Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Navy Cross citation

The President of the United States takes pride in presenting the NAVY CROSS to

LIEUTENANT

JOSEPH PATRICK KENNEDY

UNITED STATES NAVY

for service as set forth in the following

CITATION:

The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Navy Cross (Posthumously) to Lieutenant Joseph Patrick Kennedy (NSN: 0-116667), United States Navy, for extraordinary heroism in operations against the enemy while serving as Commander of a Navy Liberator Patrol Plane in Bombing Squadron ONE HUNDRED TEN (VB-110), Special Air Unit ONE (Europe), during a special air mission directed at Mimoyecques, France, on 12 August 1944. Well knowing the extreme dangers involved and totally unconcerned for his own safety, Lieutenant Kennedy unhesitatingly volunteered to conduct an exceptionally hazardous and special operational mission. Intrepid and daring in his tactics and with unwavering confidence in the vital importance of his task, he willingly risked his life in the supreme measure of service, and, by his great personal valor and fortitude in carrying out a perilous undertaking, sustained and enhanced the finest traditions of the United States Naval Service.

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Born 25 July 1915 in Hull, Mass…. Left Harvard Law School one year early to become a Naval aviator… Flew land-based PBY4 Liberators… After completing 25 combat missions, Kennedy was eligible to return to the States, but volunteered for top-secret Operation APHRODITE… Was test pilot of a remotely controlled Liberator which was supposed to take off under human control, then pilots would parachute out before the drone attacked heavily defended German submarine pens… During the above mission, Kennedy’s plane exploded. killing him and copilot LT Wilford J. Willy… No remains were recovered… The destroyer USS Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. (DD-850) is named in his honor, which assisted in recovering Gemini astronauts and during the Cuban Missile Crisis