10. Gordon Gregory Chatfield & Hylda Pauline Hughes
6. Gordon Gregory Chatfield The sixth Chatfield child of Nellie and Charles, Gordon Gregory Chatfield was born two years after Nella May in Casper, Wyoming, December 20, 1905. Nella May idolized her favorite brother. She didn’t even scold him, when on an outing, he took her small daughter Beverly into a bar. It wasn’t unusual to take a child into a bar in those days; many grew up on cherry cokes and Shirley Temples while their parents sat on stools, but she still wasn’t happy about it. Alcohol had caused some tribulations in her life and she thought it tasted as terrible as the trouble it caused. She only took one swallow of beer in her whole life until she was older when her doctor prescribed a small nightly glass of red wine for her anemia.
Gordon married Hylda Pauline Hughes in 1929 when he was 23 and she was 19. They lived in Colusa in 1930, both working in the upholstery business, then moved back to Chico in 1933 through 1938 (he was working for a mattress factory in 1934 and 1935), and then both worked for Diamond Match Factory from 1935 though 1938. They were married for at least ten years, and had no children.
He joined the Army Air Force in August 12, 1942 serving in the 306th Airdrome Squadron as a Private 1st Class in the South Pacific in WWII and was discharged April 2, 1946. He was hurt in the war falling from a truck (or from the open bay of an airplane, depending on whose story) and walked with a limp and a cane thereafter. He lived on his pension and worked some as a furniture finisher and upholstery worker.
A letter from Gordon to his mother mailed from Spokane:
My Dear Mom, Aug. 12, 1943
Well here I am at Geiger Field, Washington. I am in an Airdrome squadron and we are supposed to be across by Xmas, I hope.
An Airdrome squadron moves in on an enemy airdrome. As soon as they move out, we fix it up and have it ready for our planes to land on. Also we are the infantry of the Air Force. We all get rifles and sub-machine guns and pistols and they are making sure we learn how to use them. That part comes very easy to me, thank goodness.
Next week we are going up in the mountains above Spokane to a place called Seven Mile. We are going to sleep in Pup tents and live on regular battle rations, go through regular battle maneuvers, crawl through barbed wire over the ground and have real machine guns shooting over us just 40 inches above the ground, so believe me, I am sure going to keep my little fanny way down. Also we are going to get rifle practice and more rifle practice, as our Major told us today. It looks like all are well.
With love to all,
Your loving son Gordon
Like Roy, Gordon also had an ornery streak. Whenever either of Ina’s young girls walked by and no one was looking, he swatted them with his cane. Joanne and Shirley learned pretty quickly to go around a chair, through another room, or scoot past him to avoid being his target. He always denied doing anything and everyone took his side—maybe they felt sorry for him because of his injury. Falling from an open airplane bay while the plane was on the ground, his legs were damaged. He had a special car built with hand controls, as he could not put his foot on the brakes. His accident in the service contributed to his early death, a month short of forty-three.
Three months after I was born, Gordon, at the age of 42, died in Letterman’s Veterans Hospital in San Francisco. He is buried in the Golden Gate Cemetery in San Bruno. His wife Hylda later married Judson Bales and lived in the Sacramento area until her death in 2000.
Most of the family gathered for his funeral and met at Velma and Charlie’s (South San Francisco?) afterwards. Howard is missing from the pictures so he may not have joined the reception.
Obituary—In this city, Nov 19, 1948, Gordon Chatfield, dearly beloved son of Mrs. Nellie Chatfield of Chico, Calif., loving brother of Charles Chatfield of San Francisco, Leo Chatfield of Comptonville, Howard, Roy and Arden Chatfield, all of Chico, Mrs. Verda Day of Redwood City, Mrs. Ina Fouch of Yuba City, and Mrs. Noreen Clemens of Sonora: A native of Casper Wyoming, age 42 years, A member if V.F.W of Van Nuys, Calif.
A mass of Requiem will be offered Tuesday morning 9:30 o’clock at Chapel of Our Lady, Presidio, San Francisco. Friends may call at the mortuary of Halsted & Co., 1123 Sutter St. near Polk. Internment, Golden Gate National Cemetery.
As I Was Told:
Which of our uncles died in the war? Was it Gordon? Whichever one it was I met him only once. He came to see my Mom and I thought he was very serious. He was in his uniform and it seems like he walked with a limp. Gordon told me to lace my shoe that had come undone. He said stepping on an undone lace can cause you to fall down. At the time I thought that was why he walked with a limp as he probably fell down himself. I was about 6 or 7, I think, so that would have been 1944 or 1945.
Barbara (McElhiney) Clauson