MEMORIAL DAY
Saluting a true hero in Whitestone
Parade will honor 95-year-old local resident who landed with Allied Forces on D-Day beaches
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
Leading the way at this
year’s Whitestone Memorial
Day Parade is grand marshal
Corporal John McHugh Sr.,
a U.S. army veteran who
served during World War II.
McHugh, a 95-yearold
Whitestone resident,
who was placed in the
First Infantry Division
and fought in the Battle of
Normandy, France, in the
D-Day invasion, is honored
to lead the parade on May
27 at 12 p.m. at Whitestone
Memorial Park, located at
149th St. and 15th Dr.
“He was always my hero —
his bravery and patriotism,”
said McHugh’s son, John Jr.
“People like my father who
fought in that way, gave us
the country we had today. I
don’t know what this world
would be like if we didn’t
have people like my father.
He is up on a pedestal that I
couldn’t reach if I tried. If I
thought that I could be half
the man my father was, I
would be happy. He’s a great
man.”
After graduating from
Morris High School in the
Bronx in 1942, McHugh and
his friends enlisted in the
army after the bombing of
Pearl Harbor. He completed
basic training at Fort
McClelland in Alabama and
was shipped out of New York
on the Queen Elizabeth to
the UK.
“They were very
patriotic,” said John Jr.
“At that time every young
man in the country wanted
to go fight in the way. They
felt they had to protect the
country, and he felt that he
had to protect his mother.”
Before landing in
Normandy on D-Day on June
6, 1944, the soldiers were
throwing up their breakfast
all over each other in the
cramped confines of the
landing crafts. The front
of McHugh’s landing craft
dropped down at around 7:30
a.m. and he along with 10 to
12 other soldiers jumped off
into the water up to their
necks.
The landing craft
exploded behind him after
World War II veteran John McHugh Sr. Photo courtesy of John McHugh Jr.
being hit with a German
88 shell.
McHugh, 20, was
carrying the tripod of a .30
caliber machine gun and
the soldier carrying his
gun was killed. The young
soldier was left without
his machine gun crawling
on the beach under fire
all day.
After D-Day, McHugh and
others in the First Infantry
Division, spent months
fighting the Nazis at the
historic battles of Hurtgen
Forest, Aachen, Crucifix
Hill and the Bulge.
While stationed in
Europe, McHugh sent all
of his money he earned
back home to his mother,
a widow. In 1945, for seven
months after the war ended,
McHugh was in the Army of
Occupation before he was
honorably discharged and
sent home.
During his tour of duty,
the World War II veteran
became a recipient of
several medals and awards
such as the Silver Star for
gallantry in action, and the
Bronze Star and European
Theater of Operations
ribbon, which features four
bronze stars signifying the
major battles he was in and
a silver arrowhead for the
invasion of Normandy.
Additionally, McHugh
received Two Presidential
unit citations for the battle
of Crucifix Hill and Hurtgen
Forest. Belgium recognized
him with The Fort Eger badge
for action during the war in
the country.
In 2014, the World War
II hero was inducted in the
state Senate Veterans Hall
of Fame and was one of
the honorees at the Little
Neck-Douglaston Memorial
Day Parade.
The Patriach of the
McHugh Family was born
on March 6, 1924 in Union
City, NJ, to Catherine
Martin and John McHugh.
He is also known as
Dad, Pop, Uncle Johnny
and is a first generation
Irish-American.
John’s grandfather,
James McHugh, fought in
the Civil War and returned
to Ireland where he lived to
be 103 years old. His father,
John McHugh, fought
in WW1. In the Argonne
forest, he received six bullet
wounds in his thigh and
side. He laid out in no man’s
land for three days where he
was gassed and developed
pleurisy pneumonia before
being discharged and sent
back home.
McHugh moved to
Whitestone in 1955 with his
wife, Rosie McGee, where
they raised their three
sons. McHugh still resides
in Whitestone today and has
three grandchildren and
seven great grandchildren.
He lead a career as a Transit
Authority conductor and
a private investigator, and
recently retired last March
working in security.
In June of 1987, John
and his sons returned to
Normandy where they stood
on the beach looking up
at the cliffs that had to be
climbed on D-Day. He spent
time alone walking through
the National Cemetery
looking for friends who had
not made it through D-Day.
Members of Community
Board 7 recently approved
a street co-naming in
honor of McHugh, that
was spearheaded by his
cousin Kevin Shields
and Kim Cody, president
of the Whitestone Civic
Taxpayer’s Association.
They’re planning to
schedule the ceremony on
June 6, the anniversary of
D-Day, 75 years after the
invasion of Normandy,
said John Jr.
Reach reporter Carlotta
Mohamed by email at
cmohamed@schnepsmedia.
com or by phone at
(718) 260–4526.
TIMESLEDGER,24 MAY 24-30, 2019 QNS.COM
/QNS.COM
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