On June 8, 1947, St. Paul’s rector, George A. Taylor, dedicated a set of electronic chimes given by the congregation in honor of those from the parish who had died in military service during World War II.

Memorial plaque for World War II Dead

The chimes, paid for by a special subscription from the congregation, had first been heard on Christmas Eve the previous year, when the organist, Raymond S. Halse, played carols before the service.

At the June dedication service, St. Paul’s choir sang Reginald De Koven’s setting of Kipling’s “Recessional.” Father Taylor took the title of his sermon from the the poem’s stirring line, repeated at the end of each of the first three stanzas: “Lest we forget!”

New York Times 6 Mar 1945

Among those listed is Donald Shore Candlyn, who was born in Albany in 1925 and graduated cum laude from the Albany Academy in 1943. He died 26 Dec 1944 in Luxembourg, during the Battle of the Bulge. The monument shown below is in the Memorial Grove in Van Cortlandt Park, the Bronx.

Donald Shore Candlyn memorial, Van Cortlandt Park, the Bronx

Candlyn’s parents. T. Frederick H. Candlyn and Dorothy Ridgway Candlyn, had moved to New York City in 1943 when his father, who had been the organist and choirmaster of St. Paul’s Church from 1915 until 1943, was named to the same position at St. Thomas Church, Manhattan.

As related in a November 12, 1945 New York Times article, “Sgt. Donald S. Candlyn was killed by a sniper’s bullet on Dec. 26, 1944 while on a mission above and beyond the call of duty. With the Germans on the offensive at the time, American communications had broken down and Sergeant Candlyn, in the face of heavy fire, had volunteered as a foot runner to obtain orders.” Candlyn was posthumously awarded the Silver Star and Purple Heart.

In a will signed just before leaving for war, Donald Candlyn made several bequests. We know that one provision was for his father’s new church: in April 1948 a  new principal four-foot stop on the St. Thomas organ was dedicated in his memory. But the 19-year-old also left a bequest to St. Paul’s Church. In our chapel is a window that was a gift of Donald Shore Candlyn.

Donald Shore Candlyn window, St. Paul’s Chapel

Detail, Donald Shore Candlyn window, St. Paul’s Chapel