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| Captain Francis Fagan fought from Guadalcanal to Iwo Jima where he was a company commander in the 3rd Marine Division. https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/15052299/person/18020375183/facts https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/94413104/francis-louis-fagan https://www.flickr.com/photos/medicalmuseum/3790433898 |
Francis Louis Fagan never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on August 25, 1918 in Wisconsin. His parents Edward and Alma were also both born in Wisconsin. His father worked as a milk plant laborer and later as a farmer. Francis had two older brothers, one older sister, and two younger sisters. By 1940 Francis was still living at home and was a college student, having complete two years of college. He married and had a son who he never saw.
He enlisted in the US Marines on May 5, 1941. He became a captain and company commander of Company G, 2nd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division. Prior to his captaincy, he fought at Guadalcanal, New Hebrides, Kwajalein, Eniwetok, and Bougainville, a true Leatherneck veteran.
While serving as a captain, he was twice awarded the Navy Cross. He fought at Guam in July 1944, where he was wounded in battle, and fought at Iwo Jima, where he was killed in action on February 27, 1945.
Here is the citation for his first Navy Cross:
Assuming command of a company which had lost all its officers with the exception of one, Captain Fagan immediately pushed an attack to the top of a ridge and, when a strong enemy counterattack forced his company's right flank to fall back after the lapse of only ten minutes, ran one hundred and fifty yards along the front line through heavy hostile fire to the right flank. Braving intense fire from screaming Japanese troops only fifteen yards away, he rallied his men and halted the withdrawal, thus preventing a break-through and repulsing the counterattack. Although wounded during the action, he continued to command his company.
His inspiring leadership, courage and devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.
The Navy Cross is presented to Francis L. Fagan, Captain, U.S. Marine Corps, for extraordinary heroism as Commanding Officer of Company G, Second Battalion, Ninth Marines, Third Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Iwo Jima in the Volcano Islands, on 25 and 26 February 1945.
Here is the citation for his second Navy Cross:
Determined to break the entrenched network of emplacements concealed in the massive rock formations and twisting ridges which constituted the natural ramparts of the enemy's cross-island defenses, Captain Fagan skillfully coordinated and led a combined tank-infantry assault against a salient Japanese strong point on the high ground west of Airfield Number Two.
Boldly defying the powerfully organized opposition, he continuously exposed himself to intense machine-gun, antitank, grenade and mortar barrages as he directed the sustained fire of his automatic weapons against heavily fortified pillboxes which he personally located and, driving his tanks relentlessly forward in the face of almost insurmountable obstacles, blasted one death trap after another to make slow but steady progress toward the fanatically defended ridge position.
Painfully wounded during the violent exchange of hostilities, he consistently refused evacuation and held his ground indomitably throughout the night, despite the uninterrupted bombardment of exploding mortar shells and slashing machine-gun fire maintained by the enemy.
Fiercely resuming his planned close-in tactics the following morning, he led his intrepid men with dauntless courage and iron determination in a hand-to-hand assault of the contested area and succeeded in destroying several hostile fortifications before he fell, mortally wounded while leading a furious charge against a stubbornly resisting pillbox.
By his outstanding valor and brilliant combat skill, Captain Fagan had effected the annihilation of approximately one hundred fifty Japanese, the destruction of more than thirty enemy fortifications and the seizure of key positions which materially furthered the operations of his division against this vital outpost of the Japanese Empire.
His superb leadership and dynamic aggressiveness throughout the bitter conflict enhanced and sustained the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.
Thank you Captain Fagan for your sacrifice. Let's Earn It for Captain Fagan.
Last year on this date I profiled Neal Snell, 5th Marine Division, who also fought at Iwo Jima. You can read about Neal here.
On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!
I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.
Follow on Twitter @ww2fallen100
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100
Captain Fagan was buried at sea. His cenotaph grave is at St Jeromes Cemetery in Columbus, Wisconsin. I don't know what happened to his widow or son.
Last year on this date I profiled Neal Snell, 5th Marine Division, who also fought at Iwo Jima. You can read about Neal here.
On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!
I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100
Semper Fidelis Marine.
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