Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr.

Lt. Joseph Patrick "Joe" Kennedy, Jr. (July 25, 1915 – August 12, 1944) was a junior officer in the United States Navy, a Naval Aviator, and a land-based bomber pilot during World War II. He was the eldest of nine children born to Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. (1888—1969) and Rose Fitzgerald (1890—1995).

He was the elder brother of future U.S. President, John F. Kennedy ("Jack"). As boys, their father wanted the best for Joe, making Jack envious. Joe had been expected to become president, especially after his father's political exile for supporting the appeasement policy of Neville Chamberlain in the advent of World War II. However, Joe was killed in action, and the high expectations then fell upon Jack.

Early life and education
Kennedy first attended the Dexter School in Brookline, Massachusetts, with his brother, John. Joseph graduated from The Choate School (now Choate Rosemary Hall) in 1933 in Wallingford, Connecticut. He then entered Harvard College in Cambridge, Massachusetts, graduating in 1938. Kennedy participated in football, rugby, and crew, and he served on the student council. Before he went away to war, he became engaged to Athalia Ponsell (1917—1974), a model and actress. Kennedy then spent a year studying under the tutelage of Harold Laski at the London School of Economics before enrolling in Harvard Law School.

Political career
From a very young age Joe was groomed by his father and predicted to be the nation's first Roman Catholic-Irish President of the United States, when he was born his grandfather John F. Fitzgerald (1863—1950), then Mayor of Boston told the news, "This child is the future President of the nation". He often boasted that he would be president even without help from his father.

He was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1940. Joe planned to run for Massachusetts's 11th congressional district in 1946. He and his father had began laying the groundwork for the campaign when he was killed.

World War II service
During World War II Kennedy left before his final year of law school to begin officer training and flight training in the U.S. Navy. He earned his wings as a Naval Aviator in May 1942 and was sent to Britain in September 1943. He piloted land-based PB4Y Liberator patrol bombers on anti-submarine details during two tours of duty in the winter of 1943–1944. Kennedy had completed 25 combat missions and was eligible to return home. He instead volunteered for an Operation Aphrodite mission.

Operation Aphrodite


Operation Aphrodite made use of unmanned, explosive-laden Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator bombers, that were deliberately crashed into their targets under radio control. These aircraft could not take off safely on their own, so a crew of two would take off and fly to 2000 ft before activating the remote control system, arming the detonators and parachuting from the aircraft.

After U.S. Army Air Forces operation missions were drawn up on July 23, 1944, Kennedy and Lieutenant Wilford John Willy were designated as the first Navy flight crew. Willy had "pulled rank" over Ensign James Simpson (who was Kennedy's regular co-pilot) to be on the mission. They flew a BQ-8 "robot" aircraft (a converted B-24 Liberator) for the U.S. Navy's first Aphrodite mission. Two Lockheed Ventura mother planes and a Boeing B-17 navigation plane took off from RAF Fersfield at 1800 on 12 August 1944. Then the BQ-8 aircraft, loaded with 21170 lb of Torpex, took off. It was to be used against the Fortress of Mimoyecques and its V-3 cannons in northern France.

Following behind them in a USAAF F-8 Mosquito to film the mission were pilot Lt. Robert A. Tunnel and combat camera man Lt. David J. McCarthy, who filmed the event from the perspex nose. As planned, Kennedy and Willy remained aboard as the BQ-8 completed its first remote-controlled turn at 2,000 feet near the North Sea coast. Kennedy and Willy removed the safety pin arming the explosive package and Kennedy radioed the agreed code Spade Flush, his last words.Two minutes later (and well before the planned crew bailout, near RAF Manston), the Torpex explosive detonated prematurely and destroyed the Liberator, killing Kennedy and Willy instantly. Wreckage landed near the village of Blythburgh in Suffolk, England, causing widespread damage and small fires, but no injuries on the ground. According to one report, a total of 59 buildings were damaged in a nearby coastal town.



According to USAAF records, the trailing Mosquito "was flying 300 feet above and about 300 yards to the rear of the robot. Engineer photographer on this ship was injured and the ship was damaged slightly by the explosion." The Mosquito, which made an immediate emergency landing at RAF Halesworth, belonged to the 325th Reconnaissance Wing, a unit under the command of the son of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, then Colonel Elliott Roosevelt. Years later, Roosevelt claimed to have been aboard this trailing aircraft, and his version of the event has gained wide currency. However, Air Force records cannot substantiate this. Instead, an after-action account by the 8th Combat Camera Unit (CCU) noted that:

".....'the Baby just exploded in mid-air as we neared it and I was knocked halfway back to the cockpit. A few pieces of the Baby came through the plexiglass nose and I got hit in the head and caught a lot of fragments in my right arm. I crawled back to the cockpit and lowered the wheels so that Bob could make a quick emergency landing,' Lt. McCarthy reported from his hospital bed."

The 8th CCU film of the event, has, so far as is known, not been found.

The Navy's informal board of review, discussing a number of theories, discounted the possibility of the crew making a mistake, or that suspected jamming or a stray signal could have armed and detonated the explosives. An electronics officer who believed the wiring harness had a design defect had warned Kennedy of this possibility the day before the mission. Kennedy was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross, the Distinguished Flying Cross, and the Air Medal. His Navy Cross citation reads:

Willy also was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross. The names of both men are listed on the Tablets of the Missing at the Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial, a cemetery and chapel near the village of Madingley in Cambridgeshire, Britain, that commemorates American servicemen who died in World War II.

Later reports that Kennedy's final mission were kept top secret until many years later are negated by a detailed public account of the operation and Kennedy's death in 1945.

Legacy
In 1946 the Navy named a destroyer for Kennedy, the USS Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. (DD-850), aboard which his younger brother (future U.S. Senator), Robert F. Kennedy, briefly served. Among the highlights of its service are the blockade of Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 and the afloat recovery teams for Gemini 6 and Gemini 7, both 1965 manned spaceflight in NASA's Gemini program. It is now a floating museum in Battleship Cove, Fall River, Massachusetts.

In 1947 the Kennedys established the Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Foundation and funded the construction of the Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Memorial Hall at Boston College, now a part of Campion Hall and home to the college's Lynch School of Education. The foundation was led by his youngest brother, U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy, until his death in August 2009. In 1957, the Lieutenant Joseph Patrick Kennedy Junior Memorial Skating Rink was opened in Hyannis, Massachusetts, with funds from the Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Foundation.

In 1969 Hank Searls wrote a biography of Joe Jr., entitled The Lost Prince: Young Joe, the Forgotten Kennedy.