The Osterville Record - Osterville Village Association

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Courtesy of Osterville Historical Museum archives.
The Osterville Record
A P u b l i c at i o n o f t h e O s t e r v i l l e V i l l ag e A s s o c i at i o n
S u m m er 2 0 1 4
A Century at Sail…
Winter
In the summer of 1914, the foxtrot was all the rage, and the
Boston Red Sox debuted Babe Ruth as their rookie pitcher.
Here in Osterville’s West Bay, fourteen boats launched a fleet
that would further solidify the Crosby boat building legacy.
In the early 1900s, the families that flocked to Osterville in the
summer were instrumental in the formation of the clubs that
soon opened: the Wianno Club, Oyster Harbors, and Seapuit.
All of them were known for their fine dining, golf, bathing
beaches, and sailing. These summer residents—some magnates
of industry at the time including DuPonts and Mellons—
commissioned the Crosbys to build a new one-design class of
racing boats—the Wianno Seniors.
By this time, Osterville’s own Crosby family had gained a
reputation for their boat building excellence. Crosby catboats
filled the waters of Nantucket sound.
H. Manley Crosby’s “new” gaf-rigged, centerboard sloops
enabled sailors to have evenly matched competitions. The 25’
Wianno Seniors, with 600 pound cast iron ballasts in the keels
and 366 square feet of sail area, were built to handle the choppy
waters of Nantucket Sound and the 25 knot southwest winds.
In total over 200 Wianno Seniors have been built. The Wianno
Seniors with hull numbers up to 173 were wooden. Today, the
Wianno Senior Class Association is an active group dedicated
to continuing the fleet.
The Crosbys remain America’s oldest, currently active, wooden
boat building family. For more on the Wianno Senior
centennial and Crosby boat building, visit the Osterville
Historical Museum’s 2014 exhibit Sail into the Past: 100 Years
of the Wianno Senior.
.
Above: The Wianno Senior Class Association flag
waves on the village flagpole. Thank you to
Leonard Insurance for generously donating to the
OVA flag fund.
OVA Annual Meeting
Wednesday, August 20th
The public is welcome to attend.
The meeting will take place at
7:30 p.m. in the Village Library.
Guest speaker:
Dick Flavin –poet laureate &
goodwill ambassador of
the Boston Red Sox.
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Osterville’s WWII “Jumpin’ Jim:”
General James M. Gavin
There are many reasons to be proud of Osterville.
But one of the best is that the Village was the
adopted home of General James M. Gavin, best
known as the commander of the famed 82nd
Airborne Division during World War II. A
monument honoring Gavin can be found at
Veterans Memorial Square in Osterville.
Gavin grew up poor and his childhood was
harsh. Born on March 22, 1907, he was an
orphan who was adopted as a toddler by Martin
and Mary Gavin from Mt. Carmel, Pennsylvania.
They named him James Maurice Gavin. His
adoptive father, Martin, was a coal miner who
could barely support the family. As a result,
James Gavin dropped out of school in the 8th
grade and went to work at the age of 12 soaping
miners’ beards in a barbershop, delivering boots
for a shoemaker, and working in a filling station.
At 17 he ran away to New York for fear that he
too would end up in the mines. While there he
enlisted in the United States Army lying about his
age to the recruiter and claiming that as an orphan
he had no parents who could sign his enlistment
papers.
In the Army, Gavin was sent to Panama.
While serving as an enlisted man he learned that
as such, he could apply for admission to West
Point without a congressional appointment. He
enrolled in a local private school to catch up on
the basic education that he had missed by
dropping out of school. Eventually he took the
In His Own Words…
test for
admission to
the U.S.
Military
Academy and
was admitted.
While at
West Point he
worked hard
generally
rising early to
put in extra study time. In 1929, he was
commissioned as a Second Lieutenant.
Showing promise as an officer, Gavin was
selected early on to attend the Infantry School
at Fort Benning, Georgia, where he studied
under then Colonels George Marshall and
Joseph Stillwell. After assignments to Fort Sill
in Oklahoma and the Philippines, Gavin
volunteered for parachute training in 1941.
Having studied German blitzkrieg tactics, he
became a strong believer in the future of
airborne warfare. The Army assigned him to
train and lead an experimental airborne unit,
the 503rd Parachute Infantry Battalion. Gavin
authored an instruction manual on airborne
tactics. With the attack on Pearl Harbor, the
Army converted the 82nd Infantry Division into
America’s first airborne unit. Gavin, now a
major, commanded the 505th Parachute
Regiment and at 35 was promoted to Colonel.
“There is a school of thought that the general can best take care of his troops and look out for their
interests by controlling the battle from his Command Post well to the rear. I find this particularly
disturbing because today, with small computers and modern information processing systems,
individuals can find many more reasons to rationalize their presence in the Command Post rather
than with the troops. There can be no question that the place for the general in battle is where he
can see the battle and get the odor of it in his nostrils. …If he is able to do this, he is in a position
to know firsthand the conditions under which his troops are fighting, to see to it that they are
adequately supplied and taken care of, and to be sure that the missions given to them are realistic
in terms of their capabilities. Furthermore, by his example, he can instill considerable confidence
in the troops and elicit from them a desire to perform better. There is no substitute for the general
being seen.” ~ James M. Gavin, On To Berlin, Viking Press 1978
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Colonel Gavin led the 505th in the Army’s
first airborne combat landing when the
regiment jumped off into Sicily in high winds
and complete darkness scattering paratroopers
miles from their objectives. Going for nearly
three days without sleep, Gavin fought in the
front lines and organized disparate bands of
troopers into cohesive units that ultimately
thwarted a German armored counterattack
thereby securing the American landings on
Sicily’s beaches. He had proven his mettle as a
soldier and his decisiveness as a leader.
In England preparing for Operation
Overlord, General Matthew Ridgeway in
command of the 82nd Airborne Division named
Gavin its assistant commander. Promoted to
Major General at the same time, Gavin now 37
years old became the youngest U.S. Army
general in World War II and later when he
took command of the 82nd, the Army’s
youngest division commander since the Civil
War. By this time he had earned the
sobriquets “the boy general” and “Jumpin’ Jim
Gavin.”
General Gavin jumped with his
paratroopers into Normandy on June 6, 1944.
Fighting alongside his men (many were as
young as 18), he again proved relentless in
combat. Urging on recalcitrant units and
constantly maneuvering throughout the
battlefield, Gavin saw to it that the 82nd
captured and held the important crossroads at
St. Mere Eglise and crucial bridges over the
Merderet River. He could be unforgiving,
oftentimes relieving on the spot any officer that
he suspected of lacking aggressiveness.
During Ridgeway’s absence at
Christmastime 1944, Gavin was in temporary
command of the XVIII Airborne Corps when
the Germans counterattacked through the
Ardennes Forest starting what would be
known as the Battle of the Bulge. In response,
General Gavin ordered the 101st Airborne
Division to Bastogne and his own 82nd further
north to St. Vith where he joined them upon
Ridgeway’s return. Both units were crucial in
turning the tide and ultimately pushing the
enemy back into Germany. In his memoirs
Gavin recounted that the fighting at St. Vith
was as brutal as that seen at Bastogne and he
chafed somewhat that all of the glory had gone
to the 101st.
Ultimately General Gavin led his 82nd
Airborne Division into Germany and then into
an occupation role. After the war he was
instrumental in developing the doctrine of
maintaining battlefield mobility and advocated
for use of the helicopter, a doctrine that
became central to the Army’s tactics in
Vietnam. Eventually, General Gavin became
an outspoken critic of Army doctrine that
favored reliance upon nuclear deterrence over
conventional forces and was critical of using
the Joint Chiefs of Staff as war planners. His
feelings were so strong that in 1958 on the eve
of his promotion to four stars he resigned. He
would not sacrifice principal for promotion.
Later he was appointed by President
Kennedy to serve as Ambassador to France.
When sent to Vietnam in 1967 to assess the
situation, Gavin foresaw tragedy and
recommended that the U.S. seek an early truce.
Eventually he joined the consulting firm,
Arthur D. Little and became its chairman.
General Gavin died on Feb. 23, 1990.
Gavin was the ultimate combat leader.
Whenever the 82nd was in action he was in the
thick of it often engaged at the platoon level in
firefights with the enemy. He wore the
standard G.I. uniform and except for the two
stars on his collar tabs that could be seen only
by those in close proximity, he looked like any
other dogface. He fought with the M-1
Garand, the standard issue weapon for all U.S.
Infantry. General Gavin believed that a leader
should be hands on and that to lead effectively
a general had to be up front to see the action
and not safe at the rear getting information
secondhand.
Jumping Jim’s lessons of leadership are his
greatest legacy. They apply as much at West
Point as they do at Harvard Business School.
General Gavin’s life is an American
metaphor. He rose from abject poverty to great
success. More importantly, he was there for
America in its darkest hour. We can wonder
whether if there had been no James M. Gavin
would the American landing at Sicily have
succeeded. Would the allies have maintained
their foothold at Normandy? Would the
Germans have been stopped at the Bulge?
Perhaps. But without him the road to Berlin
would have been much longer.
~ Chuck Sabatt
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Where’s Your Paddle? Osterville, We Hope!
Wednesday, July 23 is Family Paddle Day to benefit Three Bays Preservation, Inc. Join in the fun from 5
to 8 p.m. at Dowses Beach. It’s a day to join with family & friends and learn kayaking and stand up
paddle-boarding. Equipment will be available on site or bring your own. The fee is $10 for adults, $5 for
kids (8-12), and 8 and under are free. Tickets and more details are available on-line at www.3bays.org.
All proceeds benefit Three Bays Preservation—Osterville’s own non-profit environmental group.
The Osterville Record
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