Remember Poppy Day

95 years ago John S. DeKoski spent the evening of May 22^nd and well into the early morning hours of the 23^rd in his army issue underwear on the deck of a British torpedo boat dubbed Moldavia in the English Channel. You see, he and his buddies had just spent 18 days and nights never removing their fatigues for any reason while on board. However, on the last evening of their passage they decided to violate orders and remove their (presumably smelly) clothing. They were docking at Liverpool the next day and believed they had safely gotten through the submarine zone. Out came the dice and a few candle stubs and they played until three in the morning. The candles were also in violation, there was a rule that no lights were to be in the rooms at night; the men didn’t care – they were living it up as much as they were able.

All of the sudden, things changed drastically.

“There was a terrific smash when a torpedo hit and men were knocked every way. My company was on deck above the water line, and most of company B was on the deck below, right on the water line where the torpedo hit, and that’s where the men were killed,” DeKoski remembered.

At 4am on May 23^rd, 1918, DeKoski and the rest of the survivors of companies A and B, 58^th infantry, fourth division, went over the side of the British steamer into the life boats after a German submarine had scored its first hit on a vessel carrying American troops to the aid of allies.

They left behind 56 members of the two companies, instantly killed when the German torpedo smashed in the side of the vessel. Two more men were drowned trying to launch life rafts in the scramble for safety. Those who escaped were picked up by other British torpedo boats which had come out to meet the five ship convoy and guard it through the submarine zone to Liverpool.

The Moldavia went down within an hour after being hit. The soldiers, picked up by the torpedo boats, were taken to Dover, outfitted again and shipped to France.

Then, in France, John DeKoski fought over the fields “where poppies grow,” and the little red flower, which later became a symbol throughout the world to honor those who gave their lives during the war, became one of his most pleasant memories of the Great War.

DeKoski stayed with the Fourth Division throughout the war, being in several major engagements without being wounded, and after the armistice he went to Germany with the army of occupation.

His outfit did not return to the United States until August of 1919. After he was mustered out he returned to Pittsburgh, where he had enlisted in July of 1917 and then moved to Main Street in Cuyahoga Falls where he began working for Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company in Akron. He got married, settled down and had children. He had the life he dreamed of while serving in the war.

DeKoski took a great interest in amateur sports of all kinds. While in the army he was rated highly as a boxer in his class. He also had a great interest in history and journalism. DeKoski wrote for our very own Cuyahoga Falls Reporter – a column that appeared each week in the sports section entitled “Did You Know That-.”

John DeKoski was only one of many veterans to return from the great wide world to the smaller parts of America to live his idea of the American dream. He managed to sweep aside the horrors he had seen and remember the poppy, a delicate piece of beauty in a war-torn countryside. He clearly was not alone; as Poppy Day, also known as Remembrance Day, Armistice Day, Veterans Day, Memorial Day and Anzac Day in over 21 countries has been set aside to remember the fallen.

So, on the last Monday in May, on Poppy Day, stop and give a thought to those who lost their lives for our freedom and those who made it back physically unscathed, who came to live in our great town and make it a better place.

This story was used from Cuyahoga Falls: River of Memories – www.amazon.com/Cuyahoga-Falls-Memories-Jeri-Holland/dp/1495978303