Francis J. McGuckin

SEAMAN FIRST CLASS FRANCIS J. McGUCKIN was born in Camden NJ in 1918 to Frank and Catherine McGuckin. His family included stepsisters Lizzie, Lillie, and Jennie. In 1923 the family lived at 23 South 8th Street, they later moved to 924 Newton Avenue. He was a graduate of St. Mary's Parochial School in Camden, and attended Camden Catholic High School. After leaving school he worked for a time with the Civilian Conservation Corps before enlisting in the United States Navy in October of 1940.

Francis McGuckin was serving in the Pacific when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. He was reported as missing in action immediately after the Pearl Harbor raid. His wife Ethel soon received notice of his death. Happily, this turned out to be not the case. His grandson. Michael Bauman, wote the following in September of 2020: 

He actually died in 1987. He was married to my great grandmother Ethel McGuckin, they had 3 children.I have a newspaper article declaring him being MIA. Then my grandmother received notice that he had died, but of course he did not. He was on the following ships during his service. USS California BB-44; was serving on USS West Virginia BB-48 when it was attacked at Pearl Harbor. Then was attched to USS Seminole AKA-104 and USS Astoria CA-34. H was in many places including Midway, Coral Sea, Guadalcanal, Leyte Gulf, Philippines, Iwo Jima, South China Seas, Okinawa, Guam, Fiji, Wake Island, and Tokyo. His rank upon ending his time of service in 1946 was Boatswain’s Mate First Class.

Seaman McGuckin also had a cousin, Harry Juckett, who served in the United States Navy during WWII.