Thank You For Serving

courtesy of Jeff Gragg - Find A Grave

Patrick Dean Duffy was the son of Francis Ward Duffy & Alice Marie Peck and as soon as he turned 18, he enlisted. Tragically, in January of 1946, the Duffy family received the news that their son, their brother, had died in Japan.

Ancestry - Iowa WWII Bonus Files For Beneficiaries, 1947-1959

Odebolt Chronicle, Thurs, 10 Jan 1946

Patrick C Duffy Dies After Vehicle Mishap In Japan

The Walter Duffy family of Odebolt, received the sad news Sunday of the accidental death of their nephew, Patrick C Duffy, son of Mr and Mrs Ward Duffy of Spencer, former Odebolt residents. A telegram had been received by his parents on Sunday and the following account is reprinted from the Spencer Daily Reporter. After surviving more than two war years in one of the most hazardous branches of any military service, the paratroopers - Patrick C Duffy, 20, of Spencer, died as a result of injuries sustained in a vehicular accident on Honshu Island, Japan, according to a war department telegram received by his parents here Sunday morning. The brief tragic message was brought to his parents, Mr and Mrs Ward Duffy, as they sat with their family at services in the Sacred Heart Catholic Church Sunday morning. No further details of the accident which caused the death of the popular local youth were available here today, but a letter giving more particulars of the fatal mishap was expected soon. Duffy had attended local schools and had been employed at Driscoll's in Spencer before he enlisted for army service more than two years ago, as soon as he attained the age of 18. He was sent as a volunteer to the paratrooper training base at Fort Benning, Ga. Following completion of training there, he was home on furlough late in December, 1944. After the expiration of his furlough, he went overseas and was serving in the occupation armies in Japan when he died after the accident. Other camps in which he was stationed included North Camp Hood, Texas; Camp Gruber, Okla, and Camp McCall, SC. A mass was held Monday morning at the Sacred Heart Church and a military memorial service will be held there in the near future it was announced. The dark-curly-haired youth was well known throughout the city and his death came as a shock to the community. he is survived by his parents and six brothers and sisters. His father is employed at the Peerless hatchery here and the Duffy family resides at 317 West Second Street. He is a nephew of the Ray Cranstons of Long Beach, Cal, and the Glen Pecks of Fort Worth, Texas, former Odebolt residents.