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Herbert Stanley Bulkley was born September 29, 1924, the youngest child of James and Isabelle Holden Bulkley and the grandson of Josiah Bulkley, a long-time Rye resident. They resided at 62 Railroad Ave (today Theodore Fremd Ave) and tragically Stanley's mother died in 1938.
Stan to his friends, was very active in leadership roles at the YMCA. He graduated from Rye High School Graduate, Class of 1942 and was a communicant of Christ's Church. Stan was a direct descendant of the Rev. James Wetmore, Colonial rector of Christ's Church. He was the grandson of Josiah Wetmore Bulkley and Margaret Tyler, descendant of President Tyler. Before entering the Army, he was employed as a substitute in the Rye Post Office and had worked for a time at Playland.
Service Time: Stanley enlisted in the U. S. Army on March 19, 1943. While awaiting his overseas orders, he was stationed at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and he came home on the train at the end of each day to visit with his family and party with his friends. One night Stanley said goodbye at the train station as he usually did expecting to be back again the following evening. Instead, he ended up being shipped overseas the very next day, and his family never saw him again.
Stan was a Tank Commander achieved the rank of Sergeant assigned the
36th Tank Battalion of the 8th Armored Division. Stan was with this unit on March 5, 1945 in the battle to take the town of Rheinberg, Germany.
 The blood-red clouds in the sky that greeted the sun on the morning of 5 March 1945 were a forecast of the shedding of the blood of men of the Thirty-Sixth who were to die that day on German soil. The tankers were to meet an overwhelming force, yet in spite of great odds they were to emerge victorious from the ordeal.
Stan's B Company of the 36th, commanded by Captain David B, Irish Kelly, moved to hit the main road to
"Bloody" Rheinberg and ran into intense small arms fire.
 Destroying many of the enemy and knocking out a German tank in the vicinity of Winterswick, they ran into more anti-tank and bazooka fire. Part of A Company of the 49th were sent to assist B Company in cleaning out this anti-tank fire so it could move forward.
B Company moved north to the outskirts of Rheinberg. Three tanks of the company, found the next day, actually penetrated into the town under heavy fire before being knocked out. Two were found north of the town and the third was in the center of town. During this assault, B Company knocked out four 88s and six 20mm guns protecting the larger weapons. These guns were in addition to a half -track, a tank and a truck also knocked out by the company.
The 36th Tank Battalion was successful in taking Rheinberg; however the victory was costly, 141 in the unit were killed or wounded. Of the 18 tanks in Company B of the 36th Tank Battalion, 11 were lost in that battle. Sergeant Herbert Stanley Bulkley was one of those killed at Rheinberg Germany, March 5, 1945. He was 21 years old.
Stanley was posthumously awarded a Purple Heart and is buried in the American Military Cemetery in Margraten, The Netherlands.
Stanley Bulkley Rye High School Graduate, Class of 1942
 The Family Favorite
by Nina Insardi
May 10, 2013
Stanley Bulkley, no one called him Herbert, was my mothers cousin. He was the youngest child of James and Isabelle Holden Bulkley and the grandson of Josiah Bulkley, a long-time Rye resident.
My mother told me more than once that her Bulkley cousins were direct descendants of President John Tyler on their fathers side, but since we were related on their mothers side, I dont have any facts to back up that claim. Stanley and his brother Jimmy and sister Marion Palombo grew up in Rye and went to Rye schools. For more than 20 years from before 1920 until about the mid-1940s , the family lived at 62 Railroad Avenue now Theodore Fremd Avenue , and their house is still standing at that location today.
Because there was a significant age difference between Stanley and his two siblings they were 7 and 15 years older respectively , he was the baby of the family, and he loved the attention that came with that role. My mother often said that Stanley was a little devil growing up. Apparently, he had the face of an angel but was full of mischief throughout his childhood and teenage years and liked to tease his girl cousins and young niece whenever the opportunity arose. As children, my mother and her sisters and cousins frequently visited Stanleys family in Rye, and during these visits, all the younger children played together. Because Stanleys house bordered both Blind Brook and the railroad tracks and was down the street from a large water tank, there were hazards for young children playing in that vicinity, and as you might expect, there were many stern warnings from the adults as to where they were and were not allowed to play.
During some of these visits, another cousin, Alda Olsen, recalls that Stanley used to wander off on purpose and everyone would have to search for him probably expecting the worst . Fortunately, he was always found safe, and whatever scolding he got was certainly not a deterrent to this behavior since he disappeared regularly. Stanleys mother died in 1938, and after that, he practically lived with his cousin Aldas family on Bulkley Avenue in Port Chester. Is Stanley related to whomever the street was named after? Alda says that she and Stanley were so close growing up they were more like siblings than cousins, and she always thought of Stanley as her older brother. As teenagers, she remembers how they used to fight just like siblings, and sometimes her mother would have to intervene and send Stanley home. They spent their free time doing typical teenage activities hanging out with friends, bowling at the bowling alley in Port Chester, saving up their money to go to Playland and riding the rides especially the Octopus until they ran out of tickets, etc. They agreed that when each of them grew up and got married, they would still be friends and do things together as couples with their spouses. Sadly, the war changed those plans for them as for so many others.
Stanley graduated from Rye High School in 1942 and in March 1943, he enlisted in the army. While awaiting his overseas orders, he was stationed at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and he came home on the train at the end of each day to visit with his family and party with his friends. One night Stanley said goodbye at the train station as he usually did expecting to be back again the following evening. Instead, he ended up being shipped overseas the very next day, and his family never saw him again. Stanley began his overseas tour of duty in 1944.
While he was with his unit in France in early 1945, a news photographer took a picture of a smiling Stanley with a soldier who, coincidentally, he met after arriving in France although the soldier was from Harrison, NY. According to the photos caption, the other soldier was T/5 J. Kenneth Berthold of Ellsworth Avenue in Harrison. The picture appeared in the local Rye paper on February 14, 1945. Stanley was killed less than a month later on March 5, 1945 in combat near Rheinberg, Germany . Stanley was posthumously awarded a Purple Heart and is buried in the American Military Cemetery in Margraten, The Netherlands.
Although he died many years before I was born, it appears that although he had too short a life, he left quite an impression on those who knew him. Everybody loved Stanley.
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