Never Give Up on a Kid.
The Chronicles of the Life and Career of Emilio “Dee” DaBramo, Educator/Humanitarian Extraordinaire.
by
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Chapter 4 The War Years.
The Disastrous Raid on St. Lo, France. Told by retired Lt. Colonel Frank Fuson (Pilot)
“To no one’s surprise, on July 25, 1944 the 8th Air Force again launched every available plane in their arsenal and we were headed back for St. Lo. The only problem for us was that the Germans more than likely knew it too. When we approached the target area, at an altitude of 10,000 feet, the anti-aircraft fire was intense. The Germans were waiting for us, all right. The sky all around us was black with exploding shrapnel. It just so happened on this day I had Dee up in the cockpit, using him as an extra pair of eyes to help us keep track of the thousands of planes in the skies around us. On that day we witnessed planes in the lead group exploding as they were hit by flak, and the bodies of their crewmen hurtled through the air like rag dolls. Some crewmen managed to get their chutes open, but they were on fire. We saw them frantically kicking their legs as they plummeted earthward. Even those, whose parachutes didn’t catch fire, were in grave danger as they descended into that dark cloud of flak and our anti-personnel bombs that were exploding a few feet above the ground. It was a horrible sight, and Dee witnessed most of it from his position between the pilot and co-pilot seats.
We witnessed a terrible mishap. When the lead bomber in the lead group opened its bomb bay doors, the bomb release mechanism malfunctioned and their bombs were jettisoned prematurely. Since the lead bomber controls the drop for the rest of the group, they followed suit and dropped their bombs as well. That meant that fifty-two 100-pound anti-personnel bombs from each of about 30 planes, dropped on the American side of the front line. Our group, thank God, realized the mistake and held their bombs and dropped them into the German defenses. At that time we had no idea as to the damage inflicted on the German and American forces.
“When we returned to Horsham, I went to the customary after-mission intelligence briefing where I first heard the details of the tragic mishap. The briefing was conducted by a two-star general who told us that General Leslie McNair, Commanding General, Army Ground Forces, who had gone up to the front line to observe the raid, was killed immediately, along with hundreds of his troops, by the bombs from the lead group. We found out later that the U.S. 47th Infantry’s Third Battalion had 111 killed and 490 wounded in the raid, and had to be replaced in the front line with a reserve battalion. The U.S. 30th Infantry Division lost 25 soldiers killed and 131 wounded.
Chapter 10 The Special Olympics
First Meeting with Eunice Kennedy Shriver and Sargent Shriver.
“I believe it was sometime in 1966 or 1967 that I received a call from Mrs. Shriver regarding the Special Olympics. I’m not sure I can recall the exact conversation, but it went something like this.
“Mr. DaBramo, I have learned that you have been working with handicapped children for many years and have designed physical education and recreation programs for them that are unique.”
“I acknowledged this and explained my basic philosophy regarding physical education for the Special Ed students here in the Mamaroneck schools. Apparently she was pleased with what she had heard and invited me to visit with her and her husband, Sargent Shriver, at their Maryland home to talk about the Special Olympics. Of course, I was elated, if for no other reason than that I had a personal invitation to visit with her, but more importantly, that my work had been recognized as significant and important.
“I arrived at the Shriver’s home in the Maryland countryside and drove up to the house, kicked open the door on the driver’s side of my car and got out. As I emerged, Eunice walked up to meet me with a smile on her face, and we shook hands.
“Did you drive all the way down here in that?”
“Yes,” I answered her, “It’s the only car I own.”
“Oh my God! If I had known that I would have flown you down here.”
“We both laughed at her remark, which put me at ease as we walked into the house.
“Our conversation began with them asking me about my family and my background. I told them a little bit about my immigrant parents and my life growing up in Stone House and going to school in a one-room school house in Poughquag. ……………At this point in the conversation everyone felt quite comfortable with each other. Then a very funny thing happened. Someone asked me where I was staying for the night.
“I don’t know,” was my reply.
“You mean you don’t have a place to stay tonight?” questioned Eunice Shriver.
“I just drove down from New York because you wanted my help. You called me to come down here, finding a place for me to stay is your job” I said whimsically. “At this point Eunice turned to Sargent Shriver.”
“Is anyone staying in the guest house tonight,” she asked him.
“No one,” he replied.
“Mr. DaBramo, why don’t you stay in the guest house tonight?” she turned to me and
asked.
“Yes, thanks. That’s very kind of you,” I answered.
“With this behind us, we got down to the nitty-gritty of what the meeting was all about. ………………………………………………………………………………………….
“We spent all the first day, that evening at dinner, and part of the next morning discussing two important topics. One was the events that were applicable for the participants, and the second topic was the organizational structure for conducting a Special Olympics competition. They were pleased and satisfied with our meeting and thanked me for coming. I climbed into my car and I drove back to Mamaroneck.
“In 1968, Eunice Kennedy Shriver asked if I would be the Games Director of the Special Olympics for the State of New York, and I accepted.”
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Book Details
About the Book
For Teachers and Administrators.
Follow Emilio “Dee” DaBramo’s forty-five year career as a teacher and administrator that began in 1948.
During his tenure at the Mamaroneck, N.Y. Union Free School District (1960 to 1978), he solved the high school drop-out problem that was endemic in the socially, culturally and economically-deprived neighborhoods. His alternative school APPLE Program (A Place where People Learn Excellence) and his Summer Co-Op Program designed for the targeted neighborhoods, were a huge success. The APPLE Program garnered a ninety percent graduation rate and a resulting college graduation rate of better than seventy percent. His philosophy of Never Give Up on a Kid, and the organizational structure of these programs are well-documented and translatable to almost any school system.
For WWII Historians. Drafted into the Army Air Corps at age nineteen, Emilio DaBramo served as a Radio Operator on a B-24 bomber during WWII.
Fly along with the crew on their 31 missions over German occupied Europe. The exploits of the crew are well documented, including the disastrous carpet bombing raid at St. Lo, France and the heretofore untold story of the air delivery of 700,000 gallons of fuel to General Patton’s Third Army tanks in France during Operation Cobra.
Re-live their crash landing in France after being shot down by enemy anti-aircraft fire over Cologne, Germany.
For WWII G.I. Bill Historians. In 1945 Emilio DaBramo enrolled at Cortland State Teachers College under the WWII G.I. Bill. Read about the social and educational challenges that faced the veterans, the college administrators and professors after the WWII veterans arrived on campus.
For Special Olympic Historians. Emilio DaBramo’s early work with the mentally and physically challenged individuals, in the late 1940’s through the 1960’s, caught the attention of Eunice Kennedy Shriver. Impressed with his work, she appointed him as a volunteer member of the Joseph P. Kennedy Foundation’s Advisory Committee and as a clinician for the Special Olympics. Read the heretofore untold story of his twelve year tenure (1968-1980) with the foundation during which time he conducted clinics in every state and in several European countries related to organizing and operating Special Olympic Games. He was the Games Director for the State of New York for the first twelve years of the program (1968 through 1980).
In tribute to Emilio “Dee” DaBramo, royalties from this book will be distributed as scholarships through the SUNY Cortland Foundation.
About the Author
Never Give Up on a Kid
by
David E. Hennessy
Like Emilio DaBramo, author David Hennessy is an Alumnus of Cortland State Teachers College (1953).
After serving five years as an officer in the U.S. Navy Submarine Service (1953-1958) he returned to Cortland, N.Y. to pursue a Master’s Degree, first, studying chemistry and the natural sciences at Cornell University, and then finishing his degree at SUNY Cortland in 1962.
During the same period of time he was Elementary School Science Supervisor in the Cortland, N.Y. City School District where he was engaged in a pioneer ETV project (1958-1962). He was a teacher of Elementary Science, via television, to students in grades two through six in ninety classrooms. This was the first ETV program of its kind in the state of New York.
In 1962 he was granted an assistantship at Indiana University, where he studied behavior science, audio visual communications, and film production.
In 1963 he was hired as Director of the Training Communications Department at Cummins Engine Company headquartered in Columbus, Indiana.
In 1967 he and his wife Mildred J. Hennessy, founded the David E. Hennessy Company, a Training Consulting Firm. Their work with the Petroleum Industry took them to the far corners of the world, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Indonesia, Singapore, and Nigeria.
They retired in 1995. In retirement David and Mildred founded the Brown County, Indiana Citizens’ Scholarships Organization. Its mission is to raise funds to provide financial assistance to local high school senior students of middle class families, and non –traditional students, namely resident adults who desire to attend college to better their lives.
Publications:
- Elementary Teachers Classroom Science Demonstrations and Activities, Prentice Hall, Inc.,
Englewood Clifts, N.J., 1964.
- Instructional Systems Development, TRC Press, a Division of Harris & Connor Inc.,
Frederiksted, St.Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, 1989. Co-Author, Mildred J. Hennessy.