Page 17 - Gold Star Sons of Georgetown Prep

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UNITED STATES ARMY AIR FORCE
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CAPTAIN JOSEPH L. “JOE” EGAN, JR. ’34
JULY 19, 1944 NORTHEAST OF NANCY, FRANCE
Joseph Egan’s four years at Prep spanned the years of steepest economic decline in the nation during the Great Depression. In September 1930, when Joe entered Prep as a freshman boarder from Montclair, New Jersey, the school population stood at 131 with 108 boarders and 23 day students. In 1934, his graduation year, the student body had shrunk to 75 — 57 boarders and 18 day students.
The decreasing size of the student body meant that students in the 1930s had to take on a number of roles to
keep extracurricular and athletic activities functioning. Joe certainly did his part, playing football, basketball, and tennis for four years and earning varsity letters in each. He was also
a four-year member of the Sodality, the St. John Berchmans Society of altar boys, and the Bellarmine (under classmen) and Philalethic (upper classmen) debating societies. The Blue and Gray “Senior Issue” described Joe as “tall [he stood 6’2] “lanky, and ambling.” It also recognized his academic stature describing him as one of the senior class’s “venerable scholars.” Judging from allusions made in The Little Hoya, he also enjoyed an active social life.
Senior Joseph Egan seen here amidst his shorter teammates on the 1934 Prep varsity tennis team.
Following graduation from Prep, Joe attended Dartmouth College, receiving his diploma in 1938. Immediately after college, he resided with his parents and probably worked for Western Union Telegraph where his father was vice president. On October 15, 1940, Joe joined the New Jersey National Guard, Battery F, 207th Coast Artillery. The next year, November 4, 1941, about one month prior to Pearl Harbor, however, he enlisted in the U. S Army Air Force. By the fall of
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