Page 2 - Gold Star Sons of Georgetown Prep

Accelerated seniors of the Class of 1944 study English with Rev. Kelvin T. “Scotty” MacKavanagh
GOLD STAR SONS OF GEORGETOWN PREP “AT THE PREP, YOU ARE NEVER FORGOTTEN”
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star for each active duty family member. Families that suffered the death of a family member serving in the military replaced the blue star with a gold star. The 12 Prep alumni who lost their lives during the war were Prep’s Gold Star sons. In light of the recently concluded 75th anniversary of the end of WWII, it is fitting that we again remember and honor them.
Nine of the 12 were officers, while one was a non- commissioned officer (staff sergeant), and two others were privates first class. A disproportionate number were connected to flying. Six were pilots, five of whom flew in the U. S. Army Air Force: the other in the air arm of the U. S. Navy. Another
was a staff sergeant in the U. S. Army Air Force, while two served in United States Army airborne infantry units as paratroopers.
The two 19-year-olds, mentioned earlier, served in
the Infantry as privates first class, while one of the oldest,
a 26-year-old West Point grad and 1st Lieutenant in the Army Field Artillery, operated as a forward observer and was posthumously awarded the Silver Star for gallantry. Seven
of the 12 did not attend Prep for the full four years. Four of those 7, however, spent their senior year at Prep, and thus graduated with a Prep diploma, or in one case, a certificate. Three did not graduate from Prep, with one of them leaving after three years at the end of his junior year. Five attended for only one year with 3 of those 5 completing senior year
as graduates. Nine were boarders. Three died in the Pacific Theater; 6 in the European. Accidents claimed the lives of 5 of the men, 3 within the United States, 1 in the Caribbean, and 1 in the Pacific. Fatalities rose yearly from 1 in 1942, and 2 in 1943, to 6 in 1944. They declined to 3 in 1945, though these were in a sense some of the most tragic in that the three men died so close to the end of the war.
In 1943, Headmaster Robert P. Arthur, S. J., addressed
an open letter to Prep alumni fighting for their country around the world. In that letter, Father Arthur promised them that “At the Prep, you are never forgotten.” In keeping with Father Arthur’s promise, the following vignettes recount the young lives and untimely deaths of the 12 Gold Star sons of Prep who did not come home. Their stories vary in length depending on the availability of sources.
WWII GOLD STAR SONS
Private First Class William A. “Bill” Roberts, Jr. ’43. . . . . . . .3 2nd Lieutenant Robert F. Keeler ’35 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 Staff Sergeant Harold R. “Hal” Hirsch, Jr. ’28 . . . . . . . . . . . .8 1st Lieutenant Henry B. “Hank” Coakley ’37 . . . . . . . . . . .10 Captain Elkin L. Franklin, Jr. ’36. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13 Ensign James L. “Jim” Oliver, Jr. ’40 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 Captain Joseph L. “Joe” Egan, Jr. ’34 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 1st Lieutenant James Carroll “Carol” Sheehan ’37. . . . . . .19 Private First Class Andrew W. Mahoney, Jr. ’43 . . . . . . . . .21 1st Lieutenant Fearn Field ’36 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23 1stLieutenantEmmettT.Corrigan,Jr.’39 .............25 EnsignJohnT.Battaile’37 ..........................28
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