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Post by schlager7 on May 31, 2004 21:00:47 GMT -6
Some of you know I've been working on a local fencing history project. One thing had always caught my eye. According to Gulf Coast Division by-laws, the division's fencing season is traditionally to begin with the Franks Memorial.
Except, of course, no one I met had ever heard of this event. Augie recalled it as a sabre tournament at Rice that fizzled in the mid 1980s.
I kept it in the back of my mind as I did my overall research. Eventually I met with Fred Sklar, a Rice fencer from the 1950s and a pupil of Harold Van Buskirk. I was handed a copy of a flier from the 1950s, describing the W. A. Franks Memorial Sabre Tournament in Galveston.
Okay, it was in Galveston back when. I also had two initials. Unfortunately, Franks is not an uncommon name in Galveston and with no full name or birth/death dates, it was all a guess.
Today, I spoke on the telephone with Roland Reed, who was active here from about 1963-1982, and with Steve Farid, who was active from about 1949-1994. I learned Franks was a Galveston County sabreur who died in WWII.
Now THAT gave me a wealth of databases to search. I found him:
Worthington A. Franks First Lieutenant, U.S. Army Air Forces O-662038 345th Bomber Squadron, 98th Bomber Group, Heavy Entered the Service from: Texas Died: August 1, 1943 Missing in Action or Buried at Sea Tablets of the Missing at Florence American Cemetery Florence, Italy Awards: Distinguished Flying Cross with Oak Leaf Cluster, Air Medal with 5 Oak Leaf Clusters
I still have a few questions, but it is all just detail work now. It is satisfying to solve a problem or a mystery. I still know nothing of Franks the fencer, but he was one of us and a hero.
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Post by Geezer on Jun 1, 2004 10:50:48 GMT -6
Let me say, Thank You, Schlager. Considering the time of year, the passed holiday, the fact I was born during WII, the fact that I served in the United States Marine Corps, and served in Vietnam in 1966 makes me aware of all those people who've had to obey and follow orders, survive or not.
I suspect Lt. Franks was loved by his family, cared for by his friends, and thought well of by his compades-in-arms. I hope this is so. Fencers certainly thought him worthy of having a tournament in his name. I hope it's revived.
Schlager, again...Thanks, for you love of the story, your sense of history, you time and energy, your aesthitic grasp of what's worthy, and your talent for putting it together.
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Post by MJ WYSOCKI on Jun 3, 2004 14:42:37 GMT -6
Andrey, in view of this good detective work, and in view of this being the 60th anniv. year of the D-Day invasion, and as we have at least one fencer (Dan Gorman) from the division fighting in Iraq, pehaps it would be cool to name the yet un-named SSCC that Alliance is hosting the Franks Memorial. Actually it could become a set event each year again.
Marty Wysocki
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Post by MTD on Jun 3, 2004 17:25:19 GMT -6
Perhaps, but I'd rather see the Galveston Fencing Club have first crack at holding the memorial tournament they traditionally held, for Galveston's Worthington Franks.
Further, it seems not only is it traditional, but it became codified in our Bylaws that the Franks is held as the first tournament of the Division's schedule. So, there would be a certain appropriateness to holding the Franks in August. That wouldn't dovetail with the currently-unnamed 2004-5 Gulf Coast SSCC, being held by Alliance, which is targeted for Novemberish.
(And don't tell me Galveston can't swing it!)
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Post by LongBlade on Jun 3, 2004 22:12:20 GMT -6
Schlager, Wasn't it still called the Army Air _Corps_ back in 1943? I believe the Air Force became a seperate branch of the US military shortly after WWII and before the Korean War. Wasn't the name also changed at the same time?
Thanks for researching the Franks Memorial for us! All I knew was that he was a serviceman who was killed in the war. I can't even remember who told me that much.
Nevertheless, we need to bring that tournament back. I'm glad you brought it up. Kyle Maysel
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Post by MJ Wysocki on Jun 4, 2004 16:33:38 GMT -6
That's cool Matt, I do see your point, but Galveston has no tournament scheduled. We have one in hand that needs a name. I don't think switching the tournament to Novemberish would discredit Mr. Franks. A bird in the hand ....you know the rest. Just a thought. Adios Amigo!
Marty Dubya
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Post by MTD on Jun 4, 2004 16:58:06 GMT -6
Longblade, It seems the reference "Army Air Foces" is a correct reference. For 15 years until 1941, the highest-level military aviation organization was called the Army Air Corps, although it seems they didn't have complete ownership of aviation. From 1941 to 1947 there was a higher-level unified command called the Army Air Forces, under which the Army Air Corps (until it effectively dissipated through reassignment into other commands) and others could be found. The Army Air Corps had a great esprit de corps, and a propensity to identify themselves as having Army Air Corps assocation. The aviators themselves in 1943 didn't belong to the Army Air Corps portion of the Army Air Forces, but apparently to the Air Force Combat Command. See www.aafha.org/aaf_or_aircorps.html
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Post by MTD on Jun 4, 2004 17:18:23 GMT -6
I do see your point, but Galveston has no tournament scheduled. We have one in hand that needs a name. I don't think switching the tournament to Novemberish would discredit Mr. Franks. Marty, It's not particularly meaningful to say that "Galveston has no tournament scheduled". At this moment, there are only three 2004-2005 tournaments which are scheduled in the Division (and the Alliance SSCC isn't one of them): The FĂȘte de Lune, the Cougar Call to Arms, and the second Alliance Fencing Cup. Don't for a moment think that absence of other tournaments says anything about them not being held. The idea of the return of the Franks at the start of the schedule is actually not a brand new idea, just a new idea to these discussion forums. Personally, I see something meaningful about a Franks in August which would be missing from a Novemberish Franks -- note the anniversary of Lt. Franks' death. I would not reject the idea that the traditional date of the Franks may very well be what it is at least partially for this reason. Oh, just for future reference, what the Division Bylaws have to say about the tournament is this: I do note one minor odd item here: The formal name of the tournament includes the word invitational. If this saber event was genuinely invitational (unlike the misnamed "Katy Blades Invitational", which was not an invitational), then it cannot be a rated USFA event!
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Post by schlager7 on Jun 5, 2004 0:15:55 GMT -6
Matt correctly notes a rotating trophy for this event. Our next mystery is where did it go?
Just tonight I received an email from Arnold "Sonny" Mercado which read in part, "As far as I know Jack Baird and J.P. Baird are the same person. I think I remember his name on the Franks trophy. I wonder where that is now."
I guess the next step is to find the last person to win the Franks Memorial. (Don't get excited, it took me two years to get as far as I did.)
As to Matt, as the newly installed president of the Galveston club (another hat to wear!) it is possible GFC could host such an event, but no guarantees until departing prez Ellen Adriance returns from NYC.
["What have I started?" he mumbled to himself.]
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Post by Dan Gorman on Jun 5, 2004 11:41:35 GMT -6
I wouldn't say I'm fighting in Iraq. Mostly I sit around and whine about the heat.
Otherwise, I do think it's a nice idea.
Dan
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Post by schlager7 on Jun 5, 2004 13:28:43 GMT -6
So Dan, what would your impartial view of adding a little sabre-only event at the beginning of the season be?
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Post by Dan Gorman on Jun 6, 2004 8:59:51 GMT -6
I think it should take a year of planning so I could partake in the first one?
The Sabre Cave has been a pretty good sabre only tournament in the past -- it just seems to suffer from picking poor weekends of late. Then there was the Savage Grace the 2 years the Sabre Cave didn't happen, which was a great tournament since it had teams also.
I'd really like to see a sabre circuit. Keep the riff raff out.
Dan
ps 110F at 6:00 pm with ~15-20 mph winds -- it's like being in a convection oven.
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Post by saberbobcat on Jun 6, 2004 13:57:57 GMT -6
That sounds great because it gives me a year to train some more kids down here. I have one of those cool-times-ten Savage Grace t-shirts not because I fenced in it, but because I begged and pleaded... Grace Haberzettle
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Post by schlager7 on Jun 6, 2004 18:21:14 GMT -6
So, if the Galveston Club decided to go for it we should skip it this August?
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Post by saberbobcat on Jun 6, 2004 18:33:01 GMT -6
Hey... Megan, Krista, Chris, and I say, "Bring it on!" We'll fence an all sabre tourney this year or next. _AND_ I bet Will would enjoy it, too if he is off... Next year I should easliy be able to double those numbers.
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Post by schlager7 on Oct 26, 2004 23:04:09 GMT -6
I hope to talk to the Galveston Fencing Club members on Monday about trying to schedule a renewed Franks Memorial for August 2005.
Meanwhile, I have received the following from a member of an internet forum dedicated to the 98th Bomber Group.
[glow=red,2,300]Worthington Franks was the navigator aboard Old Baldy (42-40102). The aircraft went down after releasing its bomb load over target (Sortie Report, Sheet 5, 8.1.43). All 10 crew members aboard were killed. Three crew members remains were recovered while the other seven remain MIA. The crew was pilot John J. Dore, Jr. , copilot John B. Stallings, navigator Worthington Franks, bombardier Joseph Finneran, engineer Frank A. Norris, AE Joseph Iosco, radioman Max W. Lower, AR Stanley R. Packer, tailgunner Wesley W. Jones, and photographer Ray L. Gleason.[/glow]
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Post by schlager7 on Jan 3, 2005 21:31:49 GMT -6
After much delay, I recently got to spend a little more time tracking down Worthington Franks. I think my original belief that he was a Texas A&M student just before WWII may be correct. I found a 1995 A&M document on line that lists various endowments there and found found a "Worthington A. Franks endowment." I doubt there'd be such gift at A&M if he was a Rice or UH fencer... (We won't even mention UT). I've posted a small jpg of him and his crew in North Africa at the bottom of this week's "rogue" site.
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Post by schlager7 on Sept 17, 2005 9:02:29 GMT -6
Just FYI - It's a ways off, but I managed to acquire the last weekend of July (the last weekend of the season) as a date for the Franks Memorial. It was as close as I could get at the meeting to the first weekend of August which had already passed for this season.
It will probably be small and in or near Galveston. I have no idea what the events will be, but it WILL have to include sabre. I understand from my research that there may have been years where that was the only event.
First we have to re-organize our club nights and classes (which we are in the middle of now). More later.
I hope that Franks and his colleagues would have approved.
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Post by DavidSierra on Sept 17, 2005 10:40:43 GMT -6
A great idea - however, that is also typically the weekend that the Games of Texas is held, something none of us has control over, being set by TAAF.
Perhaps the first weekend in August 2006? If its a sabre-only event, expect the sabre crowd of Fort Worth and Cutting Edge Fencing Club to show up - we'd love to spend time at the beach!
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Post by schlager7 on Sept 18, 2005 8:34:40 GMT -6
Happily, in 2006, the Games of Texas happen before the weekend I selected. There should be no conflict.
What events it will contain has yet to be determined, but to be called the Franks, it will HAVE to include sabre, since the Franks was originally a sabre tournament.
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