The return of Arnold Road

BY GINNY RAUE
WEST MILFORD — What’s in a name? In the case of renaming the Union Valley Road branch of West Milford’s Dockerty Hollow Road to Arnold Road, the new designation is about honor and remembrance. And possibly, as some believe, righting a past wrong.

How it came aboutEarlier this year, the subject of the two-branch Dockerty Hollow Road was raised at a township council meeting. According to Councilwoman Ada Erik, the fact that Dockerty Hollow Road appears on maps as a through-road, running from Macopin to Union Valley Roads, could be problematic.

In reality the two roads don’t connect, which could cause the loss of precious minutes for unfamiliar emergency crews trying to reach a destination. Less critical, work vehicles and delivery trucks also receive faulty information from their Global Positioning Systems.

Change is goodSo, it was deemed time to make a name change. And time, suggested Councilman Michael Hensley, to give the honor back to John Eric Arnold who lost that distinction when Arnold Road was renamed Highlander Drive on July 26, 1988.

Hensley recalled the name change and wondered at the time who Arnold was. When he found out he was a World War II veteran who had given his life, he felt the change was unjust.

“He gave the ultimate sacrifice for our country during a struggle between good and evil. All of us benefit from that kind of courage,” Hensley said.

“It should never have been changed,” Erik added. “We tend to forget everything that’s important.”

Getting to know Pvt. ArnoldPerhaps to appreciate the petition to honor him, it’s best to meet Pvt. John Eric Arnold on Dec. 2, 1944, the day he was critically wounded. Serving with the United States Army 121 Infantry, 8 Division, he was in the midst of the Battle of Hurtgen Forest in Germany.

According to his son, John Eric Arnold, 74, it was a fierce battle, with tragic results.

Fought in an area of oppressive forestation, it is considered one of the bloodiest confrontations of World War II. The conflict raged from Sept. 1944 through Feb. 1945; wet, cold months of war that claimed 24,000 Americans – killed, wounded, captured and missing. Another 9,000 suffered combat fatigue, trench foot and respiratory illnesses.

Wounded by shrapnel, Arnold was evacuated to Belgium and France and finally to England. His son discovered a year ago that his father was treated at a United States Army hospital in the small village of Hermitage in southern England.

“They had a big hospital complex there after D-Day because so many were being flown back. They went there before being sent elsewhere,” Arnold said.

In West Milford, the Arnold family – his parents Eric and Gertrude, his wife Francella and his four-year old son John – hoped for his return aboard a hospital ship.

“After he was wounded he was unable to write but he dictated letters,” his son said. “We didn’t get those letters, including a Christmas card, until after he died.”

The family learned from the letters that he had no feeling in his legs, presumably from shrapnel wounds in the waist area.

Pvt. John Eric Arnold, 25, son, husband, father, friend and West Milford resident, died on Dec. 30, 1944, most likely from infection. In his effects returned to the family was the shrapnel that took his life. His son has it to this day.

He was buried in a United States Army Cemetery in Cambridge, England. His body was returned to his hometown of West Milford in 1948 and he was re-interred in Cedar Heights Cemetery on Ridge Road.

The Arnolds of West MilfordEric and Gertrude Arnold raised their only child in a home on Marshall Hill Road. Arnold was a local business man and a "recorder" for the township of West Milford. He was elected to the office of Justice of the Peace and served as a committeeman during the 1930s.

His son, Pvt. Arnold, married Francella in 1939 and lived with their son across the street from his parents.

In 1946, Francella and her son John moved to Hamlin, Pa., to live with her father. She remarried in 1947.

Her son grew up and eventually entered the United States Air Force. After leaving the service in 1965, he became a minister. “Quite a change,” he said.

A Santa Ana, California resident, he’s retired now but still does some pastoring in the United States and in English speaking to churches in Europe. He and his wife, Doris, have two sons and one grandchild, Eric.

He was just four years old when his father died so the memories are vague and he has depended on family and friends to fill in the blanks of who his father was. He does remember when his father’s body was brought back home to be buried in West Milford.

“It was left up to the family as to whether they were brought home at all,” he said. Pvt. Arnold’s parents were later laid to rest beside their son.

He learned that his father was a good man, a gentle person who loved his family greatly. He worked for his father and was a member of the Assembly of God Church in town where he played the mandolin.

“He was someone who loved me and my mother, he expressed that very much so in his letters from Europe. From all appearances, he was someone who was loved by all who knew him,” Arnold said.

The street signArnold knew when the road leading off Macopin was named after his father but never learned of the change to Highlander Drive until a few years ago. He is happy the honor will be restored.

“I appreciate them doing this and I’m sure my grandparents and mother would be pleased,” he said. He said it was important to remember all those lost in wars.

Arnold visited West Milford recently, stopping by the cemetery and driving past the family homes. Memories still linger.

So what’s in a name? It’s surely not just a new street sign. It’s the acknowledgement of a young life sacrificed for the good of his country and fellow man.

Editor’s note: The township council will hold a public hearing on Wednesday, April 22, to gather the public's comments on the proposal to change the name of Dockerty Hollow Road to Arnold Road. The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. at the township hall, 1480 Union Valley Road.

Source: Battle info and photo - http://hurtgen1944.homestead.com

Letter and photos courtesy of John Arnold