This Place, This Time
Corsair signature stirs memories

By Mark J. Price
Beacon Journal staff writer

POSTED: 09:08 p.m. EDT, May 10, 2009

History always repeats.

Here are some interesting updates from the world of This Place, This Time:

Is this Smith?

We have a good candidate for the mysterious Goodyear Aircraft laborer who signed ''Smith'' in an Akron-built Corsair fighter plane during World War II.

Restoration workers found the name while taking apart an engine cowling of a 1944 Corsair at the Fleet Air Arm Museum in England. The signature was beneath a riveted aluminum plate that seemed to have no purpose.

Massillon native Marjorie Fisher, now of Port Sanilac, Mich., believes it's the writing of her grandmother Lilly Ethel Smith, a ''Rosie the Riveter'' who liked to sign her work at Goodyear.

''Smitty'' stood 4 feet 7 inches tall, and had small hands. As a ''hand former,'' she assembled small parts and maneuvered in sections of the plane other laborers could not reach.

When she was a little girl, Fisher listened raptly to her grandmother's tales of the plant.

''She often told us about signing her name in out-of-the-way places,'' Fisher said. ''She said they had to be where people wouldn't notice because it was against the law 'to put a face' on government property. Years later, I realized she meant deface.''

Smith's two sons served in the military during the war. George L. Smith was in the Army Air Corps and K.G. ''Junie'' Smith Jr. was in the Marines.

''When I asked why she would sign her name if nobody would ever see it, she said, 'It doesn't matter if anyone else sees it. I'll know it's there and I'm the only one that matters. What if Uncle George or Uncle Junie ride in the plane?' ''

Smith died in 1985.

Daughter Christine Kester, 90, of Massillon, said her mother was ambidextrous and had a fascination with doodling.

Signing an airplane was her secret way of saying hello.

''She was in the habit of doing that, believe me,'' Kester said. ''She often thought of putting her name in someplace. She said 'Maybe someday I'll hear about it.' ''

Witness to tragedy

Scott Swisher knows the story by heart. His father told it to him many times.

He was surprised to read our recent articles about the Erie Railroad train that struck an Ohio National Guard tank on April 29, 1951, at the Fairview Avenue crossing in Barberton. Three guardsmen were killed.

''My father Paul Swisher was an 18-year-old senior at Barberton High when this happened,'' he said. ''He was the driver of this tank on the way out of town.''

If it hadn't been for a faulty fuel gauge, his father would have been killed. Another tank in the convoy ran out of gas on Route 619 on the return trip to Barberton. The crews switched, and Paul Swisher left the ill-fated tank for a seat on a jeep.

The young guardsman witnessed the tragedy and remained at the crossing for several hours to help secure the crash site and clean up debris. Meanwhile, his family and friends thought he had been killed. They didn't know he had switched tanks.

Paul Swisher, 76, who has difficulty speaking after a stroke, is recuperating at St. Luke Lutheran Community in New Franklin.

His wife, Janice, showed him the article about the crash.

''Do you recognize this?'' she asked.

''I was there!'' he said.

Scott Swisher said the article really made his father's day.

''Thanks for the story.''

You bet it's Boettler

Sherman Grant, who has lived in Green for 54 years, has a gentle reminder for new residents of the growing city.

Boettler Road should be pronounced ''Bettler,'' not ''Bottler.'' ''The City Council and the mayor and anyone with any history of Green call it Bettler,'' he said.

Boettler Road was named for the Boettler family, whose 240-acre farm was a landmark for more than a century.

Some descendants changed the spelling to Bettler because of frequent mispronunciation.

''I still get a cold chill when I hear someone call it Bottler,'' Grant said.



Mark J. Price is a Beacon Journal copy editor. He can be reached at 330-996-3850 or send e-mail to mjprice@thebeaconjournal.com.

Ellie