(2013)
It’s fitting that Jesse Arnold Silva Square is near the Bradford Street Basketball Court, since basketball was one of Jesse’s loves. Born in ±1918, Jesse played on both the basketball and baseball teams for Provincetown High School during his one year there. Then he went to work at Cape Cod Cold Storage and entered military service in 1942. Staff Sgt. Silva, an Army paratrooper, was killed on 1 February 1944 during the Italian campaign. He was the first Provincetown boy to die on the field of battle during World War II. His body finally was returned to town in 1948 and lay in state in the auditorium of Town Hall for a day, under an honor guard furnished by the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars, before being taken to the Church of St. Paul the Apostle for his funeral.
¶ Last updated on 18 September 2016.