I was age 11 and listening to the radio with my family when Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese. And then, at age 12, I — as an Enterprise paperboy — became friends with Aldo Sorcinelle, who, at age 18, was circulation manager at the Enterprise. We loved him; he was funny and nice to us, as many older boys were not.

A short time after his 18th birthday he joined the Marine Corps. Within a year, he was killed in action.

It was the first real life event of the war that smacked us kids right between the eyes. We may have been a rowdy bunch (there were 23 of us) but we grieved from the heart when we heard Aldo was killed.

The other close-to-home experience for me was delivering telegrams to parents whose sons were killed or wounded in the war. I filled in as telegram delivery boy for my friend Manny Bernstein who held the fulltime job.

Corporal Clayton F. Muller

I always asked the guy who ran the telegraph office, Tom Leahy, if the parents had been notified of the news; thank God, for the relatively few that I got to deliver, the parents had been called by someone in the War Department.

My happy time after the war was when I was a member of the Vet’s Club Drum and Bugle Corps at age 18 (I was in the Army National Guard for nine years, joining at age 17) with all these WWII combat vets. What an education as we traveled around to participate in parades around the North Country.

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First Saranac Lake casualty of WWII

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(The following stories from the Enterprise)

“Corp. Edwin Cooper Booth, son of Mr. and Mrs. Edwin J. Booth of 82 Main Street, died in action in the Africa area March 20 [1943]. He became the village’s first casualty of world war two. The parents of the young soldier received a telegram from the adjutant general Friday morning announcing his death.

“Corp. Booth was inducted into the army about one year ago. He was with the U.S. Army Medical Corps as a pharmacist. He landed in Africa only a few days before his death. Further particulars are expected by his family in the next few days.

“Corp. Booth was born June 6, 1918, the son of Edwin and Adalaide Booth. He was graduated from the Saranac Lake high school and from Buffalo’s School of Pharmacy. After completing his course work he worked in Kendall’s Pharmacy [also at 82 Main Street — Blue Line Sports shop today] owned by his father. He was inducted into the service on April, 28, 1942.

“In June of last year he attended a laboratory technician school in Washington, D.C.

Corporal Edwin C. Booth

“Surviving are his parents, one brother, George A., students at Albany Pharmacy School and one sister, Mrs. James Melvin of Lake Placid.”

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First Paul Smith’s casualty of WWII

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“Corporal Clayton F. Muller is the first casualty of Paul Smith’s in the second World War. He died on active duty with an anti-tank division in the Northwestern front in Africa just before the Germans launched their drive.

“Corporal Muller enlisted in the U.S. Army in Malone on October 19, 1940. His early training at Madison Barracks and he was then assigned to the 5th Field Artillery. With this outfit he went through the maneuvers in Louisiana during the summer of 1941.

“When, as a result of the lessons learned in these maneuvers, an anti-tank division was formed for overseas duty, Corporal Muller was picked for duty in the new service branch. He then left for further training in England with a tank destroyer division. Following service in the Isles, the division was sent to Africa.

“Corporal Muller was the son of Mr. and Mrs. C. F. Muller of Paul Smiths. He had attended lower schools in Brighton and Santa Clara towns, and he attended Saranac Lake high school but he enlisted before graduation.

“Yesterday, Mrs. Muller received the following communication by telegram from the Adjutant General’s Office: ‘The Secretary of War desires me to express his deep regret that your son, Corporal Clayton F. Muller, was killed in action in defense of his country in Northwest Africa February 4. Letter will follow.

“Signed — Ulio, Adjutant General.”