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Concept
Francis Fagan
Summary
Francis Louis Fagan (August 25, 1918 – February 27, 1945) was a captain in the United States Marine Corps during World War II.
Fagan was born in Marshall, Wisconsin, the son of Edward and Alma Fagan. His official residence was listed as Columbus, Wisconsin.
Fagan attended Columbus High School in Columbus, Wisconsin and then Beloit College, where he was a Phi Beta Kappa member and a star athlete. He lettered in football and track and also played basketball. He was offered a scholarship in 1941 to study at Northwestern University, but he turned it down to enter a Marine officers' training school instead. He joined the Marines on June 24, 1941.
Fagan was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Marines in January 1942. Fagan served as commanding officer of Company G, Second Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division. He fought in the Bougainville, Guadalcanal, New Zealand, Kwajalein, Eniwetok, and Guam campaigns. He was severely wounded in hand-to-hand combat on Iwo Jima on February 26, 1945; he was evacuated and died the following day. Fagan was twice awarded the Navy Cross: once for his actions at the Battle of Guam, the other for his actions at the Battle of Iwo Jima. He received the second award posthumously.
His first award citation reads:
The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Captain Francis Louis Fagan (MCSN: 0-8334), United States Marine Corps, for extraordinary heroism as Commanding Officer of Company G, Second Battalion, Ninth Marines, THIRD Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Guam, Marianas Islands, 28 July 1944. Assuming command of a company which had lost all its officers with the exception of one, Captain Fagan immediately pushed an attack to the top of a ridge and, when a strong enemy counterattack forced his company's right flank to fall back after the lapse of only ten minutes, ran one hundred and fifty yards along the front line through heavy hostile fire to the right flank.
Official source
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