Justin Fladd’s Global Studies 10 students at Newark High School were blown away by the facts they learned March 12th about Newark’s real-life connections to World War II.
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Here’s what they found out at three learning stations set up in the NHS Library:
• There had been a German Prisoner of War camp in Newark _ one of four in Wayne County.
Fladd explained Newark, along with Clyde and Sodus, had German POW camps and Marion had an Italian POW camp. They were established during WWII. In Newark, the location of the camp was where the Alex Eligh Community Center stands today on East Avenue.
The POW camp existed from 1944-1946 where more than 100 German POWs lived and six days a week were bussed to local farms and factories to work. Five thousand men enlisted to join the military during WWII from Wayne County, so the towns needed labor from the POW camps for the farms and factories.”
For the third year in a row, students learned about the POW camps from someone who wrote a book about them, 92-year-old Annette Harris, who previously worked at Kelley School as a library assistant from 1981-1991. She wrote two books on local history: “Small Beginnings - A Story of Newark, New York” published in 1986 and “World War II Prisoner of War Camps in Wayne County, New York And Their Prisoners” published in 2004.
Always fascinated by history, Harris who loves to read, worked with the late Bob Hoetzel (former Arcadia Town Historian) and Chris Davis, current Executive Director of Newark-Arcadia Historical Society, to write both her books.
“As a social studies teacher, I am on a constant quest to make the curriculum I teach more engaging, relevant, and real for my Global 10 students,” Fladd said. “Newark has a long-standing connection to WWII and the stories of those who served deserves to be shared with my students. Hearing them and seeing the shock on their faces when they visited each station in the library while learning more about their Newark community makes my day and reminds me of why I became a teacher in the first place. I am honored and blessed to have hosted Annette Harris year for this lesson. The students love interacting with her, and she can't say enough of how much she loves coming in. At 92 years young, she brings a perspective to my lesson that helps the students understand what life was like for the Nazi soldiers imprisoned in Newark. She is the leading expect on the POW camps in Wayne County and we are truly fortunate to have her help the students understand more about Newark's connection to WWII.”
Donna Rizzo, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction, attended one of the history presentations March 12th.
“I absolutely loved this authentic learning opportunity for our students,” she said. ”They were engaged and respectful to Ms. Annette Harris as she shared her knowledge of the World War II POW camps in our village. Students asked thoughtful questions and demonstrated genuine interest in understanding our local history."
• Twenty-seven Newark area men, of the 5,000 from Wayne County that enlisted during WWII, who made the ultimate sacrifice and never returned home.
Fladd had a copy of the 1945 edition of the Newark Courier Gazette on display that shared the names and faces of those men and how and when each man died.
• More about The Rear Admiral Leslie E. Gehres Memorial Exhibit in the NHS library that include Rear Admiral Gehres’ Navy Cross and his World War II Victory Medal.
Fladd explained Gehres’ accomplishments were many, but certainly his greatest the one that captured the attention of the world and the national media in 1945 was when he served as captain of the U.S. aircraft carrier, the USS Franklin.
On March 19, 1945, when the ship was 60 miles off the eastern coast of Japan, it was attacked by Japanese aircraft. More than 1,000 members of the crew of 3,000 were immediately killed or injured and with the ship extensively damaged and in danger of sinking or capsizing, then Captain Gehres refused to abandon it and rescued more than 300 sailors trapped below deck and safely removed the injured to other ships. The direct bomb hit caused the ship to burn for 15 hours and with the number of casualties, it was one of the worst U.S. Naval disasters at sea. Amazingly, Captain Gehres was also able to save the damaged ship and bring it back over 12,000 miles through enemy waters to the Brooklyn Navy Yard with a skeleton crew of 704.
Gehres also was responsible for driving the Japanese out of the Aleutian Islands in World War II. He was promoted to the rank of Commodore for his leadership skill in this campaign _ a rank that had not been given to any Navy officer since the War of 1812 when Commodore Oliver Perry chased the British out of Lake Erie.
Thanks to the exhaustive efforts by late Dr. William J. Stewart before his death in 2016, his hometown finally honored _with the dedication of a monument outside and the opening of a historical exhibit inside Newark High School September 28, 2002, the memory of Gehres who served his country with distinction and valor and who arguably is one of the greatest heroes of World War II.
A retired University of Cincinnati College of Education professor emeritus, Stewart, who had lived in Florida with wife, Eleanor and who wrote “A Call To Duty” about this extraordinary man doggedly determined Gehres would not be forgotten and that he would have the prominent place in local history he deserves.
Born in Newark in 1898, Leslie Gehres and his sisters attended Newark schools for a time before they moved to Rochester in 1912. Gehres left school and enlisted in 1914.
What did Global 10 students think of their unique history lesson? Here is a sampling.
Henry Ganster _ “I enjoyed talking to Annette. That was my favorite part of the lesson. I was shocked to learn that the Axis troops were treated so well by the people in Newark while they were in the prison camps. I will continue to thank veterans for their service whenever I see them.”
Henry Klemann _ “I enjoyed the chance to learn more about WWII from primary sources. The entire Leslie Gehres exhibit really shocked me that we had that in our library. To honor veterans, I will bring flowers to their graves.”
Madison Chamberlin _ “I really enjoyed learning about my community. I was shocked to learn how nice we were to the Nazi prisoners in the POW camp. I will continue to say thank you to veterans for their service when I see them.”