Three Cedar Rapids Men Are Reported Missing in Action
Cedar Rapids News—
Three Cedar Rapids men in the U.S. Navy are reported missing following action, according to telegrams received by their relatives from the bureau of navigation at Washington D.C.
They are:
William James Shanahan, jr, 23, son of Mr. and Mrs. W. J. Shanahan, 812 G avenue NW (Picture on page 7)
Jack Asbury Breedlove, 20, son of Mr. and Mrs. J. A. Breedlove, 702 Third avenue SW (Picture on page 7)
Lawrence James McFadden, jr, 22 son of Mr. and Mrs. L. J. McFadden, 606 Ninth street SE.
Shanahan, graduate of St. Patrick’s high school in 1936, was signal man third class in the naval reserve. He had been a Gazette carrier for many years and later was employed in the office of the Concrete Materials company. He enlisted in the naval reserve Oct. 5, 1940, and was trained at the naval reserve armory in Chicago. W. J. Shanahan, his father, was in the navy during World War I.
A Franklin high school graduate, Breedlove enlisted in the navy on his eighteenth birthday, Dec. 20, 1939. It was on his twentieth birthday that his parents received notice that he was missing. Born in El Reno, Okla., he came with his parents to Cedar Rapids in 1923. He was fire controlman third class in the regular navy.
McFadden’s wife, who lives in Wilmington, Calif., received the notice that her husband is missing. A graduate of McKinley high school, he attended Coe college. He enlisted in the navy March 9, 1938, and held the rating of yeoman first class, stationed in the executive offices aboard a ship in the Pacific.
Source: The Gazette (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) – Monday, Dec. 22, 1941 (photo included)
Jack Asbury Breedlove was born Dec. 20, 1921 to Jesse and Ethyle Burka Breedlove. He died Dec. 7, 1941 and is memorialized at the Courts of the Missing, Court 5, Honolulu, Hawaii and at the USS Oklahoma Memorial, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
Petty Officer Breedlove served in World War II with the U.S. Navy aboard the USS Oklahoma (BB-37) and was MIA/KIA during the attack on Pearl Harbor. His remains were never identified but he is listed as one of the approximately 390 unknowns from the Oklahoma that have been buried in mass graves at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Source: ancestry.com
UPDATE -- Remains Identified in March 2021
Navy Fire Controlman 3rd Class, Jack Breedlove of Cedar Rapids was 19 years old when he was killed on the USS Oklahoma (BB-37) during the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor. Scientists with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency identified his remains in March of 2021. Breedlove was buried Tues. May 31, 2022 at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii. Flags will be at half-staff on the (Iowa) State Capitol Building and flag displays in the Capitol Complex. Flags will also be half-staff on all public buildings, grounds, and facilities throughout the state from sunrise to sunset on Tuesday, May 31, 2022
