John Cashman (journalist)

John Cashman was an American war correspondent for the International News Service who covered the Pacific theatre during World War II. He was killed in an aircraft accident on Okinawa on 31 July 1945.

Biography

The son of Mrs. Mary M. Cashman. of 87-51 86th Street, Queens, New York, John Cashman graduated high school at Richmond Hill High School in 1935.

He enlisted in the U.S. Navy immediately for a four-year term, and spent two years in China, where, though still attached to the Navy, he wrote a sports column covering Navy boxing matches for the Shanghai Globe-Mercury. Cashman was on the crew of the USS Augusta, then flagship of the Asiatic Fleet, the vessel on which President Truman sailed to Potsdam.

Cashman's enlistment expired in 1939, but he reenlisted in 1942. "In May of that year he lost his left arm as a result of an ammunition explosion while he was on sea duty in the Atlantic, and was honorably discharged in December 1942."[1][2]

His arm was amputated from severe wounds he received when a gun misfired. "It was while recovering from the amputation in his New York home that he decided to do something about his desire to be a journalist."[3][4]

He then became a sports writer for the International News Service, hoping to go back to war in the role of a correspondent. He was sent to Guam in February 1945 and then to Manila, where he volunteered to accompany a regiment into battle in the Borneo invasion, he covered the Australian invasion of Balikpapen successfully.[1][2]

Death

While returning to his INS headquarters on Guam from Borneo, he had reached Okinawa on 30 July 1945. On 31 July, the Consolidated B-24 Liberator he was aboard crashed and exploded on takeoff,[5][6] killing Cashman, 27, and the crew of eight. A military funeral with honours[7] attended by high-ranking Naval officers was held on Okinawa for Cashman on 1 August 1945.[1][2]

Cashman was the 17th war correspondent killed in the Pacific theater.[7][8]

Family

At the time of Cashman's death, he had two brothers serving in the U.S. Navy, Ensign George A. Cashman, 22, commander of a minesweeper off of San Francisco, and Robert, 23, an aviation machinist's mate first class, who was in the Pacific for 20 months, but now assigned at Naval Air Station Kingsville, Texas.

He was also survived by two sisters, both wives of Naval lieutenants, Mrs. Sumner Thompson, of Wollaston, Massachusetts, and Mrs. Vernice Cheek, of San Diego, California.[1][2]

Commemoration

Cashman is one of over a dozen UP, INS and UPI journalists' names included on a Freedom Forum Journalists Memorial dedicated in Arlington, Virginia, in May 1996.[9]

References
  1. Staff, "Queens Writer Killed When Plane Explodes", Long Island Star-Journal, Long Island City, New York, Thursday 2 August 1945, page 11.
  2. "Newspaper article" (PDF). fultonhistory.com. August 2, 1945.
  3. Raudy, John Hill, "The Price of News: American War Correspondent Casualties - A Thesis in Mass Communications", Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, August 1977, pages 120-121.
  4. file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Owner/My%20Documents/Downloads/31295001201630.pdf
  5. United Press, "I.N.S. Correspondent Killed in Plane Crash", The San Bernardino Daily Sun, San Bernardino, California, Thursday 2 August 1945, Volume 51, page 2.
  6. Moseley, Ray (9 July 2018). Reporting War: How Foreign Correspondents Risked Capture, Torture, and Death to Cover World War II. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300224665 – via Google Books.
  7. Staff correspondent, "Newsman Dies In Bomber Crash", The Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney, Australia, Friday 4 August 1945, 115th Year, Number 33,576, page 1.
  8. "The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954) - 3 Aug 1945 - p1". Trove.
  9. "UPI journalists listed at monument".
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