NAHANT — The 17th Annual Paterson Lecture this weekend will focus on Nahant’s Mortimer G. Robbins, who was killed in action in the Battle of Passchendaele during World War I.
Robbins was born in Nahant in November of 1893 and went to Canada to join the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force in October 1915. He was assigned to the 5th Canadian Mounted Rifles and went to war shortly afterwards, said Julie Tarmy, office administrator for the Nahant Historical Society.
Once the United States joined the war, many of Robbins’ Nahant friends ended up enlisting in the armed forces. He found himself with a friend from Lynn, facing the enemy as Christmas 1916 approached, said Tarmy.
During a free lecture Sunday from 2-4 p.m. in the Serenity Room of the Nahant Community Center on Valley Road, William Cullen, veteran and Commander of the American Legion Post 215, will discuss Robbins and a famous letter he wrote to his mother to let her know how he was faring in the trenches.
The July 2, 1919 edition of The Daily Evening Item that includes the only photo of Robbins will be on display.
Cullen will also speak about the American Legion organization, which was formed nationally soon after the end of World War I. Members of Post 215 recently travelled to Europe to visit the grave site of Robbins at the Tyne Cot Cemetery in Belgium.
