John Doherty

ASN:O-407162

Letter to Capt. John Connelly from Florence Doherty (Captain Doherty’s mother) - 1946

see transcription below

January 29, 1946

137 S. Transit Street
Lockport, New York

Capt. John W. Connolly 316 E. Kickapoo Street Hartford City, Indiana

Dear Captain Connolly,

Mr. Edwin Y. Webb of McAdenville, North Carolina has given me your name and suggested that I write you, in the hope of getting more information as to what may have happened to our son, Captain John S. Doherty, M.C., 0407162, who was with the 319th Glider, FA, Bn, and who was reported missing in action in Holland on September 18, 1944.

The War Department notified John’s wife on September 25, 1945, that they were closing the case and have declared her husband dead on presumptive findings. However, this is most indefinite, consequently we have no peace of mind.

Mr. Webb informed us that to his knowledge, no one with the Glider which our son was in, survived because of enemy fire. Could you tell me why these gliders landed in Germany while others in the group landed in Holland? Perhaps fate stepped in. Destiny is a strange thing. Still at this point of the incident, it would be a relief to know more, no matter how terrible it may be.

Since we have never heard whether John’s body was found and finally buried, we are constantly thinking and wondering “What did they do with him?” Because we would so like to obtain this information. Mr. Webb gave us the name of a Captain Blank and also a George Furmanchik, saying that these men may be able to help us by supplying this information, and he suggested that we write you for their addresses.

We feel the loss of our son very keenly. It has been a most tragic incident in our lives, especially so having lost a younger son a few years ago through an accidental shooting. Then too, because of John’s wife and their two small children, one of whom he never saw.

Thus if you can give us any further information, you will indeed do us a real favor and help us to accept this heavy cross with more resignation. We shall be ever so grateful.

Sincerely, Florence Y. Doherty (Mrs. Stephen V. Doherty)

Letter to Florence Doherty from Lt. Col. Todd - 1945

Hq 581 Glider F.A. Bn. APO 456 U.S. Army Aug. 21, 1945.

Mrs. Stephen V. Doherty 139 So. Transit St Lockport, N.Y.

My Dear Mrs. Doherty:

I have received your kind letters of Aug. 10-14 in the last two days and will attempt to address your queries to the best of my ability. At the time of the Holland operation, I commanded the 319 Glider Battalion, and your son, Capt. Doherty, was assigned to my Battalion shortly before the operation. I was not aboard the glider with him; I had entered the operation in an S-? glider a day prior to the Battalion's arrival, and I was observing near the landing zone when Capt. Doherty's glider appeared the following day. John's glider, along with eight others, did not detach over the designated landing area but continued across the German-Holland border and landed in enemy territory. This group, overshooting the landing zone, consisted of about 45 men and officers. Only five of them managed to return to our lines that night. These five individuals had no knowledge of the fate of the rest of the group except for witnessing most of them being taken as prisoners. Although we had control over the territory around Nijmegen, the ground where John's glider landed remained under enemy control for months, until the British took over that sector. During these months, we have received news from all but two or three members of the group, either as prisoners or casualties. In Capt. Doherty's glider, there were only two other individuals: Sgt. Seigel, who was killed, and Corporal Lane, who remains unaccounted for. In May, I spoke with Pvt. Webb from my unit, who was part of that group of gliders and had been a prisoner of war until we rescued him on V-E Day. According to Pvt. Webb, Capt. Doherty was wounded and taken away by the Germans upon landing, and the group never saw him again. We conducted numerous inquiries, searches, and investigated all graves in the area, but found no trace of Capt. Doherty. The British were quite cooperative and also engaged in efforts to locate missing personnel. If John is suffering from amnesia, he will eventually be identified. The army maintains comprehensive records of all missing persons and is actively seeking information about them.

Regarding Pvt. Wittcop's account, I regret the existence of such stories. His story is certainly fabricated. Firstly, the notion of determining a glider's loading location by contacting the hometown is absurd. Additionally, his claim of bailing out is false, as gliders engage in combat at altitudes of 300 to 400 feet, and personnel do not use parachutes due to constraints of time and space, as a glider acts as its own parachute.

Mrs. Doherty, I have been entirely candid and honest with you, sharing everything I know. I understand that you would prefer to be fully informed, regardless of the circumstances. I am profoundly sorry that I cannot provide you with more definite information. Although John was with my Battalion for a brief period, we grew to care for and respect him as a fellow soldier, an officer, and a gentleman. We were greatly concerned about him and made every effort within combat conditions. His glider landed very close to the town of Kronenberg, about 5 miles east of Nijmegen, Holland, around 5 P.M. on September 18, 1944. Unfortunately, I cannot supply you with the pilot's name, as he was from the Troop Carrier Command, and I do not have those records. It may be possible to obtain his name through my former unit, the 319 Glider F.A. Bn., which is now with the 82nd Division in Berlin, APO 469 New York, N.Y. For further inquiries, the War Dept.'s Casualty Reporting Branch in Washington, D.C., would likely be the best source.

I am being discharged from the army and will be returning to the United States around the beginning of September. My address from now on will be J. C. Todd, Atty-at-Law, 106 Tulsa Bldg., Tulsa, Oklahoma. If I receive any additional information of any kind, I will certainly forward it to you. If there is any way I can be of assistance in this matter, please feel free to write me at the above address. Also, please accept my deepest heartfelt regards for all of John's loved ones.

Sincerely yours,

James C. Todd Lt. Col. F.A.

Company Morning reports, Army MIA investigation, news article - see below

Graves registration and MIA investigation reports - see below