Braga Bridge in Fall River, MA
Cheri Mello
Cheri Mello
Bill Seidler
Cheri Mello
Listowner, Azores-Gen
Researching: São Miguel island: Vila Franca, Ponta Garca, Ribeira Quente, Ribeira das Tainhas, Achada
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John Raposo
Charles Braga Jr.
(1919-1941)
An Azorean American Hero
John Miranda Raposo
Those of us living in the southeastern Massachusetts area have routinely and countless times traversed the massive 1.2-mile Braga Bridge spanning the Taunton River from Somerset on the river's western banks to Fall River on its eastern shore. Below the bridge is the USS Massachusetts, a World War II era battleship which is the Commonwealth's monument to those who served and died in the war. The bridge, crossing above the battleship, and its hallowed tribute, is fittingly named for Charles Braga, Fall River's first casualty to the conflagration.[1]
Charles Braga, "Charlie" to his friends and family, was born in Fall River on 19 March 1919. His father, Carlos Braga, born in Capelas on 1 Feb 1895, arrived in Fall River with his mother, on board the SS Cretic on 29 Oct 1913. His parents, Francisco Braga and Maria Júlia da Encarnação Ponte (b.1848) were also from Capelas.[2] Subsequent vital records and the United States 1920 and 1930 census indicate that Carlos, like countless other Azorean boys and men of his generation who settled in Fall River, was a weaver in the various cotton mills in the north end of Fall River.
On 23 Nov 1914 Carlos Braga married Maria do Rosário Valério Cabral in Saint Michael's Parish Church in the city's north end[3]. The marriage record states that she too was a weaver in one of Fall River's ubiquitous cotton mills. She was born in 1893 in Capelas and the 1920 census states that she came to the United States in 1913. Her parents were João Cabral Valério of the Valérios of Santo António além Capelas, and Mariana da Estrela, who although born in Bretanha, does not have her roots there.[4] The Valérios of Santo António trace their ancestry back to some of the very first settlers of São Miguel, Martim Anes Furtado and Solanda Lopes.
Carlos Braga and Maria do Rosário were not destined to have a charmed life. Beginning in 1916 they produced five children: Caesar, Adrienne, Charles, Agnes and Delia.[5] In 1922 Maria do Rosário died of tuberculosis, then the scourge of Fall River's mill workers, living in cold water flats and depending on coal, often gleaned from passing railroad freight cars, to heat those drafty tenements in the north end.[6] The children's grandmother moved in with them to help the widowed Carlos raise his motherless children. Caesar's death at the age 10 added to the family's grief.
Charles, Jr. attended public schools in Fall River. He sang in the chorus at Morton Junior High School. After junior high school he went on to attend B.M.C. Durfee High School but like so many children of the time, he left school in his sophomore year to work in the Sagamore Mill and help support the family. Working in the cotton mills of Fall River was a dead end street and Charles Braga must have had other aspirations. Joining the Navy was a way out of the mills and Fall River. The trouble was, Charlie needed his father's permission to join the service. The old man's answer was simple and unambiguous: No! But Charlie harangued and argued for days on end and finally the old man, whose 1917 draft card was signed with a cross, finally relented and signed the papers.
And so Charlie joined the peace time Navy, although war clouds were on the horizon even then. If Charles Braga did not go on to see the world, he saw a part of it. After training in Newport, he went on to Puerto Rico, Cuba, the Panama Canal and Nova Scotia. Thanks to a diary he kept, we know he earned $42.00 a month. We know what movies he saw and the scores he achieved on the practice range. We also know that his ambition was to become a naval pilot.
His friends and fellow shipmates remembered him as friendly and possessing a sunny disposition. He didn't drink or swear and he tended to break up fights and was nicknamed "the peacemaker" by his shipmates. Fate arranged for his eventual transfer to the USS Pennsylvania, the flagship of the Pacific Fleet.
On the eve of December 7th, 1941, Charlie and a shipmate attended a church sponsored dance at the American Legion Hall at Pearl Harbor but they left early in order to keep the 10 pm curfew, returned to ship and turned in for the night. The next morning, a Sunday, he was up at 5:30 and was soon scrubbing the decks of the Pennsylvania. Charlie decided to forgo early mass for a later one because he still had chores to complete.
Soon after, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. At 8:10 the Oklahoma was blown up.
Charles Braga Jr. was killed at approximately 9:06 am when, during the second attack, a 500-pound bomb shattered a starboard casement. He was running with messages among the ship's officers and just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time when the bomb hit. Of the 81 officers and 1,395 enlisted men on board the Pennsylvania, 16 died and 30 were wounded. Among the dead was the ship's executive officer. Charlie's body was never found and he was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart.
A half century later Adrienne and Agnes tried to recall what they had been doing back in Fall River, on that fateful day. Their recollections must have become muddled with the passage of time. Their memory for a 1991 newspaper interview, was that they were already at work that morning sewing in a dress shop. Suddenly the word began to spread that Pearl Harbor had been attacked and America was at war. The girls rushed home to their father who was frantically and helplessly waiting for news of his son.
However, December 7th fell on a Sunday and it is unlikely that the factories and shops would not have been operating; both the puritan era "blue laws", at the time still on the books in Massachusetts and strictly enforced, as well as Roman Catholic teachings, would have prohibited all unnecessary work on the Sabbath. Because of the five hour difference in time zones, the first attack would have occurred just after one o'clock on the east coast. By the time radio stations began to report news of the attack, it would have been late afternoon or supper time. The girls would have been preparing for the work week. Monday, the 8th, was the feast of Immaculate Conception and they would have been required to attend Mass, probably at St. Michael's Church, at about 5 or 6 in the morning, on their way to begin the morning shift at the shop. It is quite possible that they had not heard the news of the attack until the early morning on the 8th. They would have spent a traumatic anxiety filled day at their sewing machines and then rushed home to their frantic father for news of their brother's fate.
The dreaded telegram did not arrive for several days. "The Navy Department regrets to inform you that your son, Yeoman Charles Braga Jr., was lost in action on Dec. 7, 1941 in the performance of his duty and in the service of his country." A subsequent letter from the Pennsylvania's captain, Charles M. Cook, read in part, "I fully appreciate the anguish and loneliness you must be suffering...He is known to have been in the execution of his duties carrying messages in the immediate vicinity of a bombing explosion which killed a number of officers and men. Several of the men known to have been in the vicinity were not found: all efforts to locate them were unsuccessful. No words of mine can assuage the blow that has descended on the families of these men but Yeoman Charles Braga Jr., and his mates were carrying out their duties unflinchingly. They were a credit to the Navy and to the nation. Charles Braga Jr., was a fine shipmate. His loss was deeply felt by all who knew him and worked with him."
In a bittersweet trick of fate, the family received a package in the mail a few days before Christmas. It was addressed in Charlie's unmistakable hand. He had wanted them to know that he would be thinking of them at Christmas time. The package contained some gifts for his grandmother, his father and his sisters. A few days after that, the post office delivered another package containing his effects: his navy jacket and cap, his journal, photo album and accordion. They had been damaged in the blast, but had survived.
When plans for a new massive bridge to replace the old Slade's Ferry draw bridge were announced, speculation began on what it would be named. Few remembered Charles Braga and his sacrifice and so the announcement of the bridge's new name brought some surprise and a few raised eyebrows. It was a fitting tribute which became all the more fitting when the USS Massachusetts and the Joseph P. Kennedy were berthed beneath the bridge as a permanent memorial museum to the fallen of World War II. At the dedication ceremonies in 1965, his sisters were guests of honor.[7] They had saved a snapshot of Charlie in his sailor whites and cap. A local artist painted a formal portrait from the snapshot which was later unveiled on board the Massachusetts. Some of Charlie's former shipmates shared their reminiscences and some boyhood friends and neighbors remembered the handsome, dark haired sweet-natured lad who in their minds and hearts would remain forever young. Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.
[1]. The facts in this article were gleaned from newspaper reports and interviews published in the Fall River Herald News and the Providence Journal.
[2]. Carlos Braga, paternal grandson of José de Braga, Quitéria de Jesus, António Moniz da Ponte and Antónia da Encarnação. José de Braga was the son of Manuel de Braga and Maria de Viveiros. José de Braga, a sailor, was 60 years old, a native of Capelas, when he remarried in Santo António além Capelas on 4-5-1881 to Ana de Jesus, daughter of Maurício Nunes and Maria Tomásia de Jesus.
[3]. City of Fall River: Vital Records: Marriages, 23-11-1914.
[4] João Cabral Valério b. 2-8-1865, son of José Cabral Valério and Inêz do Coração de Jesus. Mariana da Estrela (according to the birth record of her twin daughters Diamantina and Mariana, born in Bretanha on 23-12-1905), was from Bretanha, the daughter of João Joaquim Gaspar and Joaquina da Encarnação. (see Indíces de Nascimentos da Paróquia de Nossa Senhora da Ajuda, Bretanha, compiled by Rev. Octávio Luis dos Reis.)
[5]. Caesar, b. 1916 according to the 1920 US Census, Adrienne, b. 21-8-1917 and later married to William J. Guilmette, b. 1916, Agnes, b. 27-6-1921, and Délia, b. 1922, according to her grave marker, d. 1990 and married to Joseph Niejadik (1920-1996). Their daughter, Amelia, b. 1942, was married to John Pacheco Miranda (1942-2003).
[6]. In 1904 textile workers in Fall River went on strike after being told their wages would be cut by 12.5%. Within a few days every mill in the city closed and 23,000 workers were without wages. In January 1905 the workers returned to the mills with the 12.5% cut in wages.
In 1910 the US Census Bureau announced that Fall River had the highest mortality rate in the nation
with 19.1 deaths per thousand, most of them children. In 1910, 1,105 children under the age of 5 died in
Fall River.
In June 1911 President William Howard Taft visited Fall River during the four-day Cotton Centennial.
In 1928 a massive fire destroyed the central business district and was a contributing factor to Fall River's bankruptcy in 1931. The city was in receivership until 1941.
[7] Their father died in Fall River in July of 1944.
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MaryAnn Santos
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Cheri Mello
Listowner, Azores-Gen
Researching: São Miguel island: Vila Franca, Ponta Garca, Ribeira Quente, Ribeira das Tainhas, Achada
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Liz Migliori
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Bill Seidler
Richard Francis Pimentel
Nice to hear from you John, hope all is well.
Rick
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SUSAN MURPHY
On Sep 19, 2025, at 7:16 AM, 'John Raposo' via Azores Genealogy <azo...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/azores/1539923251.2955851.1758291352762%40mail.yahoo.com.
SUSAN MURPHY
On Sep 19, 2025, at 7:16 AM, 'John Raposo' via Azores Genealogy <azo...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/azores/1539923251.2955851.1758291352762%40mail.yahoo.com.
Liz Migliori
On Sep 19, 2025, at 11:00 AM, Liz Migliori <lizm...@gmail.com> wrote:
This was great. Thank you
Cheri Mello
Listowner, Azores-Gen
Researching: São Miguel island: Vila Franca, Ponta Garca, Ribeira Quente, Ribeira das Tainhas, Achada
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/azores/D7F22B2B-96C9-425D-9619-A2E262D837F3%40gmail.com.
Liz Migliori
On Sep 20, 2025, at 1:18 PM, Cheri Mello <gfsc...@gmail.com> wrote:
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Donna Hinson
https://archive.org/details/twoportuguesecom00dona
I discovered the book in the late 1980's in the library of University of Houston@Clear Lake (Houston, Texas) while attending classes there. I purchased it and still have my copy! Since my grandparents had immigrated around 1915, I was curious about the area where I grew up in a Portuguese family. The book is about two Portuguese communities, Fall River, considered an urban area at the time, and Portsmouth, RI, more rural. It was a study by Donald R. Taft in partial fulfillment of his PhD at Columbia University. He looked at Portuguese immigrants in industrial mill work in Fall River and the Portuguese population involved in agriculture in Portsmouth RI.
The book answered my questions as to why my mother and her sisters didn't teach my generation to speak Portuguese. They only spoke Portuguese with my grandparents, to their spouses if they were Portuguese, which my father was not, or to each other if they didn't want us kids to know what they were talking about! All the sisters spoke perfect English, no accent, nothing that would have said "I'm the child of immigrants." I think they wanted to be American and not encounter discrimination. I had no idea discrimination existed against the Portuguese until I read the book. I didn't encounter it but my surname wasn't Portuguese so no one probably knew I was of Portuguese descent. None of my friends discussed it either. The area was a melting pot of many different ethnic groups...Italians, Polish, etc. So maybe my generation didn't experience the discrimination of the earliest Portuguese immigrants. If your ancestors arrived in the mid-1900's, you might find Taft's research interesting. I wish I could have discussed what I learned from the book with my grandparents but both were deceased by then.
The link again, and yes, you can dowload it: https://archive.org/details/twoportuguesecom00dona
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Liz Migliori
On Sep 20, 2025, at 2:42 PM, Donna Hinson <dhins...@gmail.com> wrote:
Since we're talking about Fall River, MA, near where I grew up (Taunton), I thought I'd let others know, if they're interested, about a book titled "Two Portuguese Communities in New England." Since it was written in 1923, and no longer under copyright, it's now available on the Internet Archive.
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Sam Koester
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