LTCOL JOHN S. MACLAUGHLIN, JR., USMC
Lucky Bag Yearbook
From the 1938 Lucky Bag:
JOHN SIRIUS MACLAUGHLIN, JR.
Lacrosse 4, 3, 2, 1; Basketball 4, 3; Soccer 4, 3, 2, 1, aNf; Radio Club 4, 3, 2, 1; M.P.O.
Loss
John was lost when his aircraft crashed during a storm on January 25, 1944. From Wikipedia:
On January 25, 1944, 23 of the squadron’s 24 aircraft left Tarawa Atoll headed for Funafiti, a flight of 469 miles. A failure of their Commanding General (BGen Lewie G. Merritt) to authorize an escort plane and an outdated weather forecast led them to fly directly into a major storm. Additionally, General Merritt’s staff failed to inform Funafiti and the intermediate Nanumea Atoll that a group of friendly aircraft were on their way-thus the incoming planes had no radio signals to guide them on their way. 10 of the aircraft were lost at various times during the flight and the remaining 13 were forced to crash land in the ocean. The survivors spent 3 days at sea in life rafts before being spotted by a Navy PBY Catalina from Navy Patrol Squadron 59. After taking on the survivors, the patrol boat was too heavy to take off and had to radio for help. Later that evening they were met by the destroyer USS Hobby (DD-610) who ushered the men to safety. In all the squadron lost 22 aircraft and had 6 pilots killed. The 2012 documentary film “The Flintlock Disaster” recounts the events and losses during that flight.
Other Information
From researcher Kathy Franz:
John graduated from Collingswood High School in 1933. He then attended the Alabama Polytechnic Institute of Auburn studying electrical engineering and the Naval Academy Preparatory School. He entered the Naval Academy by competitive examination for appointment from the Naval Reserves.
His wife was the former Naomi Oppenheimer; their son was John, III, nine months old.
In April 1944, John’s sister Lorna Ann MacLaughlin, 20, S 2/c, was at the naval training school, Georgia State College for Women in Milledgeville. Another sister Edith served 15 months in the nursing corps, U. S. Naval Reserve.
In 1930, his father, John S., Sr. of Collingswood, was an accountant. His mother was Lillian, and his brother was Larry.
His wife was listed as next of kin.
Photographs
Navy Directories & Officer Registers
The "Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps" was published annually from 1815 through at least the 1970s; it provided rank, command or station, and occasionally billet until the beginning of World War II when command/station was no longer included. Scanned copies were reviewed and data entered from the mid-1840s through 1922, when more-frequent Navy Directories were available.
The Navy Directory was a publication that provided information on the command, billet, and rank of every active and retired naval officer. Single editions have been found online from January 1915 and March 1918, and then from three to six editions per year from 1923 through 1940; the final edition is from April 1941.
The entries in both series of documents are sometimes cryptic and confusing. They are often inconsistent, even within an edition, with the name of commands; this is especially true for aviation squadrons in the 1920s and early 1930s.
Alumni listed at the same command may or may not have had significant interactions; they could have shared a stateroom or workspace, stood many hours of watch together, or, especially at the larger commands, they might not have known each other at all. The information provides the opportunity to draw connections that are otherwise invisible, though, and gives a fuller view of the professional experiences of these alumni in Memorial Hall.
July 1938
January 1939
October 1939
June 1940
November 1940
April 1941
John is one of 72 members of the Class of 1938 on Virtual Memorial Hall.
