Ward Everett Duffy
Submitted by: Virginia Ward Duffy McLoughlin {Daughter} and Martha M. Everett {Granddaughter}
Ward Everett Duffy was born around 1891. Ward Duffy served in World War 1 with the United States Army. The enlistment was in 1917 and the service was completed in 1919.
Story of Service
The calligraphy ink on my father's journalism degree was barely dry when President Woodrow Wilson declared on April 6, 1917, that the United States would enter World War I. The military needed to enlist and train soldiers – fast. My father had just started his first journalism job with The Evening Herald in Manchester, Connecticut, and his employer didn't want to lose him.
April 30, 1917
To Whom It May Concern:
This is to certify that I have known the bearer, Ward E. Duffy, for the past year and can testify that he is a man of good character and exemplary habits. I hope whoever examines him physically will turn him down, as he is needed on his job.
Elwood S. Ela, The Evening Herald
But patriotism, idealism and a sense of duty stirred in my father. His employer's letter aside, he could have sought an exemption from service as the sole support for his wife, Louise Day Duffy, and their 3-month-old son, David. But my 25-year-old father enlisted to serve his country.
During two years of service, more than 400 letters passed between my father and mother. The act of letter-writing became a lifeline that sustained them, along with faith, love and little David.
Irvin Pischner & Ruben Hudlow
