CPL. ALBERT G. MASON (A BEDSTUY HERO)
Brownstone Detectives investigates the history of our clients’ homes.
The story you are about to read was composed from research conducted in the course of one of those investigations.
Do you know the history of YOUR house?
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In 2014, The Brownstone Detectives partnered with the New York City Parks Department to help celebrate the lives of the servicemembers of Bedford-Stuyvesant Heights who made the ultimate sacrifice during the Great War.
We researched these heroes to locate pictures, stories, and their descendants to be brought together for a ceremony that dedicated a new “Victory and Peace” war memorial at Saratoga Park.
This biography tells the story of one of those servicemembers.
CORPORAL ALBERT G. MASON
Born in the Stuyvesant section on 3 April 1893, Albert G. Mason was the son of Mrs. Minnie Clifford Mason. Although he grew up at 591 Bainbridge and 798 Macon Street, his mother was living at 117 Patchen Avenue during the war.
Mason was a member of the 47th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division, and had been in the Army for seven years before the U.S. got involved in WWI. He had served at that point from the Philippines to Texas to Mexico, but soon would find himself in another more dangerous theatre of war.
On May 25th, 1918, Mason’s regiment landed at Brest in France. Two months were spent training with British and French units before July 27th, when “the Raiders” (the nickname of the 47th) were marching knee deep in mud to their first action.
In his last letter written early in August he told of his battle experiences. He informed his mother that “the Americans had no yellow streaks in them, and fought until the last ditch.”
For Mason the “last ditch” came when he was killed in action on 10 August 1918. According to the a War Department telegram received by his mother, he fell in action at the Vesle Front, where pitched battles were fought in the final push to end the war.
Cpl. Albert G. Mason is buried in Oise-Aisne American Cemetery in Fere-en-Tarenois, France.
(To learn about the history of the “Victory & Peace” memorial, click HERE.)
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Brownstone Detectives is an historic property research agency. Our mission is to document and save the histories of our clients’ homes. From our research, we produce our celebrated House History Books and House History Reports. Contact us today to begin discovering the history of your home.
