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| Copyright © 2005 -- 2007 The American Legion Post 11-11, District 5, Department of Colorado . This site is written and maintained by Post Chaplain Jim Bellew @ Call Your Office |
| Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. American Legion Post 11-11 |
North Jefferson County, Colorado
Welcome to Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., American Legion Post 11-11
| Fort Logan National Cemetery 4400 W. Kenyon Avenue Denver, CO 80236 Phone: (303) 761-0117 FAX: (303) 781-9378 Fort Lyon National Cemetery 15700 County Road HH Las Animas, CO 81054 Phone: (303) 761-0117 FAX: (303) 781-9378 |
| Post 11-11 was chartered November 11, 1980 honoring Armistice Day when World War I came to end in 1918, and Veterans Day, which is largely intended to thank living veterans for their service and to acknowledge that their contributions to national security are appreciated. To remember all the people who've died in wars since World War I, a two minute silence is observed 11am on the 11th day of the 11th month. The post was appropriately named in memory of Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., a highly decorated war hero. The American Legion was chartered by Congress in 1919 as a patriotic, mutual-help, war-time veteran’s organization. A community service organization which now numbers nearly 3 million members, men and women, in nearly 15,000 American Legion Posts. |
| Our Post Name and it's History |
Preamble to the Constitution of The American Legion For God and Country We associate ourselves together for the following purposes: To uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America; To maintain law and order; To foster and perpetuate a one hundred percent Americanism; To preserve the memories and incidents of our associations in the Great Wars; To inculcate a sense of individual obligation to the community, state and nation; To combat the autocracy of both the classes and the masses; To make right the master of might; To promote peace and goodwill on earth; To safeguard and transmit to posterity the principles of justice, freedom and democracy; To consecrate and sanctify our comradeship by our devotion to mutual helpfulness. |
| Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., the oldest child of Joseph P. and Rose Kennedy, was born in Massachusetts on July 28, 1915. He was graduated from Choate School in Connecticut and attended the London School of Economics for one year before entering Harvard in 1934. At Harvard he played football and rugby, served on the Student Council and was graduated in 1938, cum laude. He attended Harvard Law School, but left before his final year to volunteer as a Navy flier. Awarded his wings in May 1942, he flew Caribbean patrols and in September 1943 was sent to England with the first naval squadron to fly B-24's with the British Naval Command. His military service, which ended with his death on August 12, 1944, was described as follows by his brother, John F. Kennedy: |
| His squadron, flying in the bitter winter over the Bay of Biscay, suffered heavy casualties, and by the time Joe had completed his designated number of missions in May, he had lost his former co-pilot and a number of close friends. Joe refused his proffered leave and persuaded his crew to remain on for D-day. They flew frequently during June and July, and at the end of July they were given another opportunity to go home. He felt it unfair to ask his crew to stay on longer, and they returned to the United States. He remained. For he had heard of a new and special assignment for which volunteers had been requested which would require another month of the most dangerous type of flying. |
| The Secret mission on which he lost his life was described by a fellow officer after it was declassified: Joe, regarded as an experienced Patrol Plane Commander, and a fellow-officer, an expert in radio control projects, was to take a "drone" Liberator bomber loaded with 21,170 pounds of high explosives into the air and to stay with it until two "mother" planes had achieved complete radio control over the "drone." They were then to bail out over England; the "drone," under the control of the "mother" planes, was to proceed on the mission which was to culminate in a crash-dive on the target, a V-2 rocket launching site in Normandy. The airplane ... was in flight with routine checking of the radio controls proceeding satisfactorily, when at 6:20 p.m. on August 12, 1944, two explosions blasted the "drone" resulting in the death of its two pilots. No final conclusions as to the cause of the explosions has ever been reached. Joe was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross ... and also the Air Medal ... In 1946 a destroyer, the USS Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., destroyer No. 850, was launched at the Fore River shipyards as the Navy's final tribute to a gallant officer and his heroic devotion to duty...Bio by JPK,Jr. Foundation. |
| Additional sites to visit:: Historic Naval Ships Association - THE SECRET MISSION - Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Foundation |
| Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. American Legion Post 11-11 a.k.a Post 1111 9959 Wadsworth Blvd Broomfield, CO 80021 |
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