Pfc. James J. Kennedy

 
Tom McHale

I am the son-in-law of PFC James J. Kennedy (deceased) form Jersey City, New Jersey. I am looking to obtain as much information as I can, for our family, about Jim and his time with the 503rd Parachute Infantry.  Please forgive my ignorance, I did not serve in the military. 

Jim arrived at PTO (?) on 14 JAN 1944 until his departure 27 NOV 1945. His Battles and Campaigns included:  New Guinea, South Philippines (Liberation) and Luzon.

Jim was wounded (shot) in action on April 22, 1945, possibly in the Philippines.

He was awarded the

  • American Theater Ribbon,

  • Asiatic-Pacific Theater Ribbon,

  • Philippine Liberation Ribbon,

  • Good Conduct Medal,

  • Purple Heart,

  • Victory Medal,

  • Bronze Arrowhead. 

(Can you please explain if the last medal is a Victory Medal with a Bronze Arrowhead or two separate medals and what are they or it is awarded for?)

 I did contact US Military Affairs in Wash D.C. but was told my father-in-law's records were destroyed in a fire.

 

Paul Whitman

 I am passing your message through to the troopers who are on our e-mail list. You might strike lucky!  The most important info will be to establish which Company he was in.

I don’t know what a PTO is, and it is not in the acronyms listed at the DOD Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms but my guess that it is Port (or Posting) Transportation Overseas.

Our FAQ and FAQ-AWARDS pages will explain the bronze arrowhead and the other ribbons.

If you study the history of the 503d from the website ( and fortunately we have more than you’ll ever find in any other single place) then you will surely come to understand what the war was like for your father-in-law, and you will be proud of the 503d.

There might be a photo of your father-in-law amongst the States Photographs of  those who survived Corregidor.

 
John Lindgren

Tom,

I learned from a shipping list that PFC James J. Kennedy [ASB-N 32564704] was a member of HQ Company 2nd Battalion 503rd Parachute Infantry.

He jumped on Corregidor.

 The 2nd  Battalion  landed on Negros 11 April 1945 and at the time JJK was wounded the 2d Bn was attacking a series of nicely built  emplacements well dug in a series of low lying treeless ridges once planted with sugar cane. A rail line serving the now fallow plantations had been converted to a roadway the Japanese called Tokaido Road. The passage was named for a highway serving Tokyo. Had we built it, we might have named it Broadway or Route 66. 

 I found an entry in a 2nd Bn casualty log that read;

"[April] 19 // Kennedy, Jim 32564704 // .GSW [i.e.gunshot wound] rt [i.e. right]shoulder //evac"

 The casualties were usually evacuated to Mindoro thence to Hollandia if further treatment was needed.

 I would guess JJK was a machine gunner  simply because the machine guns were nearly always attached to the rifle companies, and suffered most, if not all,  of HQ Company's casualties.

ttfn    
John Lindgren