Gladstone, W. Gordon

Description

William “Gordon” Gladstone was born on September 18, 1911, in New York, New York, to Margaret Dickey, age 22, and William Cornelius Gladstone, age 24. In Rye his family lived on School Street. Gordon was a graduate of Rye High School and before the war working for F. W. Woolworth Co.

Gordon enlisted and served in the U.S. Army during World War II. He served in the Army Signal Corps and took basic training in Company D of the 1st Signal Training Regiment at Camp Edison, NJ. In 1943 he was stationed with is father, also in the signal corps and a WWI veteran, at Fort Monmouth, NJ.

After the war Gordon returned home and to his job at a F. W. Woolworth branch, store in New York. He would live in Rye and Mamaroneck most of his life.

He retired in 1973 after managing various Woolworth branch store for 38 years, the last one near Grand Central Station.

He was a member of the Rye Presbyterian Church and of the Poningoe Hook & Ladder Co. of the Rye Fire Department.

W. Gordon Gladstone, 67, of 20 Hillside Place, died Monday night November 6, 1978 at United Hospital.

At the time of his death, he was survived by his mother, his wife, Mrs. Edith Hoist Gladstone of the home address; a son, Gordon W. of Schaumburg IL and two grandchildren.

Funeral services were held at the Rye Presbyterian Church. Interment was in Kensico Cemetery, Valhalla.

Father Gives Son KP Army Assignment

”The Signal Corps Message,” camp newspaper at Fort Monmouth, N. J., relates that Sergeant William C. Gladstone is employing something more than parental authority over his son, Pvt. William Gordon Gladstone, both well-known former Rye residents. The article says: The ominous roll of the drums of war has broken many close-knit family ties, but they frequently bring about very pleasant reunions.

Pvt. William Gordon Gladstone and his father, Sergt. William C. Gladstone, have been brought together in the Signal Corps. Pvt. Gladstone is in basic training in Company D of the 1st Signal Training Regiment at Camp Edison. Sergt. Gladstone is C Company clerk in the 2nd Signal Training Regiment at Camp Wood. If the younger Gladstone is classified as a radio operator, and he hopes this will happen, and he is assigned to Company C, his dad is all set for him the G.I. way. ”His first duties will be K.P.,” the head of Gladstone house promised.

As company clerk, I prepare the roster. You see, he told me in a kidding way that when HE came into i he Army there would be some changes made. Maybe there will be, but it’ll be done the Army way. I am proud to have him in the Signal Corps with me. He is 33 years old. When I was 30 I was a captain in the Signal Corps and a camp signal officer at Camp Upton. Young William lived with us on the post. I trust that he will do as well as I did and I now he will be a good soldier.” Pvt. Gladstone, before answering the call to arms, was manager of a live-and-ten-cent-store in Rye, N. Y. and for seven years was with the New York Telephone Company as 1’BX installer in Westchester.

The senior Gladstone was commissioned a captain in September, 1918. In 1919 he was ordered into the Department Signal Office in New York under Brig.-Gen. Edgar Russel, for whom Russel Hall at Fort Monmouth was named. He was honorably discharged as a captain in 1921, returning to civilian life. Then when the war drums once more echoed their clarion call to service, he re-enlisted Q July, 1942, and went through basic training at Edison just as his son is doing now.
”Checkers9 ‘ Gladstone Now Staff Sgt. Was Captain in First World War
Captain in the first World War, William C. Gladstone enlisted for World War II as a private in the Signal Corps and has now been advanced to staff sergeant. Known to many Rye friends as ”Checkers,” he was a member of the post office -staff before the first World War. His son, Gordon, was manager of Woolworth’s Rye store before enlisting and is stationed with him at Fort Monmouth, N. J.

The following is from ”The Signal Corps Message,” published at Fort Monmouth:

”This is a story of loyalty and service which will be hard to equal in Signal Corps annals. ”It concerns S. Sgt. William C. Gladstone, now 58, who has served the Signal Corps in two world wars and is back to stay ”as long as the Signal Corps can find use for me.” ”Now Message Center chief at Camp Edison, he was discharged from the Army as a captain after the last war. He entered this war by special permission of the Office of the Chief Signal Officer and the Adjutant General’s Office, quite aware that despite his age he would have to start again at the bottom. ”He returned as a private, asking nothing more than to be of service. He could not come up to the physical requirements for commissioned officers, but he could and did measure up as a soldier. Proof is that he went through the rigors of basic training with men 30 years or more his junior. ”He has held many jobs in the Fort Monmouth training area. For many months, he was mail clerk in Co. C, 2d STR. Then he was placed in charge of upkeep details around Camp Wood. He was rewarded with a Sergeant’s stripes, and upon being transferred to the Message Center at Edison, he was promoted to staff sergeant. ”Among those who congratulated him were Col. C. O. Bickelhaupt, commanding officer of the ESCUTC, with whom he served in the last war. Col. Bickelhaupt was a major then and Gladstone, an energetic, young captain. Also on hand was Pvt. William G. Gladstone, his 33-year-old son who is stationed in the Training Literature Section of the ESCUTC.”