Page 20 - Gold Star Sons of Georgetown Prep

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GEORGETOWN PREPARATORY SCHOOL
1ST LIEUTENANT JAMES CARROLL “CAROL” SHEEHAN ’37
CONTINUED
Map of area between Trinidad and St. Lucia in which Carol Sheehan and crew were lost.
COURTESY, ANTIGUA HISTORY
neither the ship nor the crew.”
The men crowded into a five-foot rubber raft and then
spent four days in the broiling sun. They suffered not only from the heat, but also from the fear engendered by sharks scraping the bottom of the raft. Flying fish also “jumped recklessly into the raft and had to be thrown back.” Luckily, the crew had enough water for a pint per man, per day, and enough K rations for some nourishment. Their emergency radio also enabled them to make contact with rescuers who picked them up after four days adrift. Carol emerged with no injuries except for
“a nose of strawberry hue.” Given a 10-day leave to visit his brother, Michael (Prep’ 35), who was stationed in Baltimore, Carol went to the Pimlico Race Course and, “betting exclusively on hunches,” won $135 dollars.
But as was the unfortunate case with Joe Egan, disaster struck Carol after his run of good luck. For on August 7, 1944, Carol’s plane on a mission in the area between St. Lucia and Trinidad disappeared. Carol and his crewmates were declared “Missing in Action” in the “Line of Duty” during
The Western Atlantic Defense Areas, WWII.
COURTESY, HYPERWAR: THE ARMY AIR FORCES IN WORLD WAR II
The Douglas C-47 Skytrain, workhorse transport of WWII.
COURTESY, NATIONAL WWII MUSEUM
a non-battle-related incident. His name is inscribed along with his fellow crewmen on the East Coast Memorial in Manhattan. The Memorial honors those “whose remains lie elsewhere.” H