Captain McCarthy, 1944
Courtesy of a McCarthy family member; OCHS #s 2001.9.2

 

McCarthy joined the Marines during World War II in 1942. Promoted to the rank of Captain, he became an intelligence officer for a dive-bomber squadron stationed in the South Pacific. McCarthy briefed pilots before flights and questioned them on their return about enemy activity.

McCarthy spent sixteen months in the Solomon Islands, serving two combat tours from September 1943 to March 1944. The Marines sent him in Bougainville, from April until June 1944, after the city's capture by American forces. He returned to the United States in July 1944, assigned to various California military bases.

McCarthy resigned from the Marines on December 11, 1944. He publically attributed his departure to a "war wound." McCarthy had broken a bone in his foot during a hazing ceremony on board a ship in 1943.