Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. | |
|---|---|
 Kennedy,c. 1942 | |
| Born | Joseph Patrick Kennedy Jr. (1915-07-25)July 25, 1915 Hull, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Died | August 12, 1944(1944-08-12) (aged 29) OverBlythburgh,East Suffolk, England |
| Cause of death | Naval airplane explosion duringOperation Aphrodite |
| Resting place | Remains never recovered |
| Education | Harvard University (BA) London School of Economics |
| Occupation | Naval aviator |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Parents | |
| Relatives | Kennedy family |
| Military career | |
| Memorial – Wall of the Missing | |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Branch | United States Navy |
| Years of service | 1941–1944 |
| Rank | Lieutenant |
| Unit | Patrol Squadron 203 Bombing Squadron 110, Special Air Unit 1 |
| Battles / wars | World War II |
| Awards | Navy Cross Distinguished Flying Cross Purple Heart Air Medal |
| Signature | |
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Joseph Patrick Kennedy Jr. (July 25, 1915 – August 12, 1944) was an Americannaval aviator who was alieutenant in theU.S. Navy. He was a member of theKennedy family and the eldest of the nine children born toJoseph P. Kennedy Sr. andRose Fitzgerald Kennedy. DuringWorld War II, Kennedy was killed in action while serving as a land-based patrol bomber pilot, and posthumously awarded theNavy Cross.
Kennedy's father had aspirations for him to becomePresident of the United States. Kennedy was a delegate to the1940 Democratic National Convention and planned to run for a seat in theU.S. House of Representatives after his military service as the first stepping stone on the path to the presidency.[1] Kennedy's death while participating inOperation Aphrodite in 1944 caused his father to transfer his aspirations to his next-oldest son,John F. Kennedy,[1] who followed the path first planned for his older brother by advancing from the House to theU.S. Senate and then to the presidency.[1]
Kennedy was born on July 25, 1915, at a summer rental cottage onNantasket Beach inHull, Massachusetts. He first attended theDexter School inBrookline, Massachusetts, with his brotherJohn. In 1933, Kennedy graduated fromChoate, a preparatory boarding school inWallingford, Connecticut.[2] After high school, Kennedy spent a year studying under the tutelage ofHarold Laski at theLondon School of Economics. He then enteredHarvard College, from which he graduated in 1938 with aBachelor of Arts degree. Kennedy participated infootball,rugby, andcrew and served on the student council. After college, Kennedy enrolled atHarvard Law School, but he interrupted his studies to enlist in the Navy.[3][4] Kennedy had datedAthalia Ponsell, who was murdered in 1974, and there were rumors of an engagement between them until his death.
From a very young age, Kennedy was groomed by his father and predicted to be the firstRoman Catholic U.S. president.[1] When he was born, Kennedy's maternal grandfather,John F. Fitzgerald, themayor of Boston, told reporters: "This child is the future president of the nation."[5]
Kennedy was a Massachusettsdelegate to theDemocratic National Convention in 1940. He planned to run for a seat in theU.S. House of Representatives when the war ended.[1]
Kennedy expressed approval ofAdolf Hitler before World War II began. When his father sent him to visitNazi Germany in 1934, Joseph Jr. wrote back and praised theNazi sterilization policy as "a great thing" that "will do away with many of the disgusting specimens of men."[6] Kennedy Jr. explained, "Hitler is building a spirit in his men that could be envied in any country."[7][8]
Joe Kennedy changed his opinion in 1939 under the influence ofAimée de Heeren,a Brazilian secret service agent based in Paris.[9][failed verification]
Kennedy left before his final year at Harvard Law School to enlist in theU.S. Naval Reserve on June 24, 1941.[10] He entered flight training to be anaval aviator, received his wings, and was commissioned anensign on May 5, 1942.[10] Kennedy was assigned to Patrol Squadron 203 and thenBombing Squadron 110.[10] In September 1943, he was sent to Britain and became a member of Bomber Squadron 110, Special Air Unit ONE, in 1944. Kennedy piloted land-basedConsolidated B-24 Liberator patrol bombers onanti-submarine details during two tours of duty in the winter of 1943–1944.
Kennedy was promoted tolieutenant on July 1, 1944.[10] He had completed 25 combat missions and was eligible to return home, but instead volunteered for anOperation Aphrodite mission.[11]
Operation Aphrodite was the use of Army Air CorpsBoeing B-17 Flying Fortress and NavyConsolidated PB4Y-1 Liberator bombers that were converted into flying bombs and deliberately crashed into their targets underradio control from an accompanying bomber.[11] They were to be used for precision attacks on well-protected targets. These "drone" aircraft could not take off safely on their own and so a crew of two would take off and fly to 2,000 feet (610 m) altitude before they activated the remote control system, armed the detonators, and parachuted from the aircraft. After trials, the first mission took place on August 4, 1944, against targets including theFortress of Mimoyecques, an underground military complex under construction in northern France. There was little success.[12]
The U.S. Navy also participated in Operation Aphrodite, with its portion referred to as Operation Anvil.[13] Kennedy had been promoted to lieutenant on July 1.[10] After the U.S. Army Air Corps operation missions were drawn up on July 23, lieutenants Wilford John Willy[14] and Kennedy were designated as the Navy's first Anvil flight crew.[15] Willy, who was the executive officer of Special Air Unit 1, had also volunteered for the mission and pulled rank over Ensign James Simpson, who was Kennedy's regular co-pilot.[12][16]
On August 12, Kennedy and his co-pilot Willy flew a BQ-8 "robot" aircraft (a converted B-24 Liberator) for the Navy's first Aphrodite mission. Initially, twoLockheed Ventura mother planes and a Boeing B-17 navigation plane took off fromRAF Fersfield, Norfolk, England at 1800 on Saturday, August 12, 1944. Then the BQ-8 aircraft, loaded with 21,170 lb (9,600 kg) ofTorpex explosive, took off to be used against the suspected V-3 development site atMimoyecques.
Following them in aUSAAF photoreconnaissanceF-8 Mosquito to film the mission were pilot Lieutenant Robert A. Tunnel and combat cameraman Lieutenant David J. McCarthy, who filmed the event from theperspex nose of the aircraft.[17][page needed] As planned, Kennedy and Willy remained aboard as the BQ-8 completed its first remote-controlled turn at 2,000 ft (610 m) near theNorth Sea coast. Kennedy and Willy removed the safety pin, arming the explosive package, and Kennedy radioed the agreed codeSpade Flush, his last known words. Two minutes later, and well before the planned crew bailout nearRAF Manston in Kent, the explosives detonated prematurely, destroying the Liberator and instantly killing Kennedy and Willy. Wreckage landed near the village ofBlythburgh in Suffolk, England, causing widespread damage and small fires, but there were no injuries on the ground. According to one report,[citation needed] 59 buildings were damaged in a nearby coastal town.
Attempted first Aphrodite attack Twelve August with robot taking off from Fersfield at One Eight Zero Five Hours. Robot exploded in the air at approximately two thousand feet eight miles southeast ofHalesworth at One Eight Two Zero hours. Wilford J. Willy Sr Grade Lieutenant and Joseph P. Kennedy Jr Grade Lieutenant, both USNR, were killed. Commander Smith, in command of this unit, is making full report TO US Naval Operations. A more detailed report will be forwarded to you when interrogation is completed
— Top Secrettelegram to GeneralCarl Andrew Spaatz from GeneralJimmy Doolittle, August 1944[18]
According to USAAF records, the trailing Mosquito "was flying 300 feet above and about 300 yards to the rear of the robot. Engineer photographer on this ship was injured, and the ship was damaged slightly by the explosion."[19] The Mosquito, which made an immediate emergency landing atRAF Halesworth, belonged to the325th Reconnaissance Wing, a unit under the command of the son of PresidentFranklin Roosevelt, then ColonelElliott Roosevelt, who years later claimed to have been aboard that trailing aircraft, and his version of the event has gained wide currency.[20][page needed] However, Air Force records cannot substantiate it. Instead, an after-action account by the 8th Combat Camera Unit (CCU) noted:
...the Baby just exploded in mid-air as we neared it and I was knocked halfway back to the cockpit. A few pieces of the Baby came through theplexiglass nose and I got hit in the head and caught a lot of fragments in my right arm. I crawled back to the cockpit and lowered the wheels so that Bob could make a quick emergency landing,...
— Lieutenant McCarthy reporting from his hospital bed.[21]
The eighth CCU film of the event has not been found.[22]
The20th Fighter Group out ofRAF Kings Cliffe, Northamptonshire had provided an escort of fourNorth American P-51 Mustang fighters (two each from the 55th and 79th Fighter Squadrons). VIII FC, Field Order 509 stated "20 GP (P-51's, 4 A/C) will proceed to Fersfield and land coordinating with operations where to provide close escort support to one B-34 special Operation."
Lieutenant John E. Klink noted in his mission summary report: "Took off to excort BXXX, 1 B24, 1 B17, 2 B34s, and 3 photo Recons (2 Mosq. -1 P38). When specially loaded B24 was at approx. 2000 ft. NE ofIpswich it exploded and crashed near small lake. No one got out of the plane. Rest of ships OK in spite of terrific concussion from explosion. All returned to base." [sic][23]
Drone operations were paused for a month while equipment was re-evaluated and modified,[12] and there would be no further Navy missions. The Navy's informal board of review, discussing a number of theories, discounted the possibility of the crew making a mistake. It suspected jamming or a stray signal could have armed and detonated the explosives. An electronics officer, Earl Olsen, who believed the wiring harness had a design defect, had warned Kennedy of that possibility the day before the mission but was ignored.[18]
Later reports that Kennedy's final mission was kept top secret until many years later[24][page needed] are negated by a detailed public account of the operation and Kennedy's death released in 1945.[25]
Kennedy and Willy were bothposthumously awarded theNavy Cross, theAir Medal, and thePurple Heart Medal. The names of both men are listed on the Tablets of the Missing at theCambridge American Cemetery and Memorial, a cemetery and chapel near the village ofMadingley, Cambridgeshire, that commemorates Americans who died in World War II.[26][27]
A commemorative headstonecenotaph for Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. was later erected atArlington National Cemetery. A further memorial to him stands inside thefortress of Mimoyecques, France.
In the great reading room of the Harvard Law School Library located in Langdell Hall, there is an inscription engraved in marble on either side of a doorway, honoring and listing the names of Joeseph Patrick Kennedy, Jr. and other young men of the Harvard Law School who interrupted their studies to serve in World War II and were killed in action. On either side of an opposing doorway on the opposite end of the great reading room, there is a similar monument that honors Harvard Law School students who were killed in action during World War I.
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Kennedy's military decorations and awards include the following:
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 |  |  |
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| Navy Cross | Distinguished Flying Cross | ||
| Purple Heart | Air Medal | American Defense Service Medal | |
| American Campaign Medal w/star | European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal w/star | World War II Victory Medal | |
Joseph P. Kennedy Jr.'s Navy Cross citation reads:
The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Navy Cross (Posthumously) to Lieutenant Joseph Patrick Kennedy, United States Navy, for extraordinary heroism in operations against the enemy while serving as Commander of a Navy Liberator Patrol Plane in Bombing Squadron ONE HUNDRED TEN (VB-110), Special Air Unit ONE (Europe), during a special air mission directed at Mimoyecques, France, on August 12, 1944. Well knowing the extreme dangers involved and totally unconcerned for his own safety, Lieutenant Kennedy unhesitatingly volunteered to conduct an exceptionally hazardous and special operational mission. Intrepid and daring in his tactics and with unwavering confidence in the vital importance of his task, he willingly risked his life in the supreme measure of service, and, by his great personal valor and fortitude in carrying out a perilous undertaking, sustained and enhanced the finest traditions of the United States Naval Service.[28]
In 1946, the Navy named adestroyer after Kennedy, theUSS Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. aboard which his younger brother, the futureU.S. SenatorRobert F. Kennedy, briefly served. Among the highlights of its service are the blockade ofCuba during theCuban Missile Crisis in 1962 and the afloat recovery teams forGemini 6 andGemini 7, both 1965crewed spaceflights inNASA'sGemini program. It was decommissioned in 1973 and is now a floating museum inBattleship Cove,Fall River,Massachusetts.
In 1947, the Kennedys established theJoseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation and funded the construction of the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Memorial Hall atBoston College, which is now a part ofCampion Hall and home to the college'sLynch School of Education. The foundation was led by his youngest brother, U.S. SenatorEdward Kennedy until his death in August 2009. In 1957, theLieutenant Joseph Patrick Kennedy Junior Memorial Skating Rink was opened inHyannis, Massachusetts, with funds from the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation.
In 1969,Hank Searls wrote a biography of Joseph Jr.,The Lost Prince: Young Joe, the Forgotten Kennedy.A television movie based on Searls' book won aprimetime Emmy in 1977.Peter Strauss played Kennedy as an adult andLance Kerwin played him as a teenager in the film.[29]
November 20, 1925 – June 6, 1968 | ||
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February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009 | ||
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