Larry Magilligan - Frank Dunne

Attached is a letter from Frank Dunne - then a LT(jg) USN.

Frank was my Uncle - married to my God Mother Grace - whom he courted during WWII.

He graduated from the Merchant Marine Academy on LI - was commissioned in the Navy and was first assigned on a Merchant Vessel carrying war materiel to England.

His Ship was torpedoed and sunk by a German U Boat - The British rather quickly rescued  him and brought him into Belfast, NI.

Frank then was assigned to The USS Callaghan DD 792 (San Diego) and served in the Pacific. That duty took him to Iwo Jima, Saipan, and Okinawa to name a few.

When participating in the Amphibious Operation for Okinawa, the Callaghan was attacked by a canvas winged Kamikaze and sunk. Frank survived.

The Callaghan was the last US Navy combatant sunk by the Japanese in WWII.

Frank told Grace - "Graced your picture is at the bottom of the Atlantic and bottom of the Pacific.

The attached letter was written to his parents in Brooklyn prior to the Okinawa Operation.

This letter was sent to me recently by Frank's son - my cousin - Frank Dunne.

Larry Magilligan

Colonel of Marines, Retired

Click to view another letter from Frank

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1UK4IYoIx-372LSgcIXcJLtmiturAOx6X

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Callaghan_(DD-792)

Read the great story of a Kamikazi pilot who was shot down by the USS Callaghan and then later attended the reunions of the Callaghan crew.



http://www.kamikazeimages.net/stories/hasegawa/index.htm