YorksPast

Mom sent Dad a Loring Studios portrait every Christmas that Dad served in the Army Air Corps during WWII; i.e. Christmas of 1943, 1944 and 1945. This Loring Studios ad, appearing in The Gazette and Daily during the Christmas season of 1945, may have prompted the Oil Colored Portrait sent during that year.  At the end of this post view the Loring Studios Christmas portrait that Esther L. Smith sent to her husband Harold L. Smith in 1945.

I was never curious where Loring Studios was located, however got a surprise when searching 146 East Market Street in old York, Pennsylvania, newspapers. That was the address of Charles Kurtz [1857-1927] in my post Dempwolf building stood next to Bonham House.  This is the third follow-up post to that initial post; all prompted by a simple query from Stewartstown Historical Society’s Doug Winemiller.

Later in its life, the use of the 146 East Market Street building primarily combined businesses on the first floor with apartments on the second and third floors. Directories indicate that Loring Studies was located at 146 East Market Street from 1941 to 1962. At the end of the 1960s this building was demolished to construct the modern headquarters for Susquehanna Broadcasting Company in 1969.

Harold L. Smith at the end of WWII

The war in Europe ended, with VE-Day on May 8th 1945. Four days later Harold L. Smith’s unit was assigned to the 9th Air Force and went to Strasburg, Germany. Their assignment was to provide a military presence as needed, however their primary job was studying maps of mainland Japan. Even with a nice scattering of passes, for three months, this was the ever-present routine; making preparations for doing aerial photo recon work during an invasion of mainland Japan.

Harold’s unit was stationed in Heidelberg, Germany when they got word of Japan’s impending surrendered August 15th 1945; to say they were overjoyed would be an understatement, they had quite the party that night. Even though the war ended with VJ-Day, Harold continued to serve in Germany until March 11th 1946. The majority of that time Harold was assigned to the 7th Liaison Squad in Germany. He returned to the U.S. and was discharged with the rank of Sergeant on April 2nd 1946. What follows is the Loring Studios Christmas portrait that Esther L. Smith sent to her husband Harold L. Smith while he continued serving overseas during Christmas 1945.

Links to related posts include:

• Dempwolf building stood next to Bonham House
• Charles Kurtz and The York Water Company
• The York Water Company at 100-Years
• McGann Manuafcturing Company in Spring Garden Township; Harold L. Smith during WWII
• Earliest Jeeps Built 75-Years Ago for WWII

Reading the Headlines: A Quick Index to All YorksPast Posts