Francis P. Meehan

Francis P. Meehan was born in August 1926 in Orange, New Jersey, and grew up in the Vailsburg section of Newark. His grandfather served in the Spanish-American War; and, as a child, Meehan often used to wear his uniform. His father was drafted during World War I, yet was rejected for service because he was too tall!

Meehan was interested in flying, so he signed up for the Army Air Forces when a recruiter came to his high school. When he turned eighteen and was a student at Seton Hall University, he was notified that he was accepted. Meehan could have rejected the offer and become subject to the draft, or he could have enlisted in the Air Force and taken a six-month deferment before entering the service. He chose the latter and entered service in January 1945.

Meehan began his military life with Basic Training at Fort Dix, New Jersey. He had no problems adapting to the military lifestyle, and was next sent to Keesler Field in Mississippi to take exams to determine his specialty training. One in every twenty-five men evaluated there qualified for pilot training. Meehan did well with Morse code, and wound up at Scott Field in Illinois for further instruction in that skill.

To succeed in his Morse code training, Meehan had to interpret twenty-five words a minute, as well as type forty to fifty words per minute. He had some problems with the Code, but completed the training. Meehan- was then sent to Hawaii, where he lived at Hickam Field for about a month, awaiting transfer to Guam. The top floor of his barracks had been destroyed in the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor, and the only leave he had was two hours in Honolulu.

Once on Guam as a radio operator, Meehan volunteered to go to Iwo Jima. He later regretted the decision, saying it was “a mistake” because Iwo Jima was “a miserable place.” There was little fresh water, and the beach sand was black. Some soldiers would ride the waves, but that ended when it was discovered that a fungus was present in the ocean, and the sea was declared “off limits.” You could circle Iwo Jima in a vehicle in thirty minutes, although vehicles had speed “governors” which limited top speed to thirty miles per hour. One night, the island was hit by a typhoon with 130 miles per hour wind.

Meehan worked on the radio for about six hours a day. The only out of the ordinary transmission he remembered was when the typhoon hit Iwo Jima. Routinely, Meehan would call ahead and say when a plane landed or took off. He took a course to learn night light signals using a flashlight, but could only do about ten words per minute. Fortunately, Meehan never had to use it.

After the typhoon, Meehan traveled to Saipan. A hospital on Saipan needed a typist, and he was chosen for the job; he served there about a month. Since World War II was nearing its end, there was a lackluster atmosphere at the time. Meehan recalled, “I don’t think anybody felt anything; they just wanted to get home.” When he came home, to be discharged in November 1946, there were no big parties or celebrations. The war had been over for a while, and people wanted to move on. Meehan used his GI Bill benefits to complete his education at Seton Hall, and then go on to New York Law School. He practiced law in Newark as a New Jersey state attorney and retired in 1992.

Service awards he received include the Good Conduct Medal, the American Campaign Medal, the Army of Occupation Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal.

Francis P. Meehan passed away on August 24, 2018 with his family by his side.