JOSEPH KENNEDY JR. BORN IN NANTASKET
Nantasket, Massachusetts (JFK+50) On July 25, 1915, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph P. Kennedy announced the birth of their first child, Joseph Patrick Kennedy, Jr.* The baby was delivered by family doctor Frederick L. Good in a rented cottage on Atlantic Avenue in Nantasket.
Joe Jr. graduated from Harvard in 1938 and became a naval aviator in World War II. He was described as a "courageous and skilled flier." After completing his designated assignments, Joe Jr. volunteered to fly bombing runs on D Day.
Joe was scheduled to return home on leave, but instead volunteered for a special assignment known as Operation Aphrodite. The target was to be the Nazi fortress in northern France known as Mimoyecques, a V-3 site designed by Hitler's architect Albert Speer.
The installation, when completed, would house 25 cannons, each 420 feet in length. They were designed to reach London 95 miles away. Joe, Jr. and co-pilot/radio control technician, Lt. Wilford John Willy, took off from the RAF station at Fersfield at 5:59 p.m. on August 12, 1944 in a B-24 Liberator PB4Y loaded with 21,150 pounds of explosives.
After the B-24 was in position at 2000 feet, Joe Jr. radioed that everything was o.k. Lt. Willy then switched on the TV camera in the nose of the B-24 which was to guide the plane, but two minutes later it exploded.
In 1945, "As We Remember Joe," a book of remembrances for Kennedy family, friends and associates, was published. The book included a forward by brother Jack along with his essay titled "My Brother Joe."
*Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. (1915-1944) graduated from Harvard in 1938. He studied at the London School of Economics and was a delegate to the 1940 Democratic Convention. Joe joined the US Navy earning his wings as a naval aviator in May 1942. He completed 25 combat missions before volunteering for the one that took his life.
SOURCES
"Lt. Joe Kennedy," by Trevor Jermy, edited by Lester Curtis, Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum, www.aviationmuseum.net/Joe_Kennedy.htm
"Top Secret Drone Mission That Killed Joseph Kennedy, Jr." by Ed Grabianowski, February 21, 2013, www.i09.com/
"What if Joseph Kennedy, Jr. had not died on WWII mission?," by Jagdtigerl, www.ww2f.com/
Lt. Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr.
Nantasket, Massachusetts (JFK+50) On July 25, 1915, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph P. Kennedy announced the birth of their first child, Joseph Patrick Kennedy, Jr.* The baby was delivered by family doctor Frederick L. Good in a rented cottage on Atlantic Avenue in Nantasket.
Joe Jr. graduated from Harvard in 1938 and became a naval aviator in World War II. He was described as a "courageous and skilled flier." After completing his designated assignments, Joe Jr. volunteered to fly bombing runs on D Day.
Joe was scheduled to return home on leave, but instead volunteered for a special assignment known as Operation Aphrodite. The target was to be the Nazi fortress in northern France known as Mimoyecques, a V-3 site designed by Hitler's architect Albert Speer.
The installation, when completed, would house 25 cannons, each 420 feet in length. They were designed to reach London 95 miles away. Joe, Jr. and co-pilot/radio control technician, Lt. Wilford John Willy, took off from the RAF station at Fersfield at 5:59 p.m. on August 12, 1944 in a B-24 Liberator PB4Y loaded with 21,150 pounds of explosives.
After the B-24 was in position at 2000 feet, Joe Jr. radioed that everything was o.k. Lt. Willy then switched on the TV camera in the nose of the B-24 which was to guide the plane, but two minutes later it exploded.
In 1945, "As We Remember Joe," a book of remembrances for Kennedy family, friends and associates, was published. The book included a forward by brother Jack along with his essay titled "My Brother Joe."
*Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. (1915-1944) graduated from Harvard in 1938. He studied at the London School of Economics and was a delegate to the 1940 Democratic Convention. Joe joined the US Navy earning his wings as a naval aviator in May 1942. He completed 25 combat missions before volunteering for the one that took his life.
SOURCES
"Lt. Joe Kennedy," by Trevor Jermy, edited by Lester Curtis, Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum, www.aviationmuseum.net/Joe_Kennedy.htm
"Top Secret Drone Mission That Killed Joseph Kennedy, Jr." by Ed Grabianowski, February 21, 2013, www.i09.com/
"What if Joseph Kennedy, Jr. had not died on WWII mission?," by Jagdtigerl, www.ww2f.com/
Lt. Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr.
John F. Kennedy Library Photo
