Conrad "Cooney" Schwartz operated a
Tavern Down Neck on Ferry Street for many a long year. He had a great and loyal
clientele much impressed with his offerings of rare and exotic foods for it's
time. Always available were pheasant, rabbit, deer and other game animals which Cooney
housed in his back yard zoo or refrigerator.
Few people understand the tragic event that befell him during World War Two. He
had a son Walter Schwartz a few years younger than me who hung around with the
gang that met in the candy store next to Engine Sixteen Firehouse on Ferry
Street. We all performed silly teenager pranks, nothing really serious mostly all
in fun nothing destructive.
When Walter reached eligible age he enlisted in the United States Navy. After
finishing Boot Camp he was assigned to the new aircraft carrier USS Franklin
CV-13, a ship of the Essex Class affectionately known to her sailors as "Big
Ben". Finishing shakedown she transited the Panama Canal and steamed to Pearl
Harbor. There the carrier joined several Task Forces, she saw action at
Eniwetok, Iwo Jima and the Philippines. Off Layte on October she was hit by a
Kamikaze and sailed to Puget Sound Ship yard for repairs.
Returning to the Western Pacific she was on a mission off Honshu, the main
Japanese island when on 14 March 1945 she was hit by two bombs which penetrated
the flight deck and started huge fires, resulting in the loss of 725 killed and
265 wounded. She was able to stay afloat and began the long journey back to the
Brooklyn Navy Yard for repairs.
Unfortunately Walter Schwartz was not able to make that voyage back home, he was
one of the many Blue Jackets who made "The Supreme Sacrifice" that day in March
1945. That's one of the reasons why "Cooney" helped sponsor the Walter F.
Schwartz-American Legion Post Number 408.
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