MILTON “ZIP” ELMER
(1898 – 1995), WWI VETERAN AND MUSICIAN
Four members of the East Middlebury Historical Society brought to the attention of the Sheldon Museum the life story of Milton “Zip” Elmer, central to which was his naval service during WWI.
Born to a mixed-race couple in Clarendon, Rutland County, Vermont on November 17, 1898, Milton and his father soon moved to East Middlebury, Addison County, Vermont.
According to a 1991 interview, he purchased his first trumpet from Sears & Roebuck around 1910 at the cost of $16. Pretty much self-taught, a few years later while attending a concert by the Middlebury band, he joined right in.
Soon after the United States entered WWI, Milton Elmer joined the U.S. Navy on November 13, 1917 and was stationed on Bumpkin Island* in Boston Harbor. Naval records indicate that on enlistment he was 5’ 2 ¼” in height, weighted 124 ½ pounds, with blue eyes, brown hair, and a ruddy complexion. Soon he attended Radio School in Cambridge, A photo survives from that period with the caption “Radio School, Dec. 1917” picturing a group of nine sailors in uniform, each with a bugle. Milton Elmer is identified as the figure in the center of the first row in the photo. Naval records show that the ship to which he was then assigned in 1919 had stops in the Azores, Brest, France, and Hardwick, England. He was honorably discharged from the naval service on October 29, 1919 and returned to East Middlebury, Vermont.
He lived an adventuresome, full life, and we have asked members of the East Middlebury Historical Society to further document his history, which is helped considerably by an interview that was recorded on video and an article in spring 1985 written by three young students - Andy Adams, Craig Gardner, and Emily Shepard - who interviewed him for the Village Green newsletter of the Ripton School.
He continued to play in the horn section of local dance and community bands, particularly those in Middlebury and Bristol. One photo shows him as a horn player in the “Wayside” Pavilion Orchestra “Very - Peppy” with all seven musicians dressed in black tie and tuxedos. A poster from the period promotes a dance at Ackert’s Hall in Danby, Vermont, Music by the Marble City Serenaders featuring “Milt” Elmer, Wizard Cornetist.”
Later Milton Elmer was the local post man who picked up mail in Middlebury each morning for delivery in East Middlebury and Ripton, returning to Middlebury later in the day with mail from Ripton and East Middlebury. Jack Brown of East Middlebury recalls hitching rides each day, to and from school, with Milton Elmer. Many such stories abound, and we look forward to a future, more comprehensive account of the life of Milton “Zip” Elmer.
We thank the East Middlebury Historical Society for the loan of documents and photographs about Milton Elmer, particularly East Middlebury residents Linda Kelton, Sarah Wakefield, and Jack Brooks, and the Vermont National Guard Museum in Colchester to which Linda Kelton had donated many of Milton Elmer’s naval service material.
* In the late 1800s, wealthy Bostonian and philanthropist Albert Burrage leased the island for 500 years and constructed a children’s hospital on the island in 1902. Bumpkin also became a place for underprivileged children from Boston to visit during the summer. During World War I, Burrage transferred ownership of the island to the U.S. Navy, which built a training facility on Bumpkin. The hospital was used as an officer’s quarters and sick bay. German prisoners were also held on the island for a time. After the war, the Navy dismantled all of its structures
