The Coolidge examiner., 1933-07-28

ent postmaster at West Point Is a grandniece of
Miss Berard and that there has also been trag-
edy In her life For she is Miss Grace Aileen
Harrington and she Is the daughter of Lieut.
Henry Moore Harrington of troop of the Sew
enth cavalry who perished with Gen. George A.
Custer at the Battle OF the Little Big Horn on
June % 1876 and who was one Of the three Of
fcers whose bodies were never found, at least
not identified after the battle
Not only Is the ignorance OF her fathers fate
one Of the tragic incidents in the fife of the
woman who is postmaster at West Point, where
so many of Clusters officers were once cadets
but there is another tragic memory which she
has carried through llfe-a memory Of her moth
er, whe suddenly disappeared several years after
the Custer battle. "Amnesia II would be called
nowadays" Miss Harrington says, but at that
time 1t was ascribed to grief and the uncertain
ty Of what had happened TO my father Several
times we heard from Indians that a lady dressed
in black had been seen on the battlefield. Other
reports came from Indian territory. We investi-
gated all these rumors and finally after two
years we found her In Texas where a severe at
tack Of pneumonia had served to bring back her
memory so that she knew who she was But
she was never able 10 give any account OF her
wanderings while she was gone or why she was
there"
AS Miss Harrington stands behind her desk
in the post office amid the busy turmoil OF mail
distribution for the 1260 cadets at the academy
and an equal number Of officers and regular sol
diers, she can look up to two pictures on the
wall which serve as link between the blood
stained battlefield OF the Little Big Horn In far
off Montana and the peaceful banks of the Hud
son. One of them is a picture OF her father in
the regimentals of the Seventh cavalry, the uni
form which he wore on that fatal day in June
more than half a century ago. The other is
picture of Cadet Henry Moore Harrington. 1t is
enclosed in a frame made of beads and these
beads obtained by her mother from Indians
In Dakota-perhaps members of the very same
tribe who overwhelmed Custer and Harrington
and all the other gallant officers and troopers Of
the Old Seventh
Among the other West Point traditions is one
of perfection in attire and one OF the require
ments for that perfection is perfectly aligned
and perfectly sewn chevrons worn as the IN
sigma by the officers and non-commissioned of
fcers In the corps of cadets Those ornate chev.
rons OF gold lace, black braid and broadcloth
are very difficult TO make, since they require
great skill and experience in the making but
there is woman who has proved herself capable
of the Job.
For more than fifty years without break
Mrs Louise Regan of Highland Falls n Y, has
made every chevron, gold or gray, worn by the
slIdiSHlSIduuluS WEST one really start
ed sewing them when she was ten years old
but her uninterrupted service with the cadet
store Of the academy began when she was eight
cen and since 1879 all the corporals stripes and
insignia from sergeants up to regimental com
manders have come from her hands She is
past seventy years Of age now and she has made
stripes for many cadets who are generals in the
army today
1t is difficult, says Harris P. Scott, manager
of the cadet store, to turn the straight-rolled
gold lace into the curves necessary to make
those long VS. turned up without drawing or
wrinkling the material. Five yards of gold lace
are required to make a pair Of chevrons for a
regimental adjutant of the corps Of cadets.
There is also the background of broadcloth with
the silk stripping between the gold lace This
lace is of real gold and is imported from France
1t is all hand labor and the material must be
worked in cool weather as hand perspiration
deadens it. She works from January to June
each year making chevrons for the cadet officers
to-be in June after graduation.
Mrs. Regan is a widow and without children
She was born in Highland Falls, moving to
Yonkers upon her marriage and then returned
to her birthplace The cadet store has sent
her the work wherever she was. Her health is
splendid and though the work is hard on the
eyes she hopes to continue as the only maker
of the splendid gold and gray and black chev-
rons that grace the uniformed sleeve of the
West Pointer.
(G by Western Newspaper Union)