Francis R. Whelton

Francis Russell "Frank" Whelton (20 Jul 1896-6 Mar 1946) was awarded a Croix de Guerre by Marshall Foch for Valor in France at Second Battle of the Marine in Fismette during WWI. Whelton was presumed KIA, but was the only survivor from his battalion. Whelton's family was notified of his death, and were overjoyed when Whelton returned home.

Original KIA Obituary
December 18 1918

Final (True) Obituary
F.R. Whelton Dead at 49

World War I Hero Long Public Servant

Francis Russell Whelton, 49, former assistant corporation counsel and until his retirement last December a secretary in the mayor's office, died yesterday at Boston City Hospital.

A World War hero and son of Deputy Sheriff and former Mayor Daniel A. Whelton of Jamaica Plain, he lived at 96 Milton Avenue, Dorchester. His long career of public service was highlighted when he was ousted as assistant corporation counsel after exposing Boston's "rubber stamp" welfare frauds in 1934.

As a youth, he served as personal page for Calvin Coolidge when the former Chief Executive was president of the Massachusetts Senate. He left his studies at Massachusetts Institute of Technology to enlist in the Army when the World War came, and distinguished himself as one of the state's most resourceful and courageous heroes.

He was wounded four times. He held the Purple Heart, the Distinguished Service Cross, a medal of the Legion of Honor awarded by Marshal Foch[sic], and the Croix de Guerre. Once he was reported killed in action, but was later found alive and fighting.

Marshal Foch awarded Mr. Whelton the Croix de Guerre after his return to this country, while he was a student at Boston University, in a ceremony at the Boston Arena.

He passed the bar in 1924. His first public office was as a lawyer was that of assistant clerk of Boston's superior criminal court, and he was appointed assistant corporation counsel in December, 1933.

After sending seven fraudulent recipients of municipal welfare to jail, he was discharged without notice May 28, 1934, "for the good of the service."

He was renamed to the post four years later by the then Corporation Counsel Henry Parkman, Jr. In December, 1942, he became assistant secretary to former Mayor Tobin, continuing through the Kerrigan administration until ill health forced his retirement last December.

He leaves his wife, the former Lillian T. Goodwin; two daughters, Anna A. and Lillian E, and three sons, Francis E., Daniel A, and William.

A military funeral will be held Saturday morning, with a solemn high mass of requiem in St. Matthew's Church, Dorchester.

LIRR Accident
Frank told his brother that he saw many scenes of horror on the battlefield in France, but the worst thing he saw during his military career was a troop train wreck in Long Island, NY.

Frank went through basic training at Camp Upton, which was located on the site of the Brookhaven National Laboratory, on a tract of about ten thousand acres, east of the William Floyd Parkway and extending from the Middle Country Road to the Montauk Highway. Later, several thousand acres were purchased north of the Middle Country Road and west of Lake Panamoka for a rifle range.

On April 15, 1918 Frank was on board a L.I.R.R. troop train that left Camp Upton. It was heading westbound along the Main Line when it derailed at speed just east of Foot's Crossing (the present day crossing of the Veterans Memorial Highway over the L.I.R.R. east of Central Islip). Many hundreds of soldiers were killed and wounded.

Help was slow to arrive, and the wreck had knocked down local telephone and telegraph wires. So Frank set off across country to find a phone. In his pocket was the private telephone number of future New York Senator Robert F. Wagner, a former Lt. Governor of New York. Frank's father, Daniel A. Whelton was friends with Wagner and when Frank left Boston for New York, the elder Whelton gave him the Senator's private number, to use in case of emergency. Frank finally found a working telephone and called the Senator, who was instrumental in getting help to the many injured soldiers. Because of military secrecy during the war, the troop train accident was hushed up. Even today it's difficult to find information about it. It's not even listed in many histories of railroad accidents in the United States, even though it's one of the all-time worst.