Ensign Frank Woodrow O’Flaherty was a bona fide war hero. His life was beautifully chronicled by Gerry (G47), a member of Find A Grave. Wesley M. Palmer, Sr. has also provided a well-written bio of Ensign Frank O’Flaherty on Frank’s FamilySearch.org entry. I have paraphrased from the above bios, shortened them, and added other information to create this entry for Fold3 and Stories Behind the Stars. (Richard Rife, SBTS)

Frank W. O’Flaherty (service #0-098693) was born on 26 February 1918 in Tonopah, Nye County, Nevada. His father was Michael John O’Flaherty, and his mother was Carrie Etta Marie Cuddy. Both Michael and Carrie were Nevada natives. Michael worked as an ore mill machinist in Nevada, and Carrie was a homemaker. Frank’s parents had seven children, including Frank. Tragedy struck the O’Flaherty family: One of Frank’s brothers, Roy, died of choking (edema of the larynx) at age 18 months. His brother, Willie, drowned in a local irrigation pond in 1917. Mother Carrie died of the Spanish Flu in 1918.

After his wife, Carrie, died, Michael dissolved the family, passing out the five remaining children to relatives in distant locations. They would never live together again. Carrie’s sister, Katie Cuddy Lamb (Kansas City, MO), took the three youngest children, Lavada, Catherine, and Frank. Another sister, Estella Cuddy Schiegel (Lincoln, Nebraska), took the other two boys, Paul and James. Later, Lavada and Catherine were sent to Minnesota to live with their uncle named Frank O’Flaherty. Katie Lamb and her husband, Orange Scott Lamb, raised young Frank as their own son, along with their two daughters, Virginia and Katherine. (I do not believe Katie and Orange legally adopted Frank, but in essence, they were his adoptive parents.)

Frank graduated from Bonner Springs High School (20 miles northwest of Kansas City) in June 1936. He then attended Kansas City Junior College, graduating in 1938. Frank attended the 1938-1939 school year at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, where he was a member of the Delta Upsilon fraternity. He discontinued his studies after one year at the university to help support his family. According to the 1940 census, he was working as an accountant.

In the summer of 1940, Frank applied to the U.S. Volunteer Naval Reserve Flight Training Program. After being deemed qualified for the program, he enlisted in the Navy Reserve on 25 September 1940, becoming an aviation cadet on 15 January 1941. He completed primary and intermediate flight training at Naval Air Station (NAS) Pensacola in July 1941—and transferred to NAS Miami for advanced training (air carrier group). On 12 September 1942, Frank was commissioned as an Ensign and, in due course, was assigned as a pilot in Scouting Squadron 6 (VS-6).

Ensign O’Flaherty flew SBD-3 dive bombers from the deck of the USS Enterprise. He was one of 19 pilots in his squadron who participated in the Battle of Midway on 4 June 1942. During the battle, Ensign O’Flaherty was one of 27 planes that targeted the Japanese carrier Kaga, leaving it in ruins. Six of the planes in Ensign O’Flaherty’s division did not make it back to Enterprise. Ensign O’Flaherty was seen ditching his plane in the ocean, and he and his radioman, Bruno Gaido, got in a life raft. While other downed airmen were found, O’Flaherty and Gaido were not. They were classified as missing in action.

Nothing more was learned about the fate of O’Flaherty and Gaido—that is, until the end of the war, when U.S. investigators found that they had been picked up by the Japanese destroyer Makigumo, alive and well. After they had been interrogated, the ship’s commander had them bound with weights and thrown overboard, executed by drowning. The date of death of O’Flaherty and Gaido was presumed to be 15 June 1942. Japanese eyewitnesses to the execution said that both men died without protestation but with honor and courage. Without the facts learned after the war, the Navy had listed them as missing on 4 June 1942 and presumed dead on 5 June 1943.

Ensign O’Flaherty was survived by his aunt (and adoptive mother), Katie Lamb; his adoptive father, Orange Scott Lamb; his natural father, Michael O’Flaherty; and siblings, including his sister, Lavada, who was an Ensign in the Navy Nursing Corps.

Ensign O’Flaherty was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross, the Purple Heart, and the President Unit Citation with Ribbon. The Navy Cross is a prestigious military decoration awarded by the United States Naval Service. It's the second-highest honor bestowed upon sailors and Marines, second only to the Medal of Honor. The citation accompanying Ensign O’Flaherty’s Navy Cross read: “The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Navy Cross (posthumously) to Frank Woodrow O’Flaherty, Ensign, United States Naval Reserve, for extraordinary heroism in operations against the enemy while serving as Pilot during the ‘Air Battle of Midway’ on 4-6 April 1942. Participating in a devastating assault against a Japanese invasion fleet, Ensign O’Flaherty, with fortitude and resolute devotion to duty, pressed home his attacks in the face of a formidable barrage of anti-aircraft fire and fierce fighter opposition. His gallant perseverance and utter disregard for his own personal safety were important contributing factors to the success achieved by our forces and were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.”

On 14 December 1943, in honor of Frank O’Flaherty’s life and service, the U.S. Navy named a new destroyer the USS O’Flaherty (DE-340). The honor of “sponsoring” or “christening” the ship was accorded to Frank’s dear sister, Ensign Lavada O’Flaherty of the Navy Nurse Corps. Lavada was the first of her rank and first of the Navy Nurse Corps ever to sponsor the launching of a vessel in the Gulf Coast area.

Without having a body to bury, Ensign O’Flaherty’s life and service were memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial, which is part of the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (Punchbowl), Honolulu, Hawaii. Frank’s father, Michael, placed a headstone (cenotaph) in Frank’s honor at the Ely City Cemetery in Ely, White Pine County, Nevada. Frank’s adoptive mother, Katie Lamb, placed a headstone (cenotaph) in Frank’s honor at the Mount Moriah Cemetery (Block 8), Kansas City, Missouri, near the place where Frank grew up in her care.

Thank you, Frank, for your excellent life and heroic service, bravely sacrificing your life on behalf of our grateful nation.

Sources:

Find A Grave Index (Honolulu)

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56127242/frank-woodrow-o'flaherty

Find A Grave Index (Nevada)

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/66880311/frank-woodrow-o'flaherty

Find A Grave Index (Missouri)

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/72495093/frank-woodrow-o'flaherty

Military History Fandom

https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/Frank_Woodrow_O%27Flaherty

1920 U.S. Federal Census

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/65735566:6061

1930 U.S. Federal Census

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/34047337:6224

1940 U.S. Federal Census

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/60336594:2442

U.S. World War II and Korean Conflict Veterans Interred Overseas

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/107734:4283

U.S. Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Unaccounted-for Remains

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/43914:62207

Honolulu Hawaii U.S. National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (Punchbowl)

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/38367:2462

U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard Casualties

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/78843:1122

U.S. World War II Personnel Missing in Action or Lost at Sea

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/75849:1199

American Battle Monuments Commission

https://www.abmc.gov/decedent-search/oflaherty%3Dfrank

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Frank W O'Flaherty