Three Cedar Rapids Men Are Reported Missing in Action
Cedar Rapids News—
Three Cedar Rapids men in the U.S. Navy are reported missing following action, according to telegrams received by their relatives from the bureau of navigation at Washington D.C.
They are:
William James Shanahan, jr, 23, son of Mr. and Mrs. W. J. Shanahan, 812 G avenue NW (Picture on page 7)
Jack Asbury Breedlove, 20, son of Mr. and Mrs. J. A. Breedlove, 702 Third avenue SW (Picture on page 7)
Lawrence James McFadden, jr, 22 son of Mr. and Mrs. L. J. McFadden, 606 Ninth street SE.
Shanahan, graduate of St. Patrick’s high school in 1936, was signal man third class in the naval reserve. He had been a Gazette carrier for many years and later was employed in the office of the Concrete Materials company. He enlisted in the naval reserve Oct. 5, 1940, and was trained at the naval reserve armory in Chicago. W. J. Shanahan, his father, was in the navy during World War I.
A Franklin high school graduate, Breedlove enlisted in the navy on his eighteenth birthday, Dec. 20, 1939. It was on his twentieth birthday that his parents received notice that he was missing. Born in El Reno, Okla., he came with his parents to Cedar Rapids in 1923. He was fire controlman third class in the regular navy.
McFadden’s wife, who lives in Wilmington, Calif., received the notice that her husband is missing. A graduate of McKinley high school, he attended Coe college. He enlisted in the navy March 9, 1938, and held the rating of yeoman first class, stationed in the executive offices aboard a ship in the Pacific.
Source: The Gazette (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) – Monday, Dec. 22, 1941
Lawrence James McFaddin was born June 27, 1919 to Lawrence and Hadavig Faaborg McFaddin. He died Dec. 7, 1971 and is memorialized at the Courts of the Missing, Court 1, Honolulu Memorial, Honolulu, Hawaii and at the USS Arizona Memorial. He also has a cenotaph at the Iowa Veterans Cemetery, Van Meter, IA.
Petty Officer McFaddin served in World War II with the U.S. Navy aboard the USS Arizona (BB-39) and was MIA/KIA when that ship was attacked in Pearl Harbor. He was awarded the Purple Heart.
Source: ancestry.com; abmc.gov
