Village History and a Love Story

One of the great things about any type of creativity: painting, writing and the like, are the moments when the creative project takes on a life of its own.  I love that with painting and now I have discovered that this blog tells me what it wants to write: post by post.  It is almost as if all those lost voices are urging me on, wanting to share more and more of our roots. These posts are a perfect example.

Last week my cousin Shelley Napieralski Au shared more photos from her mother's collection. Her Mom is someone you have seen on this blog: my Dad's sister Alveda Souza Napieralski. married to Zigmund "Ziggy" Napieralski, my uncle.  These photos piece together to tell a war time love story.

Though my Uncle Ziggy did not grow up in the Village , he had the good sense and the luck to marry a Villager.  But, how did they meet, these two, one from the Village and the other from New York state?

That is where it gets really, really interesting.... They met during World War II, and they met because of Myles Standish Military Complex in Taunton.  Before I could really tell their love story, which is a beautiful one, I had to do more research on Myles Standish.  What I thought I knew, was only a small part of the fascinating history involved.  My Uncle Ziggy and my Auntie Al were smack in the middle of it all, both here and overseas.

     My Uncle Ziggy was beloved in our family, for his smile and his caring.  He grew up in

     Buffalo, New York. As a young man, like so many others of the Great Generation, he was

     thrust into war.  He was sent to Camp Miles Standish in Taunton which was

     not far from The Village as the crow flies. 

                                   The caption below this picture of Ziggy is in his own writing.

Ziggy and Alveda met at a U.S.O. at the Camp and thereafter began a writing courtship that would end in marriage in 1946.  Both were avid picture takers and avid writers.  My Aunt Al kept all the letters they wrote back and forth, all the photos which are graced with their hand written comments. 

 Here she is on the front lawn of the homestead on School Street.  

He would have received this wherever he was overseas.

 Come with me on Part I of this journey. 

 I hope I can write this with

the  respect and love that I feel.  I am honored to do so. I welcome you to 

share any histories of those wartime years that occurred in your families.

                         Next post:  the tale of Camp Miles Standish and its place in history.