John T. Connor, Director of Veteran Services for Brookline, is seen observing this plaque on the front of the third town hall in 1960. This otherwise ordinary scene actually displays the work of an esteemed female Brookline sculptor and the fairly extraordinary story it represents.

In 1917, a fifteen-year-old newsboy and freshman at Brookline High School named Albert E. Scott lied about his age and joined the army to fight in WWI. In June 2018, when his division came upon a German unit outside Paris, Scott, armed with a machine gun, singlehandedly killed thirty German soldiers while defending a vital pass before being felled by a sniper. He was only sixteen at the time, purportedly the youngest soldier in the army.

This bronze plaque, “Newsboys Memorial”, was created by Theo Alice Ruggles Kitson, a renowned sculptor who also grew up in Brookline. It was unveiled in a major ceremony at Town Hall in 1921. In April 1922, a full military funeral and procession were held at St. Aidan’s church.