“A perfect woman, nobly planned,

To warn, to comfort and command,

And yet a spirit still and bright,

With something of angelic light.”

Congressman William H. Bates, a longtime friend of the Larkin family, read these words of William Wordsworth at the dedication of the Catherine Larkin Memorial Cottage.[i]

Catherine Marie Larkin was born on January 21, 1916.[ii] Her parents, Edward Thomas Larkin Sr. and Honora “Nora” Josephine Kelleher Larkin were living in Salem, Massachusetts and had their roots there. Both had families from Ireland. The couple had married in 1912.[iii] Edward Sr. was working in a grocery store and the family owned their own home. At home was her big brother, Edward Thomas Jr., born in 1914.[iv]

After Catherine and Edward Jr., the family welcomed Margaret Rosemary Larkin Bonaventura in 1918, John Clement Larkin in 1921 and Robert Gerald Larkin in 1922.

By 1930, Edward is listed as the owner of a grocery store. The family now lived on Boston Street in Salem in a home they owned. They had a radio and one can imagine the large family gathered around it. All the children were attending school.[v]

After high school, Catherine attended the Essex Agriculture school in its homemaking program. She graduated in 1934.[vi]

Following Essex, Catherine decided to continue her education further and graduated from Salem Hospital Nursing School in 1938.[vii] After nursing school, Catherine worked in Providence[viii], Rhode Island and Salem as a nurse.[ix]

HER LIFE BEFORE MILITARY

As the war years roll around, 1940 finds all the Larkin children out of high school. Edward Sr. is still running the grocery he owns. The oldest, Edward Jr. is married and out of the house[x] but Catherine is still living at home as she works as a nurse in a private home. Margaret, a bookkeeper at a laundry, John, a college student, and Robert, 17, are also at home.[xi]

In May of 1941, Catherine joined in a fundraiser for the Salem Hospital Nurses’ Alumnae Association. She joined other ladies as a model for a style show at the Hotel Hawthorne in Salem.[xii] She enjoyed many of the things young ladies do including attending a wedding shower[xiii] and being a bridesmaid for a dear friend’s wedding.[xiv]

HER MILITARY STORY

Catherine’s niece, Mary Ellen Larkin, told the Salem News newspaper about the start of her aunt, Catherine’s, war involvement.

“My aunt went to my grandparents and said that she too had essentially enlisted because she was a nurse and she wanted to, as she said, ‘take care of the boys,’” Mary Ellen Larkin told the paper.

In October of 1941, Catherine joined in the war effort by entering the Army Nurses Corps[xv] as a second lieutenant.[xvi] A former reservist, she received orders to report to the air base (Harding Field) in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.[xvii] Her service number was N-720658.

The Ledo area of India, where Lt. Catherine Larkin eventually died, was known to be one of the worst areas of malaria in the world. In addition, there was ward after ward of typhus patients. Lice, tape worms, maggots and other parasites were common. Horribly wounded men would arrive from all over and many amputations were done due to gangrene developing over their days-long journey to get care.[xviii]

In an oral history record, “Voices of the Past,” Brigadier General Anna Mae Hays recalled “… our nurses were well prepared. We had a fair amount of equipment and supplies… And has history has proven that the whole theater was sadly neglected. But, as I said, we did the very best we could.”[xix]

At the time of the war, Hays was a nurse in the operating room in India. In 1970, she was the first woman in the United States Armed Forces to wear the stars of a general officer when promoted to Brigadier General.[xx]

“Of course, the heavy rains would pour in seven to eight inches of water in 24 hours in the monsoon season. You can imagine the mud problems. Each building was made of bamboo and our roofs were palm fronds so when it rained, water came through the roofs,” she said in her oral history. Without secure doors, snakes, sacred cows or wild jackals would run or slither through the wards or nurses’ quarters. They also cared for ill and wounded Chinese soldiers, American allies, which brought language and cultural differences for the nurses in trying to provide the best care.[xxi]

In India, Catherine had the hefty job as head nurse in a mobile army surgical hospital.[xxii] She served on a medical task force in Calcutta, India with the 803rd Medical Air Evacuation Squadron.[xxiii]

HER LAST DAY- March 4, 1945

On her last flight, Catherine was in route from a hospital along the Ledo road to a new assignment[xxiv] in the India-Burma Theater to care for wounded in Imphal.[xxv] Her Douglas C-47 Skytrain (#41-18554), assigned to Air transport Command, 11th Combat Cargo Squadron,[xxvi] took off from Dinjan Army Airfield in Assam, India on a mission to ferry passengers. The plane came in too low during the last turn in the process of landing and crashed. Twenty-five passengers, including Catherine, plus the crew of two were killed. Most of the passengers were Army nurses and medical personnel.[xxvii]

Catherine was the first woman from Salem to be killed.[xxviii]

She was 29.

COMMENDATIONS

World War II Victory Medal

Nurse Corps Badge

American Campaign Medal

Army Presidential Unit Citation

Army Good Conduct Medal

Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal[xxix]

MEMORIALS

2023: A veterans’ memorial wall will be added at the Essex North Shore Agricultural & Technical School’s near the Catherine Larkin Memorial Cottage. It will feature flags from each branch of service.[xxx]

2021: A plan was initiated to have a permanent granite marker and bronze plaque for 1st Lt. Catherine Marie Larkin, RN, US Army Nurse Corp., installed at the intersection of Memorial Drive and Larkin Lane on property of the Bentley School in Salem, Massachusetts.[xxxi]

2019: Essex North Shore Agricultural & Technical School broke ground on the new Catherine Larkin Memorial Cottage. The building will house a student learning center, museum and community space. The cottage is being built on the site of the older Catherine Larkin Cottage, that was a small home used as a practice facility for women enrolled in homemaking programs in the past.

“We can think of no better way to honor Catherine Larkin for her service in World War II than by rededicating the Larkin cottage as a sustainable project to engage our current and future students,” said Mark Strout, chair of Essex Tech’s district school committee in the Boston Globe newspaper.[xxxii]

1950: The Larkin family donated funds to Essex Agricultural School in Catherine’s honor to build The Catherine M. Larkin Memorial Practice Cottage. It was dedicated in September of 1950 with an address by Congressman William H. Bates and homemaking demonstrations.[xxxiii] It was utilized by students studying homemaking from then until the homemaking program ended in the 1960s.[xxxiv]

A square in the town of Salem was dedicated to the honor of Catherine Larkin. The square is at the corner of Larking Lane and Memorial Drive.[xxxv]

HER FUNERAL AND GRAVE

A solemn high service was held in her hometown for Lt. Catherine Marie Larkin. It was attended by many friends of Catherine as well as family and friends of the family. There were delegations from the Nursing Alumni Association of Salem Hospital, the General Electric Plant of Lynn, the Charlestown Navy Yard and graduates of St. James School, class of 1933.[xxxvi]

In December of 1948, Lt. Catherine M. Larkin’s body was returned to Massachusetts from the India-China-Burma Theater. She was among the 2,554 fallen from the Pacific area on the Dalton Victory.[xxxvii]

She is buried in St. Mary’s Cemetery in Salem, Massachusetts. Catherine is buried with her grandparents, a great aunt and her parents, all under a large “Larkin” grave marker.[xxxviii] A military headstone was applied for by her sister, Margaret, in 1975.[xxxix]

RESEARCH NOTES

Lt. Catherine Marie Larkin wasn’t the only Larkin family member to be in service to her country. Each of her brothers served in WWII. At the time of her death, Pvt. Edward Larkin Jr. served in Belgium, PFC John Larkin was in New Guinea and LT (jg) Robert Larkin was in the Atlantic Fleet.[xl]

LIST OF THOSE KILLED IN THE MARCH 4, 1945 LEDO, INDIA AIR CRASH

Capt. John J. Lukaszczyk, Co-Pilot
Capt. Nicholas J. Mandoukos, Pilot
1st Lt. Walter S. Amsler, Jr.
2nd Lt. Francis W. Blalock
2nd Lt. Julia S. Barnes
2nd Lt. Jane M. Blevins
2nd Lt. Evelyn M. Bruton
2nd Lt. Thomas E. Dellinger
2nd Lt. Rita F. Erard
2nd Lt. Evelyn M. Gerdrum
2nd Lt. Lyndell A. Glisson
1st Lt. Henry D. Hammack, Jr.
2nd Lt. Eathel L. Harris
2nd Lt. Helen J. Henley
1st Lt. Catherine M. Larkin
2nd Lt. Joseph R. Launier
1st Lt. Kathryn L.Lloyd
Capt. Charles W. Loucks
1st Lt. Grady A. Masters
2nd Lt. Kathryn L. McCarthy
2nd Lt. Ann L. Merrill
2nd Lt. Genevieve R. Monahan
Capt. Edward R. Moore
2nd Lt. Mayo C. Onken
Lt. Col. Jack P. Scott
Leona A. Thomey, Civilian, Red Cross
1st Lt. Robert W. Tibbetts

ABOUT THIS STORY

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen saved on Together We Served and Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smartphone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

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