Showing posts with label Medal of Honor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Medal of Honor. Show all posts

Monday, August 08, 2011

Leo Man Jim Furlong: Vietnam Hero, Mentor and Host of Cpl. John Fardy Memorial


Jim Furlong lost a leg to a Vietnamese Communist grenade in the late 1960's. Jim Furlong does not expect an electric chair on rail to take him up to Leo's third floor gym when he attends most Leo basketball homes games. Jim has never missed the Leo Veterans Observances held in the War Memorial courtyard on the Friday immediate before November 11th Veterans Day. Jim is a Leo Hall of Fame Alumnus, who not attends every banquet, golf outing or fundraiser, but plunges both hands into the tasks.

The Cpl. John Peter Fardy, USMC Memorial held in a few hours at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery at 10 A.M. today, is due to Jim Furlong.

Jim Furlong and Mark Lee worked to get this operation moving and completed. Here is Jim's report:

About 24 hours now until the August 8 ceremony for Cpl. John P. Fardy, Medal of Honor winner and Leo HS Class of 1940.

Pretty sure everything is checked and double checked. Feel good everything is ready to go.

I am very proud that the 2nd Batallion, 24th Marine Division will provide fine young Marines for the Honor Guard and Flag Presentation to the Next of Kin. An invocation is to be done by Fr. Tom Mescall a fellow Leo 65 graduate We have a very strong voiced young man to sing the National Anthem, Irish National Anthem (in Gaellic), and the Marine Corps Hymn (all a capella). Dr. Terence Barrett, who authored a book about Marine Corps Medal of Honor recipients in the latter months of WWII in the Pacific, will be our keynote speaker and I'm sure will be able to put Cpl. Fardy's deeds on that May Day in proper perspective. A great bagpiper will play Amazing Grace during the ceremony and Oh Danny Boy as a recessional. Tom Day, a great patriot and founder of Bugles Across America, will render a rifle salute with an M-1 Carbine which was the weapon used by the USMC during WWII. Tom will then play a verision of TAPS that will probably make the hair stand up on the back of your neck.

As for other details, we've got a few dozen chairs lined up, and I have a sign to put on a sandwich board to place at the Cemetery entrance to point you in the right direction and several small American Flags to place every 30-50 feet or so to the gravesite. Over 250 programs are printed up. I have a gross of small American Flags that I would like us to place around the headstone as we leave the Ceremony. I have attached a word document to this email which gives the order of the Program.

Now God willing, if He will grace us with a beautiful day.

One last thing, Rich Doyle could you check with Jenny's and see if they have room for us to gather for lunch after the ceremony. It will be a pay-as-you-go lunch and cash bar.

FACTA NON VERBA.

Jim


That says it all . . .
Jim Furlong:Was with B/2/14 of the 25th from May 68 until I was injured and evac'd to Fitzsimons Army Hospital. WIA January 3, 1969. Was a Sgt on an Eagle Flight on January 3 when I got sideways with a grenade thrown by Charlie. Would be interested with others in my unit at that time. Remember spending a lot of time at FSB Keene.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Leo High School's Medal of Honor Hero - Cpl. John P. Fardy


He was one of those kids that years later you say 'Oh, yeah! Nice quiet kid. Never did much.'

John P. Fardy was the son of Chicago Fireman Martin Fardy and housewife Mary Fardy and lived in St. Clothilde Parish at 8144 South Calumet Avenue (Telephone Radcliffe 5771)John Fardy attended Leo High School, then conducted by the Irish Christian Brothers and like nearly all of his clasmates was an Irish American Kid.

He was less than an exceptional student. His 1940 Class Rank was 138 out of 184 with an average cumulative precentage score ( contemporary method) of 77%. However, John Fardy was learning to be a hero - one of America's Saints -Congressional Medal of Honor recipient.

John Fardy was not an school athlete and played on no teams. His only activity listed on his senior page is Public Speaking. After Leo, " He took a course in typing at the Fox Secretarial College the same year and entered the Illinois Institute of Technology the following year. He majored in mechanical engineering but left after the first year. He had been doing time study work previously, so he went to work at the Cornell Forge Company as a time study man and draftsman." Then came military service - America was attacked by Japan.

Inducted into the Marine Corps on May 8, 1943, he went through recruit training at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego, California, upon completion of which he was assigned to the Japanese Language School at his own request. He was promoted to private first class in July, about two weeks before the start of school. After one month of attendance at the language school at Camp Elliott, San Diego, PFC Fardy was transferred to the Infantry Battalion where he was trained as an automatic rifleman.

Private First Class Fardy joined the 29th Replacement Battalion shortly before the unit left the United States on October 28, 1943. He journeyed to Nouméa, New Caledonia, and was reassigned to the 27th Replacement Battalion, which was leaving to join the 1st Marine Division.

Attached to Company C, 1st Battalion, 1st Marines upon his arrival at Goodenough Island, D'Entrecasteaux Islands, early in December 1943, PFC Fardy left with that unit about a week later for Nascing, Alatu, New Guinea. The stay there was a short one also, for the 1st Marines left Finschaffen on Christmas Day 1943, for their December 26 landing on enemy-held Cape Gloucester, New Britain. Within two months of the time he left his home shores, the former draftsman was involved in a battle for an enemy airdrome on an island rarely heard of before.

Following the Cape Gloucester operation, and the return of the 1st Marine Division to the Russell Islands for over three months training, the division left for Peleliu. After practice landings at Guadalcanal, the division landed on the coral-studded, shadeless Peleliu. PFC Fardy participated in the capture of the airport and the attack on the coral hills overlooking it before returning to the Russell Islands with his regiment in early October.

Promoted to Corporal on December 21, 1944, the veteran of two campaigns became a squad leader as the reorganized division started training for the next operation. The training ashore ended in February and the Marines embarked aboard the ships that took them for practice landings at Baniki (Russell Islands), Guadalcanal, and Ulithi Atoll in the Caroline Islands. The landing on Okinawa occurred on Easter Sunday, April 1, 1945 and the division's sweep across the island up to the northern tip was accomplished with comparative ease. Later, Marines were moved south to help hard-pressed Army troops.

It was on May 6, 1945 when Company C was advancing against a strongly fortified, fanatically-defended Japanese position that Cpl Fardy's squad was suddenly brought under heavy small-arms fire. Cpl Fardy temporarily deployed his men along a convenient drainage ditch. Shortly afterwards, an enemy hand grenade landed in the ditch, falling among the pinned-down Marines. Instantly, the 21-year-old corporal flung himself upon the grenade and absorbed the exploding charge with his own body. Taken to a field hospital, Cpl Fardy died the next day.

The Medal of Honor was presented to Corporal Fardy's parents at ceremonies conducted by the Marine Corps League in Chicago, September 15, 1946.

Reinterment services for Cpl Fardy, with military honors by the Chicago Detachment of the Marine Corps League, were held on April 7, 1949, at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery.

Medal of Honor CitationThe President of the United States takes pride in presenting the MEDAL OF HONOR posthumously to

CORPORAL JOHN P. FARDY
UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS

for service as set forth in the following CITATION:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as a Squad Leader, serving with Company C, First Battalion, First Marines, First Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Okinawa Shima in the Ryukyu Islands, 7 May 1945. When his squad was suddenly assailed by extremely heavy small-arms fire from the front during a determined advance against strongly fortified, fiercely defended Japanese positions, Corporal Fardy temporarily deployed his men along a near-by drainage ditch. Shortly thereafter, an enemy grenade fell among the Marines in the ditch. Instantly throwing himself upon the deadly missile, Corporal Fardy absorbed the exploding blast in his own body, thereby protecting his comrades from certain and perhaps fatal injuries. Concerned solely for the welfare of his men, he willingly relinquished his own hope of survival that his fellow Marines might live to carry on the fight against a fanatic enemy. A stouthearted leader and indomitable fighter, Corporal Fardy, by his prompt decision and resolute spirit of self-sacrifice in the face of certain death, had rendered valiant service, and his conduct throughout reflects the highest credit upon himself and the United Stated Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.



John Fardy was not an exceptional high school student-athlete; however, he was an exceptional man. America is an exceptional country.


*
FARDY, JOHN PETER

Rank and organization: Corporal, U.S Marine Corps, Company C, 1st Battalion, 1st Marines, 1st Marine Division.
Place and date: Okinawa Shima, Ryukyu Islands, 7 May 1945.
Born: 8 August 1922, Chicago, Ill.
Accredited to: Illinois.
Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as a squad leader, serving with Company C, 1st Battalion, 1st Marines, 1st Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Okinawa Shima in the Ryukyu Islands, 7 May 1945. When his squad was suddenly assailed by extremely heavy small arms fire from the front during a determined advance against strongly fortified, fiercely defended Japanese positions, Cpl. Fardy temporarily deployed his men along a nearby drainage ditch. Shortly thereafter, an enemy grenade fell among the marines in the ditch. Instantly throwing himself upon the deadly missile, Cpl. Fardy absorbed the exploding blast in his own body, thereby protecting his comrades from certain and perhaps fatal injuries. Concerned solely for the welfare of his men, he willingly relinquished his own hope of survival that his fellow marines might live to carry on the fight against a fanatic enemy. A stouthearted leader and indomitable fighter, Cpl. Fardy, by his prompt decision and resolute spirit of self-sacrifice in the face of certain death, had rendered valiant service, and his conduct throughout reflects the highest credit upon himself and the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country
.

http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/MoH_F-J.html#fardy