the Cork Lane section of Pittston Township. Piga, 54, who was a boarder at the home, was a miner at the No. 9 Coal Company in Hughestown and naturally forgot about the dynamite. A year later, on Aril 24, 1942, a chicken coop next to the shanty caught fire as 12 volunteer firemen responded to extinguish the blaze. "Dynamite stored by a Pittston Township miner in a shanty more than a year ago exploded yesterday afternoon, injuring 12 volunteer firemen as they were laying a line of hose to put a blaze in the outbuilding at the rear of 300 Market St., Cork Lane," the Wilkes-Barre Record reported April 25, 1942. Joseph Walsh, 17, of Poole Street, and Robert Redington, 17, of Market Street, died from injuries sustained in the explosion as 10 other firemen suffered severe burns. Both young men were students at Pittston Township High School when they were killed. "State police identified Michael Piga, a boarder, as the owner of the dynamite and was being held for questioning and possible prosecution for violation of laws covering use and possession of dynamite," the Record reported. When the explosion happened, more than 50 FBI agents from Wilkes-Barre, Scranton and Philadelphia were involved in searching homes in the area where "enemy aliens" were residing. At the time, World War II was underway and the Alien Enemies Act was being enforced, permitting federal agents to search homes occupied by Germans, Italians and Japanese. Inside the home where Piga lived as a boarder, federal agents confiscated two shotguns, four rifles, ammunition, a detonator and a short wave radio equipped with short wave reception bands. The items seized were found in Piga's bedroom, the Record reported. Piga, on April 26, 1942, was charged by state police Corporal Edwin S. Dixon with involuntary manslaughter for the deaths of Walsh and Redington and was arraigned by Justice of the Peace W. Howell Evans in Wyoming Borough. Piga was held at the Luzerne County Prison without bail. "Dixon explained Piga was held without bail because only a court judge is permitted to take bail in such cases. Dixon told a Wilkes-Barre Record reporter Piga admitted he placed 15 sticks of dynamite in the shanty about a year ago and forgot about the explosives," the Record reported April 27, 1942. Piga's time in prison was short lived as District Attorney Leon Schwartz dropped the manslaughter charge due to insufficient evidence.
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24-03-2025
- General
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Look Back: 'Old Jasper' retired in 1928 after 53 years of railroad service
Mar. 23—Jasper C. Gritman, known as "Old Jasper," had an exciting commute to work from his home at 312 E. Market St., Wilkes-Barre — a short walk to the rail yards along today's Wilkes-Barre Boulevard where he hopped onto a street car that took him to Hudson in Plains Township. At 75, Gritman retired after 53 years of service to the Delaware & Hudson Railroad Co. on March 31, 1928. "More than a half century, 53 years to be exact, in the service of one company and 40 of those years as an engineer, is the proud record compiled by Jasper C. Gritman who today will be fittingly honored by his colleagues and superiors," reported the Wilkes-Barre Record on March 31, 1928. Born in Benton Township, Lackawanna County, then a part of Luzerne County on March 9, 1853, Gritman worked on his family's farm until 14, when he worked on the Delaware and Hudson Canal between Honesdale and Roudout, N.Y. The Delaware and Hudson Canal Company ventured into the Delaware and Hudson Railroad Company. Gritman assisted in driving mules to pull barges filled with coal to the Hudson River for two years until he returned to help his father on the family's farm. After his father's death, Gritman grew tired of farmlife and went to Scranton in 1888 and began working for D & H railroad spending the first eight years on the Saratoga Express that traveled between Scranton and Oneonta, N.Y. "For eight years he was a 'brakie' during the regime when air brakes and cabooses were things unknown. His record entitled him to promotion and he was made an engineer 40 years ago," the Record reported. Gritman's promotion in 1888 resulted in relocating to the Heights section of Wilkes-Barre, living on South Welles and South Grant streets before moving to a modest home on East Market Street, which overlooked the rail yards. Having the benefit of working for the railroad, Gritman and his wife rode for free often taking vacations in Erie, Pa., or Niagara Falls, N.Y. Gritman's job as an engineer was handling the throttle of a pusher engine between Hudson, Plains Township, to Moosic. He got to Hudson by street car he hopped onto near the Central New Jersey Passenger Station, today's Luzerne County Visitors Center. On his last day of work, the pusher engine was decorated with flags and banners. "He will drive the engine to Moosic and there a special car will be attached and brought to Hudson. At 4 p.m., a formal homage will be paid to Old Jasper at the throttle," reported the Record. After ceremonies and kind words were said, Jasper was honored at a banquet attended by 300 people at the Hotel Sterling. Jasper died inside his East Market Street home on Jan. 30, 1936, and was buried next to his wife, who died in 1933, in St. Mary's Cemetery in Hanover Township. The couple had five boys.
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24-02-2025
- General
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Look Back: 80th anniversary of the American flag raising on Iwo Jima
Feb. 24—The front page of the Wilkes-Barre Record on Feb. 26, 1945, published what is the most patriotic picture in American history: the raising of the American flag on Mount Suribachi on the island of Iwo Jima during World War II. "Five days, one hour and 30 minutes after American Marines of the Fifth Division waded across the black beaches of the southern end of this island, the American flag flew for the first time from the summit of the 566-foot crater of Suribachi Yama," reported the Record on Feb. 26, 1945. History and Clint Eastwood's 2006 movie, "Flags of Our Fathers," have taught us a smaller American flag was initially raised but a military general wanted the smaller flag as a keepsake and had a much larger American flag raised in its place. Today, digital pictures and videos can be instantaneously transferred by way of the internet and cell phones. Back in 1945, pictures were taken on film that needed to be developed in dark rooms and videos were recorded on 8 and 16 mm film. This year marks the 80th anniversary of the American flag raising on Mount Suribachi by five Marines and one Navy corpsman that took place on Feb. 23, 1945. The patriotic picture of the flag raising was taken by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal, who won the Pulitzer Prize for his iconic photograph. The story of the Battle of Iwo Jima is widely known. Years after I moved away from my childhood home on Boland Avenue in Hanover Township, I learned a fellow resident of the same street fought on Iwo Jima and the Pacific theater during World War II. As kids racing bikes and building forts in the woods behind my childhood house, there was a man we knew as "old man Alex" who dug coal to heat his tiny wooden home. We also called him "Red" as he had a tint of red hair. We kids enjoyed Alex's company. He would talk to us in the woods about the "old days" or stop by and talk to us whenever we hung out at the Lee Park Playground. Alex was Alex Luckes, who was a captain of the Hanover Township football team his senior year in 1940 and played football at Duke University in North Carolina. It was in his sophomore year at Duke when Luckes enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in October 1942. After extensive research on and newspaper archives, I learned Luckes was called for service in July 1943, and attached to the 1st Battalion, 13th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division based out of San Diego, Calif. The 5th Marine Division took part in the Battle of Iwo Jima that began Feb. 16, 1945, and ended March 26, 1945. Rosenthal's picture of the American flag raising, as widely reported, occurred on Feb. 23, 1945, several days after the Marine landing on Iwo Jima. Luckes, whom I've previously written about in a 2020 Look Back, died June 20, 1996, and is buried in St. Mary's Cemetery in Hanover Township. Reporter's note: I have a poster of Rosenthal's picture of the American flag raising in my basement home gym — the only poster hanging on the walls.
