The Raykovitz Chronicles: Bicycle Boy: Easter Monday 1944

I've been wanting to write this post for a long time, and decided to get it done this weekend.

In 1944, Easter Monday fell on the 10th of April. As all of my mother's siblings went to Marymount Catholic School, they were all off that day, and in a rare move according to my mother, her father ( a coal miner who worked at the Empire Street Mine ) decided to take the day off to be with his family.

As the story goes, my mother's Aunt Sophia, who lived in the family homestead a block away on South Meade Street, was the first to see the Western Union messenger boy on his bicycle pedaling down Meade Street toward Moyallen.

And then he turned left...

"During World War II, families of sons in the military service dreaded the Western Union "boy on his bicycle" to arrive at their home with a telegram from the War Department or the Navy Department. The message began: The Secretary of War (for soldiers and airmen) or Secretary of Navy (for sailors and marines), regrets to inform you that [name, rank and serial number of the man in the military service] was killed in action (or missing in action)."

There were several homes blocking her view as he made his way down Moyallen Street (behind the present day Stanton Bowling Lanes), but she did catch a glimpse of him as he turned from Moyallen Street on to Kent Lane. She had a clear view of her brother John's home on Kent Lane, as well as the several empty lots just past that house. In a few seconds, Sophia realized the bicycle boy had stopped somewhere short of those lots, and as it was an extremely close neighborhood in those days, she knew there was only one family with boys overseas from the homes at that end of Kent Lane.

Sophia grabbed her shawl and headed for her brother's home. By the time she arrived, her bother ( John T. Raykovitz ) and his wife ( Mary (Geffert) Raykovitz ) had already received the news that their son, Raymond M. Raykovitz, a 1941 graduate of GAR Memorial High School, had been killed in action in the South Pacific.

As my mother tells the story, her mother passed out immediately, and as can be seen in the last picture in this post, never forgot the pain of losing her son.

All five Raykovitz boys served: two in the Marines ( Raymond & Bernard ), two in the Navy ( John & Stanley ) and one in the Air Force ( Frank ).

Below are but a few of the pictures and other pieces of family history I found over the past few years at the home on Kent Lane.

Below:

Ray Raykovitz on the South Street Bridge - July 1941

My Uncle Raymond Raykovitz is in the center of the pic below.

His USMC buddies Joe Sheridan and Dan Ugran are on his right and left.

Ray partially shielded Joe Sheridan from the mortar blast that killed him. Joe had multiple injuries and spent almost a year in the hospital recovering.

Joe Sheridan is on the left in the picture below.

If you didn't catch it in the letter above from Ray to his brother John, written a month before he was killed:

"Buddy boy, I was so close one night on the 'Canal ( Guadalcanal ) that I swore I heard the Angels singing."

The GAR Class of 1941 held a Mass for Ray after learning of his death.

Below: Ray & his USMC pals.

Below: Ray's burial at Arlington.

Below: My mother at her brother Raymond's gravesite @ Arlington in June 1950 ( Marymount High School senior class trip ) and again 57 years later.