Listening to a recent NPR radio story about New York City mayor Fiorello La Guardia during World War 2, I was reminded of the participation of one Mallalieu family member in the home front war effort.
My husband’s great uncle was Reginald Mumford Mallalieu (1919-2000). He was born in the West Indian island of St Kitts and immigrated to New York City in 1937. One old photo shows him in uniform with an arm patch reading “NYC PC”, which stood for the New York City Patrol Corps. The Patrol Corps was a volunteer organization founded by La Guardia after Pearl Harbor, when some of New York City’s regular police force had enlisted in the military. There were concerns about a possible rise in crime as a result, and even attacks by enemy elements, as detailed in an alarming recruitment pamphlet published for the PC:
“CRIME never takes a holiday. Sabotage of vital services, supplies or facilities is one of the most effective weapons of modern warfare. You have had adequate evidence that our enemies plan it.
THE MENACE: Our increasingly crowded city, with its countless thousands of transients encourages criminal activity. Juvenile delinquency is an increasing problem. Destruction of or damage to bridges, ferries, waterfront, water gates or water works, approaches to piers and other City facilities of military or municipal utility, is not yet beyond the bounds of possibility. Such interference affects not only supplies vital directly to our combat services and their transportation, but menaces the food and water supplies, sanitary and other facilities without which we could neither long function nor probably even exist.”
Recruits were issued uniforms and given training in pistol firing and first aid. They were expected to work periodic four hour shifts during the hours of 4 PM to midnight, and to report immediately in case of an emergency. Women could join the corps, but were restricted to duties like transportation, clerical work, and food service. Though the male recruits were not actually police officers, they were furnished with night sticks and, in some cases, revolvers. Apparently some corpsmen fashioned their own weapons to carry on duty, even using the legs of pinball machines that had been seized during La Guardia’s anti-organized crime raids. In addition to their crime-related responsibilities, they were tasked with keeping an eye on water and power stations, as well as city beaches.
Recent historic research into La Guardia and his World War 2 Patrol Corps raises some questions. One issue is whether the Corps members were expected to surveil other New Yorkers, including soldiers on leave in the city. Another question is how voluntary the service actually was. Apparently La Guardia threatened male residents of NYC who had draft deferments, informing them that they would lose that status if they didn’t join the Corps. Reggie Mallalieu was 23 when he received his United States citizenship in 1942, so he would have been eligible for the draft. We don’t know what his motivation for enlisting in the Police Corps was – to aid in the war effort at home, to avoid being shipped overseas into combat, or some combination of both.
Sources
- All of It: Patience and Fortitude: A History of Mayor La Guardia on WNYC, 2024
- Museum of the City of New York blog: The Civilian War Effort during World War I and World War II, Emily Arbuckle 2015
- New York Times: Here’s the Flying Ace…, Michael Pollak, 2006
- Public Books: When NYC Invented Public Policing: Emily Brooks on WWII-Era Surveillance and Discrimination, 2024
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