Not long ago, Nancy Roby of Edgecomb was going through some old papers and found something of a historic nature she thought I’d enjoy seeing. It turned out to be an original copy of the Wiscasset Gazette, a four-page newsletter produced in the 1940s – “For Our Boys in the United States Armed Forces.” It was printed during World War II when America was at war with Germany and Japan, which ironically are today two of our closest allies.

The newsletter contains brief snippets of Wiscasset gossip, wedding and birth announcements and even a report of a robbery at a local restaurant. There’s also news of local boys who were serving in the military, where they were stationed, promotions, that sort of thing. Producing it must have been a true labor of love because it was painstakingly hand-typed onto a stencil and then mimeographed, that is to say, run off on a duplicating machine. It was then folded, placed in an envelope and mailed to servicemen. (I imagine it was sent to servicewomen, too.) Nancy’s Wiscasset Gazette had been sent to her father, Walter Sherman, a lifelong Wiscasset resident who died in 2013 at age 93. It was still in its original envelope addressed to Master Sargent Walter Sherman and postmarked Wiscasset, Maine, 8 a.m., Nov. 18, 1944; the postage was three cents. At the time, Sgt. Sherman was home on furlough after serving 33 months in the Pacific. I know this because it says so in the Wiscasset Gazette.

When I was writing my first book of Wiscasset stories in 2010, I interviewed Walter Sherman. After the war, he and his brothers Stan and Gerry Sherman owned and operated Wiscasset Lumber Company on Water Street. Walter told me he’d served with the 7th Army Airforce and was stationed in Okinawa, Japan when the war ended on Sept. 2, 1945, known as V-J Day. “That was a day I’ll remember the rest of my life because it meant we’d all soon be coming home to Wiscasset,” he said, recalling he was with a fellow Wiscasseter, Elliot Abbott, better known as “Puckey,” when he heard the news.

Another serviceman mentioned in this, the “holiday edition” of the Wiscasset Gazette, was Maurice Pendleton, who was also on furlough. After the war, he returned home to help run Pendleton’s Market that was in downtown Wiscasset on the north corner of Main and Middle streets. There’s mention, too, of Wiscasset’s Ellsworth McPhee who had recently written home from Italy. Private McPhee had been wounded and decorated for bravery in the Battle of Anzio.

Now I’m pretty certain that it was Louise Redonnett and her Wiscasset neighbor May Hutchins who collaborated in producing the Wiscasset Gazette. A few years earlier, Mrs. Redonnett had printed The Town Crier, a similar newsletter featuring news occurring in Maine’s Prettiest Village.

The Wiscasset Gazette started in 1943. There were no photographs within it although this edition includes a faint illustration of Wiscasset’s famed four-masted schooners, the Hesper and Luther Little.   

A special thank you to Nancy Roby for sharing her Wiscasset Gazette with me so that I could share it with you. 

Phil Di Vece earned a B.A. in journalism studies from Colorado State University and an M.A. in journalism at the University of South Florida. He is the author of three Wiscasset books and is a frequent news contributor to the Wiscasset Newspaper and Boothbay Register. He resides in Wiscasset. Contact him at pdivece@roadrunner.com