Power Plant “Destroyed” By “Regulars” in Walpole
L Company Guardsmen Protect Water Supply
No paratroops “landed” in Norwood yesterday during the big war games in the First Service Command area and the nearest scene of “combat” was Walpole where members of the Black or Regular Army destroyed a power plant and caused other damage.
State guardsmen from L Company, 26th infantry in Norwood, spread out over the embattled areas here to protect water supply lines and communication key points in Westwood and Dedham, while the major portion of the local company deployed In the vicinity of Bridgewater and Wareham to repel the invaders.
POLICE AID
Norwood police cruising cars, and cruisers from other departments in the area were pressed into service for use in communications between military units.
While the town was stripped of guardsmen occupied in distant places around the upper Cape section, police chief William Sullivan called out a special detail of auxiliary police to guard the light stations, waterworks, and telephone exchange.
Norwoodites on their way to church early yesterday were startled to see auxiliary police, with armbands, clubs and badges spotted in different sections of the town. First inquirers wondered if’ an air raid had been sounded, but they were assured It was no air raid, but one of the town’s precautionary measures during the day-long war games.
The war games got underway early Sunday morning. According to the plan paratroops landed under cover of darkness and the State Guard scouts were sent out to locate them.
PARATROOPS IN WALPOLE
Guardsmen were quickly thrown across a number of main highways. Paratroops were reported In Walpole almost at once, and hours later another group of military saboteurs were discovered In the vicinity of the bridge at Route 128 In Westwood. Guardsmen also stood as barricades across the main highway running south from Boston, Into Dedham and the Providence superhighway.
Shortly before noon, a busload of guardsmen, in full field equipment, left the armory here and headed for the Cape where a large concentration of regular army men were detected heading east.
At Bridgewater the guardsmen did not make contact with the “enemy” and continued on to Wareham, where the games were called off at 4 In the afternoon.
The Norwood mobile canteen was pressed into service to feed the tired guardsmen when they returned to the armory just before dusk.
(Originally published in the Norwood Messenger, October 18, 1942)