Page 28 - Gold Star Sons of Georgetown Prep

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
UNITED STATES NAVY
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
ENSIGN JOHN T. BATTAILE ’37
MAY 9, 1945
OFF THE COAST OF OKINAWA
28
GEORGETOWN PREPARATORY SCHOOL
During the academic year, 1936-37, sophomore transfer student, John T. Battaile from Memphis, Tennessee, was both a classmate of Emmett Corrigan and a fellow boarder. John, whose father was a manager at Zimmerman, Alderson, and Carr, a commodities trading company, came from a large Catholic family of 7 children. John transferred
to Prep from Catholic High in Memphis, but the reasons
for his doing so are not clear. Whatever the circumstances, John performed solidly but somewhat unevenly in the classroom. He maintained 90s in English and Biology, 85.5 in Intermediate Algebra, but only mediocre marks of 79.5 in Government and 81.5 in Latin (Caesar’s The Gallic Wars).
John loved hunting and the out-of-doors, and as a sophomore he quickly became a valuable member of the Prep rifle team that competed in bi-weekly competitions sponsored by the National Rifle Association. In an early match with the St. John’s Cadets, the first match away from the Prep home range, John and his four teammates “proved conclusively,” according to The Little Hoya, “that they can stand up under the fire of competition.” John’s 94 points, were second only to the
96 recorded by senior captain, Harry Lee. The National Rifle Association (NRA) recognized John as a “Sharpshooter,” and John and Harry teamed together in intramural competitions within the team itself. The pair took top honors in February 1937 with a score of 410 out of 500 on regulation NRA targets.
In the spring, John started in every game for the junior varsity baseball team. In addition, he had the opportunity
to hone his golf skills on the Prep links, which no doubt fueled his love for the sport. But he would have access to
the fairways and greens of Prep only during his sophomore year. For the next fall found him at Campion Jesuit High, a boarding school in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, from which he graduated in 1939.
John went on to the University of Notre Dame. While there, he learned that his father had died suddenly on January 19, 1942. John continued at Notre Dame under a Notre Dame-Navy partnership that allowed students to complete
a subsidized four-year program of classes after which they would receive a reserve commission in the Navy, dependent
COURTESY, YEARBOOKS.COM
COURTESY, ANDREW C. BATTAILE