Legends

Frank Montagnolo

Frank Montagnolo
Class of 1951
32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division

He was shot and killed during a patrol mission.

Daniel F. Monahan

Class of 1962
C Company, 2d Battalion, 60th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division

Late in the afternoon of April 14, 1967, CAPT Daniel F. Monahan selected a night defensive perimeter for the company he was leading in an area south of Tan Tru in Long An Province. The location was in a cracked, concrete-hard, dry rice paddy. A river looped around the area and there was dense undergrowth adjacent to the riverbanks. The troops serving under CAPT Monahan were exhausted after being in the field nine out of the last ten days. At about 2200 hours, the company began taking sniper fire. CAPT Monahan and his forward observer, 2LT David A. Gray, began calling in an artillery mission on the sniper. Suddenly, a tremendous lightening flash and explosion filled the dark sky. It was revealed the following morning that the blast was the result of three banjo-type Chinese claymore mines that had been tied to a small tree and positioned only seven yards from the night perimeter. The Viet Cong had evidently been able to sneak up in the dark and place the mines undetected. When remotely detonated, the mines released shrapnel which grievously wounded both CAPT Monahan and 2LT Gray. The CO suffered fatal wounds to his chest area and the FO was wounded in the head. Quite a distance away, PFC Robert E. McKee was sitting in his shallow foxhole when the blast occurred and also suffered fatal wounds in the attack. One of the company medics, SP4 Peter Nero, desperately worked to save his fallen comrades. SP4 Nero did the best he could, but the task was futile. (Mekong First Light: An Infantry Platoon Leader in Vietnam by Joseph W. Callaway, Jr.

Frank H. McCracken
PMPS ’39, PMC Class of 1943
Weapons Company, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division

McCracken was killed during the invasion of Peleliu on September 15, 1944 in the South Pacific.

Joseph P. McCaffery

Class of 1927
Commander 2nd Marine Raider Battalion

McCaffery led the 2nd Marine Battalion during the landing on Bougainville. As the Marines moved forward, McCaffery was struck four times in the chest.

Read more: http://pennsylvaniamilitarycollege.org/?p=2721

Hugh F. McCaffery
Class of 1924
71st Bombardment Squadron, 7th Bombardment Group

Hugh F. McCaffery

In 1929, McCaffery enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps and became a commissioned 2nd Lieutenant. McCaffery was a gifted aviator, and he became the first pilot to transport invalids, and the first to fly non-stop from Puerto Rico to Washington DC. Five days after Pearl Harbor oMajor McCaffery was killed when the plane he was aboard crashed into a mountain in California en route to Pearl Harbor in the Pacific.

Click here to read more

James G. Lynch

John G. Lynch
Class of 1940
71st Bombardment Squadron, Army Air Corps

Lynch was killed along with two other men when the light bombing warplane they were testing crashed into a field in Ohio.

D. Alfred London

Class of 1941
524th Bomb Squadron, 379th Bomb Group (H)

On July 30, 1943, the 379th Bomb Group targeted the aircraft components plant at Kassel, Germany. Witnesses observed London’s aircraft exploding, with all crew members either baling out or being thrown out. Lt. Daniel London, the co-pilot, was killed in the explosion.

Benjamin R. Kimlau

Class of 1942
380th Bomb Group, 5th Air Force

Dennis Isom

Class of 1966
A Company, 3d Battalion, 8th Infantry, 4th Infantry Division

Isom was killed instantly by a burst of machine gun fire during Operation Wayne Grey in 1969.

Read more:http: //pennsylvaniamilitarycollege.org/?p=2306

Class of 1940
2nd Battalion, 223rd Infantry Regiment, 40th Infantry Division

Read more: http://pennsylvaniamilitarycollege.org/?p=2811