Hometown Heroes of WWII
Two from the Davis family sacrifice their lives
By Michael Rocchetti
Pvt. 1st Class Threlkeld Davis 
December 31st 1944, was a quiet day along the Maginot Line near Bitche, France. It had snowed again. The ground was frozen and covered with deep snow, it was bitter cold, and there was an uneasy standoff between German and American forces.
At midnight though, all hell broke loose. The Germans opened up with an artillery barrage that the Americans initially thought was just a grim celebration of the New Year. The Germans then launched a major counterattack called Operation Nordwind – which was centered on the sector SW of Bitche, France occupied by the U.S. Army’s 100th Infantry Division – the Centurymen. It was here, near Lemberg, France that Private 1st Class Threlkeld Davis had his position overrun during this German counterattack. Initially he was listed as missing in action. Later as German forces retreated, the body of Private Davis was recovered and it was determined that he had been killed in action on Jan. 1, 1945. The records of the 399th Infantry Regiment indicate that Private Davis was a recipient of the Bronze Star Medal.
Threlkeld Davis was born May 7, 1925, in Honolulu to a military family. He was survived by his mother Esther Threlkeld Davis and a sister Harriet. The mother’s heartache was compounded by the earlier loss of her husband, (and Threlkeld’s father) Colonel Everett Davis (a career Air Corps aviator from Putnam) who died in a plane crash in Alaska in November 1942 during the Aleutian Islands Campaign. Threlkeld Davis enlisted in the Army on Feb. 1, 1944, from Spokane, Wash. He was a Private 1st Class assigned to Company L, 399th Infantry Regiment of the 100th Infantry Division (nicknamed the “Sons of Bitche”). He was buried at the Lorraine American Cemetery in St Avold, France and later reinterred at the Grove Street Cemetery in Putnam along with his father, Colonel Everett Davis. 
Colonel Everett S Davis US Air Force 
In early June of 1942, the Japanese invaded and occupied Kiska and Attu – two Aleutian Islands which are a part of Alaska. In order to dislodge and expel the Japanese, U.S. military forces in Alaska needed to be strengthened - especially the air arm. The fledgling 11th Air Force, under the command of Colonel Everett Davis, needed to expand rapidly – with new forward operating bases, aircraft, and pilots that could operate in what is generally considered to be the worst flying weather in the world.
On Nov. 28, 1942, Colonel Davis was returning from an inspection of one of his forward operating bases in the Aleutian Island chain. He was a passenger on an Air Force cargo plane – a C-47 Skytrain, serial number 41-38635, from the 54th Troop Carrier Squadron. They were on the last leg of their journey – a flight from an airport in Naknek Alaska to Elmendorf Army Airfield, near Anchorage, Alaska. True to form, the weather was cold and stormy, the winds were severe, and contact with the aircraft was lost 30 minutes after departure. When the flight failed to arrive at Elmendorf, the airplane was declared missing. The Eleventh Air Force launched a one-month search, but frequent snowstorms made the search difficult.
Searching resumed on Aug. 19, 1943, when sufficient snow melt revealed the mountainsides. The wrecked Skytrain was located later that month at about the 2,000 foot elevation level on a mountain to the south of Lake Iliama, Alaska. The airplane had apparently crashed at full power. All eight Air Force personnel aboard were killed instantly by the impact – including Colonel Davis.
Colonel Davis was posthumously awarded the Army Distinguished Service Medal for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished services to the Government of the United States, in a duty of great responsibility during WWII. 
He was born in Melrose, Mass., on May 25, 1898, the son of Everett and Emily Davis.  He was raised in Putnam, graduating from Putnam High School in 1916. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps and served as an aviator during WWI. He was a career Air Corps officer and aviator with a long and distinguished service record. He left behind a wife Esther, and two children - a son Threlkeld and a daughter Harriet. The heartache for his widow was compounded by the later loss of their only son, Private 1st Class Threlkeld Davis who was killed in action on Jan. 1, 1945 while serving with the US Army’s 100th Infantry Division along the Maginot Line near Bitche France. Everett Davis and his son Threlkeld are buried at the Grove St Cemetery in Putnam.
Hometown Heroes is a series published in the Putnam Town Crier & Northeast Ledger with this mission: We owe it to our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines to make sure that they are never forgotten, and that the memory of their service and sacrifice will forever live on in the hearts and minds of the grateful people of Putnam.

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By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM — Signs of spring? Projects!
Tennis/Pickleball
Putnam’s new Recreation Director James Callaghan said plans to refurbish all or part of the tennis courts on Church Street are underway. First on his list is turning one of the tennis courts into a pickleball court. “Pickleball is still the plan for now,” he said. He is currently working on getting specs for that so a Request for Proposals can be written up. “We hope to go out for bids on that in the next couple months.”
As for the tennis courts, Callaghan called that plan “still fluid.” “We’ll need an engineer to go out, take a look at and see what’s feasible.” Then the town will know more about what’s possible. “There’s still the need but we need to find a way to go about it,” he said.
St. Marie-Greenhalgh
The town recently applied for a $1 million state Small Town Economic Assistance Program (STEAP) grant. If the town is successful in getting the grant, it would kick in $200,000, Callaghan said. A good bit of the funds would be used to replace or refinish the track there. 
Callaghan said “An engineering firm has been out and they took borings from the track to see how extensive of a replacement or refurbishment we need.”
He added there are some side projects they would also like to do including, fencing, seating (the stands). Down the road, he said the announcer’s booth, concession stand and the scoreboard as well could use an update.
He said the grant application was supported with letters of support from WPTP, the football program, the school district and the American Red Cross since the Relay for Life is held at the complex. 
Little League – Old Fields
Callaghan also said the department is working with the Little League, “coordinating with them about revamping the dugouts there. Currently the two dugouts are benches sitting with fence surrounds. “There are benches there, but no overhead protection from the elements.” The Little League is doing it and the department is coordinating. 
He said the first phase might be putting down concrete slabs and then eventually, perhaps next year, they’ll be putting a structure on top Callaghan expects the town may help with “the heavy stuff” for that project.
Online
The Parks and Recreation Department is now online in every way possible.
The Rec Desk allows players to sign up and pay online. Vendors for events can also register online. This alleviates time taken in the office to do this with paper and pencil. And “no more mailing cash.” The next big registration is for Summer Camp – registrations started April 1. There’s also the Jack Benny League, senior trips, fireworks donations, Youth Hoops in the winter.
That website is:
Putnam.rec.desk.com
There’s also a Putnam Parks and Recreation page now on Facebook. In addition there is a Putnam Recreation for Kids Facebook page. There’s also a Commission on Aging section on the town’s Facebook page.
Fleshing Out New Projects
Callaghan said he’s started to think about something like Spotlight Saturday which would feature vendors, musicians, businesses, artists — all local. “I still have a ways to go to flesh it out,” he said. Some town events are big draws, like fireworks and Fire and Ice, but others are smaller — call them niche. “I want to make sure there’s something for everyone,” he said.
He also congratulated Putnam’s Youth Hoops senior boys’ team for winning the 2025 Paul Wentworth tournament in March. Putnam was the host. “Our volunteers and our staff did a great job, making sure the tournament went smoothly. It was awesome, especially since the Putnam team won one of the levels.”

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The track at the St. Marie-Greenhalgh complex. More photos on page 4. Expanded photo array Wed. night on our FB page. Linda Lemmon photo.

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One of the dugouts.

Little League scoreboard

Full steam ahead on veterans mission
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM — The renaissance of Putnam’s mission to honor veterans is in high gear. April is crunch time with a goal of getting serious work done before Memorial Day.
The Court of Honor in Veterans Park has been expanded, ready for more veterans’ pavers to be installed shortly by the Masonry students from Harvard H. Ellis Tech. Robert Challinor, leader of the Veterans Park efforts and chairman of the town’s Veterans Advisory Committee (VAC), said about 140 additional veterans’ pavers will be installed around the flagpole. 
Those pavers have arrived and will be sealed by volunteers before the students install them.
Six of the panels of the white vinyl fence at the back of the park were removed to allow for “some groundwork and some work with the stone wall there,” according to Challinor. 
The bronze plaques with the names of local veterans from Putnam on the two large World War II monuments are due shortly. About 1,500 names will grace the plaques.
In addition, paver sales went so well there is extra money so the VAC plans to put veterans bricks on the graves of veterans buried in Putnam cemeteries. Challinor said the bricks are 4x8 and are gray, like the pavers in the park. They worked with the vendor to “make the logos work for us.”
He added the whole VAC group came up with this idea. 
He said the Albert Breault VFW Post 1523 traditionally puts flags on veterans’ graves and members saw that some veterans’ markers were buried or worse — not honored. “So we thought to acknowledge and honor them with bricks,” he said. Veterans from the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Civil War and more are buried in Putnam cemeteries. 
Challinor said a total of 1,196 are needed. The group will start, this year, with 596 which will cover the Aspinwall, Grove Street, Heights, Munyan and River Road cemeteries. The balance of the bricks will go into St. Mary’s next year.
April is “crunch time,” he said. The goal is to have this done by Memorial Day. “There’s so much to do, we’re getting started in the park, etc. now.”

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Bollards will go back in when the expanded Court of Honor is finished.

The left side of the Court of Honor, just about ready for veteran pavers.

Fence panels were removed to allow some groundwork.