The 80th anniversary of the death of Private First Class John W. McGurn in World War II occurred recently. His death on December 20, 1943 was deeply felt by his family; it reverberates to this day. More than a few of his grand nieces and nephews know of the death of their “Uncle John” during World War II.
There may be no better way to memorialize John McGurn on this anniversary, than to simply reprint the public announcement of his death printed in Lawrence’s Evening Tribune eighty years ago today.
Reading this Page Three story, in its matter of fact, blunt force directness, conveys only some of the loss which his family and friends must have felt when they received the news.
John’s immediate family remembered him each year at the time of his death by attending a simple memorial mass for John at St. Monica’s Church on the Saturday immediately preceeding December 23rd. St. Monica’s was John’s Church for most of his life and it continued to be his parent’s for the remainder of theirs.
There’s no way of knowing when the practice began. Perhaps, it began before the War was over. The tradition continued until his father’s death in 1966.
On a late December Saturday morning, at eight o’clock, up to twenty people, including John’s mother and father, brothers and sister, their spouses, and his many nieces and nephews would pause from their Christmas activities and attend Mass in remembrance of John McGurn.
Consistent with the way John’s family honored and remembered their fallen son and brother, I’ve posted family pictures of John, including ones he sent home from assignments here in the United States.
I think you’ll be able to feel the affection my mother, Helen had for her brother. Both she and my father thought the world of him, and, while parents can don’t have any favorites, Johnny might have been my Grandmother’s. I’m not sure she ever really got over his death.
Here’s to Uncle John. We’ve not forgotten.
John W. McGurn: Photo Album
Service Record: Brief Overview
John, born on May 9, 1915, in Lawrence, MA, was single and living with his family when he was inducted at age 26 on Valentine’s Day, 1942. He reported to nearby Ft. Devens and was assigned to the Army’s 1st Battalion 180th Infantry, a Regiment of the 45th Infantry Division. His draft card showed him as being light-complected with brown hair and hazel eyes.
After training at several different bases on the East Coast, the 45th Regiment left in late June 1943 for Algeria in North Africa.
As a part of the Invasion of Sicily, the 180th Infantry landed on July 10 in southeast Sicily. They then moved northeast to Palermo before moving east to Messina, which was taken in late August 1943. Sicily had fallen relatively quickly.
The 180th Infantry, a Regiment of the 45th Infantry, invaded the mainland of Italy around Salerno in early September. Allied troops began their long slog north towards Rome, opposed by the German Army; the Italian Army had surrendered early in the invasion.
Progress was slow, however, due to fierce fighting and rugged terrain. While the Allies were ultimately victorious in taking Rome in June 1944, John W. McGurn was killed in action on December 20, 1943, most likely during an offensive on a primary German defensive line, the Bernhardt Line, east of Cassino, near Mt. Camino or Mt. Molino. His body was buried in the temporary R. Fratelli Military Cemetery in the Valley below Mt. Cassino.
His parents, Jess and Jack, were both at home when they were notified by Western Union Telegram of the death of their son. As the correspondence shows, no details of John’s death were available at the time.
Jessie’s last letter to her son, written December 5th and was returned, marked deceased, on February 22, 1944.
John’s body was returned home in September 1948 for burial at St. Mary’s Cemetery in Lawrence, Mass.
Please see my earlier post, Draft Cards of the Union Street McGurn Family. July 15 2023, for more information for John’s and his brothers’ World War II service.
For more information on the service John’s Regiment, see the following; 180th Infantry: A Regiment of the 45 Infantry Division.
My thanks to Daniel Allie, Reference Librarian at Nevins Memorial Library for his continued assistance and interest.