JOHN M. MCMAHON, LT, USN

John McMahon '34

Date of birth: July 15, 1912

Date of death: July 30, 1942

Age: 30

Lucky Bag

From the 1934 Lucky Bag:

JOHN MERTON MCMAHON

Belfast, New York

"Mae" "Mahonus" "Mert"

NEAR Buffalo, beneficently watered by the river Genesee, lies a land of genial giants. A paradise for men out of Erin is there, especially Belfast. This town, steeped in heroic legend, has sent forth favored fighting men into the earthly turmoil: such favored sons as John L. Sullivan and Merton McMahon.

Legend has engulfed John L. Sullivan. It has tossed him on high to be eulogized. The same Erin heritage has graciously endowed Mac with its essence. Belfast wholeheartedly gave him her wealth of background and the two had a glorious jubilee when this wastrel sought the Academy's "studious cloistered pale." Mac just appeared in the mess hall one hot July day in 1930, and, like the others in their newly inked, tent-like uniforms, he had the Plebe's studied uneasiness. But he could take it, for, with such a heritage and a year at college, he knew no limitations.

Early in Plebe Summer he dipped an oar into the blue Severn. Since then the true love of this man-mountain has been crew. And rightly so — since his love has not been spurned he has become an oarsman of no mean skill. Crew has been supplemented in its off seasons by short but brilliant periods of football and basketball.

As for further activities, we are still chuckling over that grandiloquent, thundering bass in the quartette of the Musical Clubs Show, Youngster Year. Six feet of fun in a straw hat and pink pajamas

Crew 4, 3, 2, 1. "N" Club. Football 2, 1. Musical Clubs 3. Two Stripes.

JOHN MERTON MCMAHON

Belfast, New York

"Mae" "Mahonus" "Mert"

NEAR Buffalo, beneficently watered by the river Genesee, lies a land of genial giants. A paradise for men out of Erin is there, especially Belfast. This town, steeped in heroic legend, has sent forth favored fighting men into the earthly turmoil: such favored sons as John L. Sullivan and Merton McMahon.

Legend has engulfed John L. Sullivan. It has tossed him on high to be eulogized. The same Erin heritage has graciously endowed Mac with its essence. Belfast wholeheartedly gave him her wealth of background and the two had a glorious jubilee when this wastrel sought the Academy's "studious cloistered pale." Mac just appeared in the mess hall one hot July day in 1930, and, like the others in their newly inked, tent-like uniforms, he had the Plebe's studied uneasiness. But he could take it, for, with such a heritage and a year at college, he knew no limitations.

Early in Plebe Summer he dipped an oar into the blue Severn. Since then the true love of this man-mountain has been crew. And rightly so — since his love has not been spurned he has become an oarsman of no mean skill. Crew has been supplemented in its off seasons by short but brilliant periods of football and basketball.

As for further activities, we are still chuckling over that grandiloquent, thundering bass in the quartette of the Musical Clubs Show, Youngster Year. Six feet of fun in a straw hat and pink pajamas

Crew 4, 3, 2, 1. "N" Club. Football 2, 1. Musical Clubs 3. Two Stripes.

Loss

John was lost when USS Grunion (SS 216) was sunk by the armed Japanese freighter Kano Maru on July 30, 1942, approximately 10 miles northeast of Kiska in the Aleutian Islands.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

On June 11, 1938, John married Frances Wylie, a Winthrop college graduate who was attending George Washington University Law School. At the time, John was stationed on the submarine U.S.S. Permit in San Diego.
In 1930, his father Frank was a dry good store merchant, his mother Katherine was a public school teacher, his sister was Ruth and brother Robert.

His wife was listed as next of kin. He has a memory marker in New York.

Photographs

"Photo courtesy of James McMahon, son, via Michael Mohl." From On Eternal Patrol

Navy Directories & Officer Registers

The "Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps" was published annually from 1815 through at least the 1970s; it provided rank, command or station, and occasionally billet until the beginning of World War II when command/station was no longer included. Scanned copies were reviewed and data entered from the mid-1840s through 1922, when more-frequent Navy Directories were available.

The Navy Directory was a publication that provided information on the command, billet, and rank of every active and retired naval officer. Single editions have been found online from January 1915 and March 1918, and then from three to six editions per year from 1923 through 1940; the final edition is from April 1941.

The entries in both series of documents are sometimes cryptic and confusing. They are often inconsistent, even within an edition, with the name of commands; this is especially true for aviation squadrons in the 1920s and early 1930s.

Alumni listed at the same command may or may not have had significant interactions; they could have shared a stateroom or workspace, stood many hours of watch together… or, especially at the larger commands, they might not have known each other at all. The information provides the opportunity to draw connections that are otherwise invisible, though, and gives a fuller view of the professional experiences of these alumni in Memorial Hall.