Project 888
Name: Joseph Ambrose FLYNN
Rank / Rating: CDR-CommanderService #: 61362 DOB: Dec 12, 1904 From: New Haven, CT Parents: Charles and Ellen Flynn Went Aboard: Dec 30, 1941 Age When Ship Went Down: 40 years, 7 months, 18 days Spouse: Anna Gordon Flynn Children: daughters Anne Marie and Carleen Grandchildren: Bio Submitted By: Carl Fahnestock (Admin) |
 FLYNN, Joseph A |
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 Commander Joseph Ambrose FLYNN was born on December 12, 1904. He was one of four brothers to Charles and Ellen Flynn. His brothers were: Charles, Harold and Francis. He graduated from high school in 1922 in New Haven, CT where he was a member of Alpha Iota Epsilon. He ultimately served just over 18 years in the United States Navy.
On his last naval assignment, he served the role of Executive Officer on board USS Indianapolis CA-35 where in those early morning minutes after midnight on that fateful July 30, 1945 day, he reported to Captain McVay that the cruiser was fast filling and the skipper told him to pass the word: “Abandon ship”. (1)
Among his fellow officer peers and friends he was known by two nicknames: “Red” and “Joe”. These nicknames may have started in his pre-Navy years, but they were both recorded “officially” in the 1927 “LUCKY BAG” (the United States Naval Academy Yearbook). It is assumed that these nicknames were carried with him throughout his naval career.
Joseph Ambrose Flynn’s bio in “LUCKY BAG” presented the following key information about his years at Annapolis:
“Books never worried him in the least - that is school books. His Irish luck would get him out of any hole. Oh yes! He’s Irish-and proud of it. He has been the champion rough-houser of the deck. Never getting angry and seldom boring, the whole deck is willing to sit and watch him perform-which he loves to do.” (2)
View the “Additional Photos” section below to access and read his full entry in the 1927 “LUCKY BAG” yearbook.
From 1938 to 1940, Joe served as Flag Lieutenant, Cruiser Division 6, USS Minneapolis and then as the Executive Officer on board USS Monaghan effective June 1940 . Joe left Pearl Harbor in August 1941 to move to his new address at the University of Minnesota. There, he served as the head of the University of Minnesota’s department of Naval Science and Tactics in the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps. While he had originally gone aboard USS Indianapolis in December 1941, it is assumed that he did serve temporary duty during multiple periods at the University before finally returning to Indianapolis for the ship’s final cruise.(3)
Below, are three photos that were published in the University of Minnesota’s Yearbooks of 1943 and 1944.
As a United States Naval Academy graduate who served on board Indianapolis on that fateful last voyage, Joe joined eight other naval academy graduates who also lost their lives as a result of the July 30, 1945 sinking of the ship:
Robert Burton Billings, Ensign
Edwin Mason Crouch, Captain
Joseph Ambrose Flynn, Commander
Robert Huntley Hurst, Lieutenant
Johns Hopkins Janney, Commander
Stanley Walter Lipski, Commander
Harold Clifton Moynelo, Jr., Ensign
Michael R. Pessolano, Lieutenant
James Douglas Spencer, Lieutenant
View the “Additional Photos” below to see pictures and brief information on each of these nine officers. (4)
Also, immediately below, please see the photo/article citing daughter Ann Marie Flynn's receipt of her father's Silver Star Medal (The Times-Herald, Vallejo, California, Sunday April 27, 1947, p. 18).
(1) - Honolulu Star-Bulletin, researcher Kathy Franz, August 15, 1945.
(2) - LUCKY BAG Yearbook, United States Naval Academy, 1927
(3) - Honolulu Star-Bulletin, researcher Kathy Franz, August 15, 1945.
(4) - United States Naval Academy Virtual Memorial Hall, www.usnamemorialhall.org
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