by Denyce Cribbs
In looking through our library’s surname files last summer,
I came across a folder that had just two items in it. One was a USN Certificate of Honorable
Discharge from 1946, and the second was a Funeral Mass booklet from 1962. Both were for Lawrence Kevin Driscoll. I decided to find out what I could about him
and his family.
I was able to find Lawrence on Ancestry, and his records
showed that he had been a Navy coxswain in WWII, which I learned meant that he
was one of the pilots of landing craft.
He had also earned the WWII Victory Medal, as evidenced by his headstone
application for veterans. A WWII muster
roll listed him as serving on the USS LST-815 in March of 1945. According to NavSource Online (https://www.navsource.org/archives/10/16/160815.htm)
the LST-815 was at the invasion beaches at Okinawa on D-Day. I happened to be
working on this surname file on July 4th, so I was very moved to
have discovered Lawrence’s service and be able to honor him here.
Next, I found a page in his Funeral Mass booklet listing his
family. His parents were John and Agnes
Driscoll. I wanted to find out more
about John, and I’ll talk more about that in my next posting. Lawrence has siblings listed as John,
Patricia, and Therese. His wife was
Margaret, and his children were Diane and Larry. In following the Ancestry
records, I was able to see that Larry Jr. had lived in Lake Havasu City, and is
buried in Kingman, AZ. It is through him
that our library surely attained the discharge certificate and Mass
booklet. Lawrence’s other child, Diane,
has also passed away. The Mass booklet
contains pages of signatures from his loved ones, many signing #5220 next to
their names, to signify the VFW post that Lawrence belonged to in
Illinois. Notably, one comrade, Ben
Babbitt, signed “96465 Normandy” next to his signature. Thank you to all those fine men who served
with Lawrence Kevin Driscoll.