Remembering a Hero - Dr. Terry Barrett, The Leo Alumni, Veterans Everywhere and Cpl. John Fardy, Medal of Honor Hero

I scanned in haste - apologies all around - click on the photo and zoom in for a better view.
On Monday, I received a treasure. Miss Adams, the executive secretary for Leo High School handed me a package from Dr. Terry Barrett. It was his book The Search for the Forgotten Thirty-four: Honored by the U.S. Marines, Unheralded in their Hometowns?

The back cover of this book features the grave marker that was replaced by Dr. Barrett, The Marine Corps, The Medal of Honor Foundation and especially the Leo Alumni Association behind the leadership of Vietnam U.S. Army Hero - Jim Furlong ( Leo '65). Until August 15, 2011, passersby had no idea that beneath the well-managed sod of Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in south suburban Alsip, lay the bones of a Medal of Honor Marine - John Peter Fardy. With a heads up from Dr. Barrett, Jim Furlong and Mark Lee ( Leo '85) sparked the energy to do honors long overdue.

It was Terry Barrett's research on heroes forgotten here at home, though their actions in defense of America were the highest and most noble sources for a study of valor, that brought all of us together and offer some fair tribute.

Dr. Barrett's book is now available to us all. I read the entire 612 pages over two nights and re-read Chapter 18 several times. Beginning on page 255, the story of Cpl. John Peter Fardy is laid out with painstaking attention to detail. Dr. Barrett unearthed records and family members to capture some of John Fardy's soul. That soul is magnificent. John Fardy smothered a Japanese grenade with his body in order to protect the squad of Marines he was leading in the fight for Okinawa. Barrett notes early in the book that of the 82 Marines awarded the Medal of Honor during WWII, 27 hurled themselves on live grenades, like Leo's John Fardy (Barrett 155).

A psychologist, as well as a Marine, Dr. Barrett explains that there is no training in the Marin Corps Manual for throwing one's self on a grenade. He explains with exacting detail how a Marine in combat might react to a grenade tossed into his foxhole - he might try and throw back, or he might leap from the hole, or in the worst scenario, keep fighting if he cannot reach the missile.

Psychologist Barret details the five steps necessary in taking any action ( Sensation, Perception, Recognition, Conclusion, Decision and Action). Jim Furlong and Mark Lee were made aware of John Fardy, recognized that his valor was unheralded, concluded that this would not stand, decided to get into the fight and honored John Fardy. Leo's motto is Deeds Not Words - Facta Non Verba.

In Chapter 18 there is a great subheading to some beautiful paragraphs - it is a quote from a man who lost some of leg to a Viet Cong grenade, Jim Furlong -" We Will Get This Done" ( Barrett, 282).

Click my post title and get this book.

Keith Jarrett's "Danny Boy" - A Poignant Sense of Loss from a Giving Man

Ecstasy seems to be Jarrett’s identity: not only “follow your bliss” but “here, have a taste of mine!”

He’s one of the greatest storytellers we have!

As an actor I know a little about the subject of leading an audience through a tale of … mystery … and adventure … and … well … yes LOVE.

Is there a more sacred love song in the world than Danny Boy?

My adopted son, Floyd, just lost one of his sons today in a Toronto shooting.

Black on black vengeance.

To me the piercing truth of Jarrett’s rendering of Danny Boy has the agonies of profound loss in them, losses like that of my son.

Within all that pain, the beauty of existence is never more intense. The half-note interval tensions that drift … yes, mysteriously appear and disappear in his harmonies.

Speaking of “never more” … the “nevermore” of life and its fragility … and knowing how a great artist can literally force us to realize just how exquisite is God’s gift to us.Life!

How brief.

How divinely painful.

Bill Evans, one of the most influential jazz pianist of our time, performs Danny Boy in a much higher register … and … as lovely as his version may be … it carries none of the weight of Jarrett’s.

Why?

The stated key, at the very opening, tells us how profoundly serious Keith Jarrett is about Life in general.

The very last chorus of Jarrett’s Danny Boy leads to a brief quintessence of devastating harmonies, tensions that are at once divinely painful yet so deliriously inevitable. You know that this entire call to Danny Boy strikes at the very heart of our impermanence.

It ends with an allusion to the sacred plagal cadence, that all familiar ending to a choir hymn. Only an allusion, however.

Michael Moriarty, Actor, Jazz Musician, Journalist,Composer and Defender of the Unborn.



Today, Leo Alumni, Veterans of America's Wars, a living Medal of Honor recipient, and citizens will re-dedicate the gravesite of Cpl. John Fardy, USMC, a Leo graduate and Medal of Honor hero.

Click my post tite

Honor Cpl. John P. Fardy,CMHO at 10 A.M on Monday August 8th at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery

Monday August 8th at 10AM come to Holy Sepulchre Cemetery for the re-dedication of Cpl. John Fardy, Medal of Honor recipent and Leo Alumnus.

Holy Sepulchre Catholic Cemetery & Mausoleum
Consecrated 1923

John Peter Fardy Grave # 3; Lot 16; Block 3; Section 23:

6001 W. 111th St.
Alsip, IL 60803
708-422-3020 | Get Map

Office Hours:
8:30 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. M-F
9:00 A.M. to 1:00 P.M. Saturday

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 classmates 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 percentage 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 a 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.

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

Author and University of North Dakota (Fargo) member of the Psychology Department, Terence Barrett contacted Leo High School about his forthcoming book – a study of Marine recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor. Cpl. John Fardy’s valor is focused in Dr. Barrett’s study. Not only that, Dr. Barrett suggested that Cpl. Fardy’s grave marker be up-graded and replaced. The current marker makes no mention of Cpl. John Fardy’s Medal of Honor. Thanks to the efforts of Dr. Terry Barrett, The Alumni Association is fixing that and on August 8 at 10:00 am at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Chicago, we are having a rededication ceremony with the newly engraved headstone that shows the Medal of Honor Badge and the words "Medal of Honor".

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 States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.


The Leo Alumni was contacted by a Marine and professional psychologist Terence Barrett of University of North Dakota at Fargo. Mr. Barrett has writen a book on Valor and John Fardy is a key focus among other CMH Marines.

The Leo High School Alums Vietnam Hero Jim Furlong and the brother of fallen Chicago Police Officer/Marine and Leo Man Eric Lee, Mr. Mark Lee, are heading up a search for any relatives of Cpl. John Fardy.

On August 8, 2011 at 10:00 AM The Leo Alumni, an honor guard of The U.S. Marine Corps, Marine Corps League Detachment 73 and Marine Corps League Detachment 553 members of Cpl. Fardy’s family and officials of the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation will place a new and more appropriate grave marker for this fallen American hero.

Call Pat Hickey at Leo High School for more information – (773) 224-9600

Irish -Top Number of American Congressional Medal of Honor Recipients

The other morning I posted an entry about Leo High school 1940 graduate John Peter Fardy, son of a Fireman and Housewife, who grew up at 8100 S.Calumet, attended Leo HS, joined the Marines in WWII and heroically on Okinawa.

John Fardy was an Irish American. Yesterday, I recieved an e-mail for Gerry Regan of Asotria,NY who is the publisheer of The Wild Geese. com. One of his researchers wrote an article about the Medal of Honor. The Irish top the list of Medal of Honor Recipients. He research was taken from the citations for each Recipient found at Home of Heroes.com -here is one on Chicago's Double Medal recipient John Joseph Kelly from WWI.*

http://www.homeofheroes.com/

Irish Dominate Medal of Honor List
By John J. Concannon
WGT Heritage Editor

"Brothers of Ireland" by Don Troiani depicts the 69th New York and 9th Massachusetts Infantry regiments in battle at Gaines Mill, Virginia, during America's Civil War. At nearby Malvern Hill four days later, Pvt. Peter Rafferty of the 69th and Lt. John Tobin of the 9th, both Irish-born, would win Medals of Honor.
By a stroke of good fortune, I became involved in an Irish/Irish American book writing project that is dear to my heart.

Since I was a youngster, I have been fascinated by heroes, men who have risked life and limb to save another human, or defied death to accomplish a perilous mission.

A colleague, the late Gerard F. White of Lindenhurst, N.Y., and I worked on an unfinished book that would, for the first time, tell the full story of Irishmen who have "won," that is, been awarded the Medal of Honor. The honor, bestowed in the name of Congress, is the top award that "a grateful nation can bestow" to recognize valorous acts in battle "above and beyond the call of duty."

White, who labored in the Medal of Honor vineyard for more than 36 years, was a military historian and former secretary of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society. In 1995, White and associates George Lang (a Medal of Honor recipient) and Raymond Collins compiled the premier book on the subject, a two-volume, 1,334-page history titled "Medal of Honor Recipients 1863-1994."

Although this book is out of print, it is available through Powells Books. Volume I covers the Civil War through the 2nd Nicaraguan Campaign. Volume II covers World War II through Somalia. To buy it now, click here: "Medal of Honor Recipients 1863-1994."
The books list the 3,401 men who had received the Medal through 1994, presenting the information in several categories. A "birthplace" listing provides the state and town of birth for those medalists born in the United States and the country of birth for those born abroad. Thirty-three countries are listed as birthplaces of medal recipients. And I don't have to tell you that Ireland is the country with the largest number of medal winners — by far — with 258. Germany/Prussia is second with 128 recipients.
Of the 258 immigrants who noted on their enlistment papers that they were born in Ireland, 134 also provided their county, town or townland of birth. Cork leads the honor list with 19 medalists, followed by Dublin and Tipperary with 11 each. Limerick has 10; Kerry eight; Galway seven; Antrim and Tyrone tied with six; Kilkenny and Sligo each have five.

We Irish can proudly note that five of the 19 fighting men who won a second Medal of Honor were born in Ireland. They are Henry Hogan from County Clare; John Laverty from Tyrone; Dublin's John Cooper, whose name at birth was John Laver Mather; John King; and Patrick Mullen. Three double winners of the Medal were Irish-Americans: the indomitable Marine, Daniel Daly; the U.S. Navy's John McCloy; and the fighting Marine from Chicago, John Joseph Kelly.

Over the years, the Ancient Order of Hibernians has had strong associations with the Medal. At least two AOH divisions have been named after Medal recipients, including Colonel James Quinlan Division #3 of Warwick, in Orange County, N.Y. Quinlan, a native of Clonmel, County Tipperary, was awarded the Medal for gallantry "against overwhelming numbers" while leading the Irish Brigade's 88th New York in the battle of Savage Station, Virginia, during the American Civil War.

Then there's the remarkable "super survivor," Michael Dougherty, from Falcarragh, County Donegal. Dougherty, a private in the 13th Pennsylvania Cavalry in the Union Army, won the Medal for leading a group of comrades against a hidden Confederate detachment at Jefferson, Virginia, ultimately routing it. The official report noted that "Dougherty's action prevented the Confederates from flanking the Union forces and saved 2,500 lives." Later, Dougherty and 126 members of his regiment were captured and spent 23 months in various Southern prisons, finally arriving in Georgia at the notorious Andersonville death-camp.

Of the 127, Dougherty alone survived the ordeal, "a mere skelton," barely able to walk. But he walked aboard the homeward-bound steamship "Sultana," crowded with more than 2,000 passengers, six times its designated capacity. The crammed steamship was slowly moving up the Mississippi River toward St. Louis, when, on the fourth night out, the boilers exploded, cracking the ship in two and tossing Dougherty and the other passengers into the Mississippi. Only 900 survived, including Dougherty, who somehow found the strength to swim to a small island, where he was rescued the next morning.

Finally, after an absence of four years, 21-year-old Union veteran reached his hometown, Bristol, Pennsylvania. That's why AOH Division #1 of Bristol, in Bucks County, is known as the Michael Dougherty Division.

Please contact John Concannon if you have any new information on Irish MOH winners, via e-mail at narrowback@thewildgeese.com.

(Emphases my own)

*

Medal of Honor citation
[edit] Army citation
Rank and organization: Private, U.S. Marine Corps, 78th Company, 6th Regiment, 2d Division.

Place and date: At Blanc Mont Ridge, France, October 3, 1918.

Entered service at: Chicago, Ill. Born. June 24, 1898, Chicago, Ill. G.O. No.: 16, W.D., 1919.

Kelly, John Joseph
Private, 78th Company
G.O. War Department No. 16, page 7, 1919

Private Kelly ran through our barrage 100 yards in advance of the front line and attacked an enemy machine- gun nest, killing the gunner with a grenade, shooting another member of the crew with his pistol, and returning through the barrage with eight prisoners.
[edit] Navy citation
Kelly, John Joseph
Private, U.S. Marine Corps
78th Company, 6th Regiment

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action with the enemy at BLANC MONT RIDGE, France, October 3, 1918. Private Kelly ran through our own barrage one hundred yards in advance of the front line and attacked an enemy machine-gun nest, killing the gunner with a grenade, shooting another member of the crew with his pistol and returned through the barrage with eight prisoners.