The Romeo Peach Festival Oral History Collection Part 2 - Charlie Turner

The Romeo Peach Festival is three months away, and the Romeo Community Archives will be there this year to conduct oral histories about the cherished event.

All interviews will be apart of the digital Romeo Peach Festival Oral History Collection. Each will contain the audio and transcript.

Each participant will also be given a sticker for sharing their memories of the festival. Charlie Turner, the man seen above, wore that sticker proudly after we interviewed him at last year's Romeo Peach Festival.

We recently added Charlie's interview to the digital collection. He has gone to the Peach Festival many times since he was a young child. In our conversation, he talked about how it pulls the community together and pondered if this type of activity can resonate in the era of social media.

One of Charlie's fondest memories was pulling the Romeo Youth Center's float with his family's tractor when he was 12 or 13. The Romeo Youth Center was located on where the Romeo-Washington-Bruce Parks & Recreation Romeo Community Center stands today on Morton Street. He recalls that it offered plenty of summer programs like tennis, twirling, and crap classes. Plenty of kids came every day.

At the end of the season, the Youth Center decided to have a float for the Peach Festival parade. The people in charge asked some of the kids if they wanted to participate, and they were looking for a tractor. Luckily for Charlie, his family had a brand new shiny one on their farm on 33 Mile and Campground Roads. He was able to drive that in for the parade and pull the float while the kids on it had tennis rackets and twirled. For him, it was a lot of fun.

The Romeo Youth Center officially opened on January 11, 1958 even though its first official event was a Romeo Cub Scouts of Pack 87 meeting held on December 17, 1957. As Charlie described it, it was a place that kids could hang out and participate in a lot of activities. It was involved in Peach Festival parades for many years.

Unfortunately, The Romeo Observer barely mentioned them during the Peach Festival that Charlie was in. However, there are three interesting articles about the Youth Center that appeared in the paper during those festitivies. The first was in the September 4, 1958 issue. In it, a nine-year-old boy named Bernard Butkovich fell off the Youth Center float after the Floral Parade happened. He broke his collarbone and bruised his head and jaw. Luckily, two men stopped their car and offered assistance. Soon after, the Romeo police station and Dr. E.E. Stone took care of young Cub Scot of Den 7.

The other two stories are more uplifting. In the September 10, 1959 edition, the Romeo Cub Scouts won fourth prize in the Floral Parade with their replica of the Youth Center. Finally, the September 7, 1961 issue reported that the Romeo Youth Center won first place in the Children's Parade, but it wasn't with a float. Instead, they took home the top prize in the Walking Groups and Singles category.

Charlie and I had a great time talking about the Romeo Peach Festival. The Romeo Community Archives looks forward to talking to more people about their memories of the Peach Festival and what it means to them.

It doesn't matter if you're young or old. We want to hear all of the stories about the festival.

To check out the Charlie Turner interview, you can go the Romeo Community Archives online catalog. More will be uploaded in the near future.

If you want to participate in the Romeo Peach Festival Oral History Collection, you can contact the Romeo Community Archives at rca@romemodistrictlibrary.org or call (586) 690-4890. We can also conduct interivews outside of Romeo Peach Festival weekend if you feel more comfortable that way.

Images and sources courtesy of the Romeo Community Archives; Romeo Peach Festival Oral History Collection, 2024 and Melvin E. and Joan D. Bleich Collection, The Romeo Observer Press, December 19, 1957, p.A-3; January 16, 1958, p.A-1; September 4, 1958, p.A-1 and p.A-4; September 10, 1959, p.A-1; and September 7, 1961, p.A-1

How to Read Dog Tags

If you have been to the Romeo District Library Kezar Branch within this month, you may have seen our display honoring the military service of The Romeo Observer's last owner Melvin E. Bleich. He was in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II. He was in the 106th Infantry Division from 1942 to 1945 when he was wounded.

Plenty of unique items are in this display, which can be seen down below.

One of the objects not visible in this picture are Mel's dog tags.

For those who don't know, dog tags were identification tags worn by military personnel. They provide plenty information about the person who wore them and can help those doing genealogy research.

To begin with, dog tags from World War II always listed the person's name in the first line. In this case, it has M E Bleich, which is why we know that it's Mel's.

The second line consists of the Army serial number, tetanus date, and blood type.

According to the Soldier of Fortune website, an Army serial number is a unique 8-digit number that can reveal the following information about the solider in question:

• "From the first digits you can tell if they are enlisted, Warrant Officer, Commissioned Officer or a Flight officer,
• If they volunteered (Regular Army) or where in the National Guard or where a Draftee into the Army.
• Where they lived or joined up.
• Some Branch of Service also had there own specific layout like Nurses, Medical staff and the WAC'S."

The first digit of Mel's Army serial number is 3, which meant that he was a draftee into the Regular Army. In this case, Mel would have been called up to the draft board under the Selective Training and Service Act. The next one or two digits (depending on if the soldier was in the Corps or Army areas) indicated the location in which the solider enlisted. Since the second number is 6, that meant that one was from Illinois, Wisconsin, or Michigan with the headquarters being in Chicago. Mel was originally from Detroit, so this fits perfectly.

The remaining six numbers meant that Mel was in a Corps area as opposed to the Army one.

Looking more into the second line is T 43. This meant Mel got his tetanus shot in 1943. At the end is an O, which indicated that Mel had an O blood type.

Now, here's where it gets tricky. In the picture from above, the dog tag has two separate number 4s before the O, so it reads "4 4." But, in the one below, a 6 has been added, so it reads "4 46."

There's a possibility that Mel had addition tetanus shot in 1946, and the second dog tag was updated to reflect that, but none of this is certain. The first number 4 is uncertain. What we do know is that Mel was made a corporal at some point during his military career, so maybe it reflects that. It remains unclear. If you know someone who served or is currently in the military, ask them about that.

Now, let's end on something easy. The P in the lower right corner of the tag denotes that Mel was a Protestant. All religious preferences were located in that part of the dog tag.

In conclusion, from looking at Mel Bleich's dog tag, we can know his status in the military, where he was from, when he got his tetanus shot, his blood type, and his religion affiliation.

That's how you read dog tags! For more information, check out the Soldier of Fortune website.

Have a great Memorial Day Weekend!

Images and sources courtesy of the Romeo Community Archives; Melvin E. and Joan D. Bleich Collection and Soldier of Fortune

RCA Photo of the Week - May 15, 2025

Like any small-town newspaper, The Romeo Observer listed birth announcements. The publication wanted to celebrate a Romeo family's special day. And, if these births occurred on New Years Day, they made a huge deal out of it. In the 1960s, the newspaper posted pictures of the mother and child in the first edition of the year.

For example, the front page of the January 5, 1967 issue of The Romeo Observer contained this photo of mother Mrs. George Herr resting with her newborn son George Jr. at the Community Hospital. According to the brief article, baby George was "born at 12:21 am, January 1 and weighed in at 8 pounds, 11^1/2 ounces."

By January 1967, the Herrs had lived in Romeo for two months and were originally from Imlay City.

Do you want to know how much Romeo and the surrounding towns made of George Jr.'s birth? The Community Hospital said that the $40 delivery charge was on them, and the Imlay City State Bank gave him a $25 bond.

And, that's not all. The article went on to say the following: "Other gifts and gift certificates came from the Romeo Time Shop, Sam's Shoe Store, Romeo Childrens Shop, Donahue and Morley Drug Stores, and Allan Studio, all of Romeo; Owens Flowers, Almont Hardware, Buell's Shoe Store, all of Almont; and Ray's Drug Store, Kehoe's Shoe Store, Thayers 5 & 10, MacDonald Jewelry, Dean's Pharmacy, Delannay Studio, IGA, all of Imlay City."

That baby was certainly well off and all because he was born on New Years Day.

To find more birth annoucenments in The Romeo Observer, you can contact the Romeo Community Archives at rca@romemodistrictlibrary.org or call (586) 690-4890, or you can check out the now digitized Romeo newspapers at the Suburban Library Cooperative's Local History Digital Collection.

Images and sources courtesy of the Romeo Community Archives; Melvin E. and Joan D. Bleich Collection, The Romeo Observer, January 1, 1967, p. 1-A

RCA Photo of the Week - May 8, 2025

May 8 is VE Day - the day in which Germany formerly surrendered to Allied Forces in World War II. This year marks the 80th Anniversary of that event. While the countries like the United States and the United Kingdom were commemorating the momentous occasion, a family in Romeo was celebrating that day for a different reason.

That was the day in which Technical Sergeant Harvey Streeter Jr. - the man seen in this photo - arrived at the home of his parents Harvey and Linda Streeter to spend a 60-day furlough after being liberated from a Prisoner of War camp in Germany.

The front page of the May 11, 1945 issue of The Romeo Observer Press covered this event. In it, the article described that Harvey was liberated from that camp on March 30 - Good Friday. He had been interned there since December 18, 1944. Prior to that, he was reported missing in action in Luxembourg.

The Romeo Observer Press wasn't the only organization keeping track of where Harvey was. The First Congregational Church - the church that he and his family went to - also kept tabs of its members who served during World War II. We know this because it created a scrapbook consisting of articles from the local newspaper and information from family members about where those servicepeople were at. It comes from the First Congregational Church Collection and is one of the most valuable military records the Romeo Community Archives has.

For example, the scrapbook covers Harvey's time as a Prisoner of War. The Romeo Observer Press first reported on that in their March 23, 1945 issue. In that article, Harvey stated that "he is well and is being treated as good as can be expected."

In addition, the scrapbook listed that he attended Romeo High School and the Sunday School at the First Congregational Church. From this document, we also know that he enlisted in Detroit on February 16, 1942. From there, Harvey was sent to Fort Custer in Augusta, Michigan; then to Fort Sill in Oklahoma, where he was a cavalry instructor; then to Fort Riley in Kansas, where he was an instructor in heavy artillery; and then to Camp Polk in Louisiana. The March 30, 1945 edition of The Romeo Observer Press reported that he went overseas in August 1944.

When Harvey was released in the spring of 1945, he spent his time soon after in France. According to the same May 11 issue, Harvey said that he "had received the very best of care and that it is a grand feeling to be back in the United States Army again."

Let's hope the Streeter family had a wonderful time welcoming back Harvey on VE Day!

If you know someone who served, feel free to share their story.

Furthermore, if you want to see the First Congregational Church's World War II scrapbook, feel free contact the Romeo Community Archives at rca@romemodistrictlibrary.org or call (586) 690-4890.

Images and sources courtesy of the Romeo Community Archives; First Congregational Church Collection, 1945

The Romeo Observer Digitization Project is Complete!!!

Hello Everybody!

Every issue of The Romeo Observer from the 2000s is now digitized and made searchable. This means that we are done scanning all of the Romeo newspapers! You can read about how people reacted to major events like the September 11 attacks and Hurricane Katrina as well as local ones like the 2003 Blackout, the Romeo Victorian Festival, and the 50th Anniversary of Melvin E. Bleich taking over ownership of The Romeo Observer. The photo seen above is of Mel celebrating his 50th year as owner and operator in 2009.

I'm sure that Mel would be proud of the hard work my intern Jen Derless and I have done for nearly two and a half years.

And of course, you can also research the Romeo Peach Festival and the women who became the Peach Queens in that decade.

As of now, Jen and I are in the process of uploading every single issue to the Suburban Library Cooperative's Local History Digital Collection. The link can also be found on the Romeo Community Archives website under Research and Genealogy & Obits pages. We plan on finishing this final step by the end of June.

The newspapers that we have digitized are listed below:

• The Romeo Investigator (1851)
• The Romeo Argus (1857, 1860-1862, 1864)
• The Romeo Hydrant (1890)
• The Romeo Press (1937-1939)
• The Romeo Observer (1866-2015)

If you want to see the newspapers sooner, you can make an appointment to see these editions on our computers by calling (586) 690-4890 or emailing rca@romeodistrictlibrary.

This is for you, Mel!