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Note: Burton was called Scahill by the family and B J by most others. His parents separated sometime after the 1920 US census. His mother's family, the Bacons, attempted to look after him but Burton said there were times when he 'didn't have food', so he stole a loaf of bread from a bakery. He joined the Coast Guard at 16, learned to play the mandolin, and began to travel the Great Lakes.
The 1930 census lists Burton as a Coast Guardsman at Great Lakes, Buffalo, Erie Co, NY. He was age 21; married at age 18.
His Certification of Military Service shows that he served in the Coast Guard from Jult 24, 1926 to July 23, 1929 and October 17, 1929 to Oct 16, 1934. On Sep 9, 1942, he left his civilian job as Inspector of Customs and re-enlisted in the Coast Guard for active duty. He was assigned to Officers Training and studied at the Coast Guard Academy in CT, then, Philadelphia, PA (he also took Electrical courses in night school).
Until Feb 27, 1946, when he was released to inactive duty, under honorable conditions, he served in the following:
American Theater
Asiatic-Pacific Theater
European Theater
Expert Pistol
Victory II
Continuing the family tradition, his Separation Report spelled his surname 'Schahill'.
His rank was then Lieutenant, JG in the Coast Guard Reserve and he was in charge of the engine room on a destroyer escort. He rarely spoke of the war but he did tell of one fearful moment. He and other officers were called on deck for the surrender of a Japanese Sub and they were told that in a previous incident, one of the Japanese being transferred from a ship had bowed, as if in surrender, but had a machine gun strapped to his back. The man behind him fired, hitting some of the American sailors. "So, stay alert!"
The family moved with him as he served in the Coast Guard, the Reserve, and later, when he returned to his job as a customs' inspector. In the 30s and 40s the family lived in Watertown, Buffalo, Lockport (where his great grandfather, Lyman Bacon, enlisted) and Angola, NY; Baton Rouge, Louisanna and Charleston, SC. Their lives were never without music. Burt seemed to favor the clarinet and the ukelali.
In retirement, they purchased the farmhouse of Terry and Norma Major, in Sackets Harbor, NY. He kept busy playing music and bridge, serving as president of the Sackets Harbor Chamber of Commerce and installing a Wurlitzer cathedral pipe organ in the house. When rebuilt, it filled the parlor, the dining room and part of the cellar of their farmhouse. He could play any instrument in any key after hearing it once, but could not read sheet music. Irene played the piano and organ and sang. It was catching. The family had a band when the older children were in school.
Scahill died as a Commander of the US Coast Guard. He was pronounced dead of carcinoma prostate, at 9:30 AM in Watertown, NY. His place of death was actually at home - 322 E. Main St, Sackets Harbor. Irene called her brother-in-law, Tom Mason, to bring an ambulance. Scahill had already passed on but was taken to the hospital where professionals confirmed it. The children arrived quickly to support Irene and to bury their father.
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