The Stories of Village Heroes
by Jan Northrup
The Mamaroneck Observer continues to publish profiles of some of our Village heroes represented on the street banners. Their stories are both interesting and inspiring.
PFC Robert T. Dahn, U.S. Army
PFC Robert Dahn grew up on Warren Ave. in the Harbor Heights neighborhood in the village of Mamaroneck. In 1938, after graduating from Mamaroneck High School, he worked as a salesman for four years and joined the US Army in July of 1942 while living in California.
Dahn went overseas, arriving in England in December 1944 and then on to France in January 1945. He served with the 354th Infantry Regiment, 89th Division under General Patton. Led by Patton, the 89th crossed the Rhine at Oberwesel in March 1945 under intense fire and then went on to liberate the Ohrdruf concentration subcamp of Buchenwald. Ohrdruf was the first camp the Americans liberated. The American army was horrified at what they saw. Generals Eisenhower, Patton, and Bradley inspected the camp and, afterward, Eisenhower declared, “We are told the American soldier does not know what he is fighting for. Now, at least, he will know what he is fighting against.” Eisenhower demanded that German citizens from the nearby town of Ohrdruf, who claimed they did not know what was happening in the concentration camp, come to the camp and bury the bodies. Later, the mayor of Ohrdruf and his wife hanged themselves in their home.
After liberating Ohrdruf, the 89th Division continued to face heavy fighting while proceeding through Germany until the German surrender in May of 1945. Starting in June 1945, the division operated Camps Lucky Strike, Twenty Grand and Old Gold as it undertook the tremendous task of staging troops earmarked for redeployment. As a security measure, these camps were known as the “cigarette camps” because, along with six others in France and Belgium, they were named for cigarettes to disguise their locations. One of their primary functions was to safely redeploy the American prisoners of war, who were suffering both physically and mentally, to the United States.
Tragically, having seen and survived extensive combat operations, Dahn contracted “anterior, bulbar poliomyelitis” (a severe case of polio) while in Le Havre and died within days. He was laid to rest at the Normandy American Cemetery in St. Laurent-sur-Mer, France.
PFC Michael J. Downey, U.S. Army
PFC Michael Downey grew up in the Village of Mamaroneck on Palmer Avenue. His parents had emigrated separately from Ireland and were naturalized before they married in the late 1800s. After moving to Mamaroneck, they had six children: three girls and three boys.
After graduating from Mamaroneck High School, Michael went to Spectator, NY, to work in his brother Charles’ garage. In January 1941, he and his friend James O’Keefe, who also worked at the garage and boarded with the Downey family, enlisted in the U.S. Army. Michael was assigned to HQ Co., 2nd Battalion, 60th Infantry, 9th Division.
After training in the United States, Michael, as part of the 60th Infantry, made the first landing at Port Lyautey in North Africa on November 8, 1942, during Operation Torch. In early 1943, the 60th Infantry moved east into Tunisia. Michael was killed by multiple shrapnel wounds on April 10, 1943, during heavy fighting east of Maknassy. His family was informed of his death by his buddy, with whom he had served in the Army for the previous 27 months. He was buried in the North Africa American Cemetery in Carthage, Tunisia.
First Lieutenant Raymond G. Scherff, U.S. Army Air Corps
Lt. Scherff served in the Army Air Corps as a pilot for the B17 Flying Fortress, “named ’The Miraculous’ after his Scotty, the group’s mascot, which always flew with Scherff, even in combat.” Having flown over 180,000 miles, mostly in the China-Burma-India theater, Scherff had survived many harrowing experiences. Ironically, he was killed during a routine mission on a PT-22 trainer, a two-seater monoplane, on March 1, 1943, near Calcutta, India, right before a home leave. He had previously been awarded the Silver Star with two Oak Leaf Clusters and been cited eight times for distinguished service.
While attending Mamaroneck schools, Scherff’s family lived at 4 Lawrence Avenue, but shortly after Scherff graduated from Mamaroneck High School in 1935, his parents moved to Rye. In the summers, Scherff worked as a lifeguard at Rye Playland while attending Clarkson College in Potsdam, NY, where he earned a degree in chemical engineering in 1939. He was working in Buffalo when he enlisted in the Army Air Corps in May 1940. In January of 1942, his engagement to Madelaine Lorraine Breckenridge, a 1938 graduate of Mamaroneck High School, was announced.
On December 5, 1943, the New York Times reported that Scherff was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal posthumously at Mitchell Field, Long Island. His father, George H. Scherff, received the medals. His parents were then living in Flushing and adopted a small daughter, Lorraine, after Raymond was killed. Raymond Scherff’s body was brought back to the United States and was buried at the Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale in 1948.
