IRISH AMERICAN WAR VETERANS, POST #1

ENSIGN WILLIAM IGNATIUS HALLORAN, U.S. Navy

by

JC Sullivan

     “The telegram of his death arrived at 2:30 a.m., Friday, December 12^th, by a Western Union kid in an olive drab uniform riding a bike in the dark.” That’s how Lawrence Halloran described receiving notice that the family’s son and brother, Ensign William Ignatius Halloran, U.S. Navy,  was dead, the first Ohioan and Clevelander to fall in World War II.

     December 7^th, 1941, in the words of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was a day that will “live in Infamy”. On that day the Japanese navy attacked the U.S. Pacific fleet anchored at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. It was also the birthday of Stella Halloran of West 111^th St., Cleveland. At Pearl Harbor, 1,177 sailors aboard the USS Arizona died when ship was bombed and capsized. Among those entombed is Bill Halloran, Lawrence and Stella Halloran’s  twenty-six year old son.

     Bll Halloran was a 2^nd generation Irish-American, grandson of Irish-born (Galway) John and Edna Halloran. He attended Cathedral Latin High School, then located on E. 107^th St. off Euclid Avenue, and later transferred to John Marshall High School. He went on to Ohio State University where he majored in Journalism.  In campus affairs, he was president of the Catholic Newman Club, president of the Interracial Council and an important member of the Lantern staff, the school newspaper. After graduation he worked for United Press in Columbus and Cleveland as a sports editor.

     In 1940 Halloran volunteered for active duty in the Naval Reserves.  He attended  the Naval Reserve Midshipmen’s School at Northwestern University where he received his  commission as Ensign in June the following year. His first assignment was to the battleship West Virginia. Classmates at Ohio State received a postcard from him that was mailed at sea from the USS Arizona, three days before the attack at Pearl Harbor.  Today, the ship is still a commissioned vessel in the  US Navy because  her crew is still aboard.

   His younger brother Lawrence, Beverly Hills, Michigan, now 84 years old, said  athough Bill Halloran had never seen war, he had described it as "…impractical, crazy and un-Christian’.  Lawrence  remembered him as  "a great guy, a lot of fun," who loved sports and organized local teens into baseball teams.

     Today, a blue star in a home’s window still signifies a  family member in the service. After December 7^th, the star in the Halloran home’s window was replaced with a gold star, signifying a family member had perished in the war. After the loss of her son, Stella Halloran became active in the affairs of the Gold Star mothers. As President she attended many war bond drives on Cleveland’s public square.

     All three of the Halloran boys, William, Lawrence and John, joined the Navy during the war. Lawrence served aboard the USS Halloran, a destroyer escort named for his brother William and later decommissioned at Charleston, S.C. Naval Base. It took kamikaze hits during the battle for Okinawa that killed four, wounded twenty-three and put 304 holes in the ship. “Halloran House”, a dormitory at Ohio State University, is named for him, as is Halloran Park on West 117th Street south of Lorain Ave.

     Besides his brothers and parents, Lawrence and Stella, a sister Estelle also survived him.