Category: History || By
A crowd of 1,200 people waited late into the night outside the Baltimore & Ohio station on Fifth Avenue for some sign of the troop train carrying Marines home from the Pacific Theater.
It was just after 2 a.m. on June 22, 1944, when the big B&O steam engine at the front of the train finally chuffed its way across Lysle Boulevard.
As the cars clattered to a stop, the cheers were long and loud.
On board was USMC Lt. Mitchell Paige, McKeesport High School graduate and Allegheny County's first winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor during World War II.
Six days later, thousands more lined the streets as a day-long motorcade carrying Paige, his parents, and wife Stella wound its way through 21 Mon-Yough area boroughs and townships.
(But first, Paige had to do his laundry.)
This Veteran's Day, we salute one of the toughest McKeesport Tigers of them all --- Lt. (later Col.) Mitchell Paige, who was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor 65 years ago this year, and who died five years ago this week.
Read more in the Local History section of Tube City Online, where we tell the story of Mitchell Paige.
Was the Pacific Theater on Lysle Boulevard at one time?
Prof. Bag O'Wind - November 11, 2008
Yeah, piss off the Marines, Windy. That’s a good idea.
Webmaster - November 11, 2008
Thank you for recognizing Mitchell Paige. Did you know that there is a sign in Parris Island Training Depot that reads: How many Marines does it take to hold off a battalion? Answer: ONE, Mitchell Paige ! Did you know they fashioned the GI Joe doll after him ! Soldiers and Sailors Museum has a wonderfull color picture of him in the lobby – I encourage all of your readers to visit the museum and salute this brave Medal of Honor winner from McKeesport !
Donn Nemchick - November 12, 2008
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