I doubt very much that Henry Boucher Sr. noticed nor cared about the new, four-faced clock in St. Mary’s steeple that cold January day in 1922. He was hurrying down K Street in Turners Falls carrying his newborn son, Henry Jr., to be baptized at St. Anne’s on J Street. This year is the 100th anniversary of the clock, and the 100th anniversary of my father’s birth.
It is also the 100th anniversary of the birth of William K. Thayer, (Bill), of Greenfield. Bill wrote in the 1941 Bay Path Institute Yearbook “Butch, it looks as if we’re going to clutter up each other’s life — born 4 Days apart, lived three miles apart, cluttered up the same school together, B.P.I., now we’re even working in the same place and rooming together. The Best of Success! Bill.”
Bill got a good look at the clock in St. Mary’s steeple many times when he visited K Street. (Bill spelled it “Kay” Street.) Bill was a regular visitor to the home of Henry Sr., a veteran of the First World War, and Eva, their sons “Butch” and Bernie with the two cats “Ti-min” and “Ti-gris.” When Butch came home from school the cats were always waiting outside on the steps. They, too, had a good view of the clock.
The first piece of correspondence from Bill that Butch saved was a Christmas greeting card, mailed Dec. 20, 1943 from Stuttgart, Arkansas. It was two years after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Bill mailed it to “Kay Street” in Turners Falls. On Jan. 6, 1944, Bill posted a letter on stationary headed “Army Air Forces Advanced Flying School,” and postmarked Stuttgart. Arkansas. It was mailed to Butch in the Supply Office, U.S.C.G., Norfolk, Virginia. Bill wrote: “By the looks of things, Butch, I’ll be in combat by May. I also think I’ll be home for next Christmas. Uncle Sam has a lot of surprises for Adolph [Hitler] and [Hideki] Tojo — the B-29 for example.”
Feb. 2, 1944. Stuttgart, Arkansas, “On February 8th I’ll get my precious “silver wings” and also have the privilege of signing my name “W.K.T., 2nd Lieut., Air Corps.”
March 19, 1944, Army Air Forces Flexible Gunnery School, Tyndall Field, Florida, “I was home in February. I stopped in at 60 Kay Street, but still didn’t see all the “tribe.” Your “Pop” must have been working or something. I’m leaving here in a couple of days for Salt Lake City, Utah. I’m a co-pilot on a Fortress. I don’t know what happens at S. Lake. It may mean crossing the pond or it may mean I’ll be here another 2 months.”
April 28, 1944, “Whoa — there Napoleon!!! By your letter it seems that I have already made that very final plunge into wedlock. You are jumping the gun “a wee bit.” … There is just a matter of my “going over” and about “25 or 30 missions” that separate that great day from the present. It need not be the war’s end — just the time I return from Combat.”
May 16, 1944 United States Army Air Forces, “As you no doubt know, I’m what is “called” a co-pilot on a B-17 Fortress. I am … headed for the 8th Air Force — i.e., England. As for your mention of The Invasion — your guess is 100% as good as mine.”
“Tis quite easy to see, old man, that you’re getting sort of “itchy”!! … Keep to hell as far away from Tokyo & Berlin as you can. — you’ll live a lot longer. Right now, I admit I’m scared … but I asked for it and I guess I’m going to get it!! All through cadets, I’ve turned down instructor opportunities, perhaps that “itchy” idea — but now I’m wondering. … This last time I didn’t get to your house either. In fact, I didn’t see anyone except Janie.”
“Auf Viedersehen, pal”
Bill
Greenfield Recorder — Gazette, Monday Oct. 1, 1945. “First Lt. William K. Thayer, who has been reported missing since Sept. 12, 1944, when his bomber failed to return from a mission to Munich, Germany, has been reported killed in action … He completed five bombing missions over enemy territory.” First Lt. William K. Thayer is buried in Calvary Cemetery, Greenfield.
Henry G. Boucher, Jr., U.S.C.G. Storekeeper First Class, spent much of the war in Norfolk, Virginia. He was discharged in 1946 and died in 2018. “Butch,” buried in St. Mary’s Cemetery, Montague, had kept Bill’s letters with his own military papers.
Louise Boucher Croll grew up in Turners Falls and now lives in South Hadley with her husband and two dogs.