Ret. Col. C.P. “Duke” Curran of Kapa‘a was a member of the “Fighting 69th N.Y.” 165th Infantry, 27th Inf. Division, U.S. Army during World War II. He arrived in the spring of 1942 to help defend Kaua‘i against a possible
Ret. Col. C.P. “Duke” Curran of Kapa‘a was a member of the “Fighting 69th N.Y.”
165th Infantry, 27th Inf. Division, U.S. Army during World War II. He arrived in the spring of 1942 to help defend Kaua‘i against a possible invasion by the Japanese army. Later in the war Curran saw action in the Pacific Islands and in Okinawa. Following is his account of an incident during the Battle of Okinawa.
“On Okinawa the Japanese fired 1,100 rounds of artillery into our area which was roughly 500 yards. While the shells were coming in on the top of us, I was shaking so bad my teeth were banging together – it sounded like a telegraph message. I heard someone talking, I looked up, it was our Chaplain Fr. Lawrence Lynch. He made the sign of the Cross and said ‘God Bless you Curran,’ The next shell that came he said ‘Duke, it’s the 8th Avenue Express going to Coney Island.’ During the next few days of shelling, I made many promises to God if I survived. I’m sure I broke my word on some of them.
“I will never forget Fr. Lynch walking around blessing all of us as though nothing was happening. He was killed in action a few days later and I still pray for his soul.
“During the period I was an ex-1st Sgt. and acting as platoon leader.”
