John Joseph McGovern, 75, of Hawley, Pennsylvania, died on Sunday, December 2, 2001, at Bon Secours Community Hospital in Port Jervis, NY.
Born on April 1, 1926, in Elizabeth, New Jersey to James and Myrtle McKenna McGovern, he married Celine Yingling McGovern on February 11, 1956, in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Mr. McGovern was a public relations writer for F.W. Woolworth in New York City, NY. He was also a sports writer for the Elizabeth Daily Journal, The New York News, The Summit Herald, The Pocono Record and The Bernardsville News, where he wrote for many years under the byline "Jack Mack."
He was a member of St. John Neumann Church in Lord's Valley, PA.
An Army veteran of World War II, he was awarded the Purple Heart.
Survivors included his wife Celine; five children, Therese, Lauren, James, Nancy and Gayle; and 13 grandchildren.
John had been a sportswriter at the now-defunct Elizabeth Daily Journal when he learned of his older brother's death from the Associated Press newswire.
John was the only sibling of James B. McGovern Jr., a fighter pilot who became one of the first two killed in combat 7 years before America's official entry into the Vietnam War.
It wasn't until 1998 that John was informed that the United States government knew since 1959 of a possible location where villagers had buried his brother, but that it had kept the information classified for decades.
He had been living in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains, died after a long battle with a blood disorder, never knowing whether his brother's body would ever be recovered.
Before he died, he learned of an internal CAT memorandum dated May 4, 1959, detailing the locations of three grave sites of a C-119 plane that had crashed near Muang Het in northern Laos. The heading on the memorandum read, "Interment of McGoon and Buford." His brother's remains were discovered in an unmarked grave in 2002 and positively identified in September 2006.
Born on April 1, 1926, in Elizabeth, New Jersey to James and Myrtle McKenna McGovern, he married Celine Yingling McGovern on February 11, 1956, in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Mr. McGovern was a public relations writer for F.W. Woolworth in New York City, NY. He was also a sports writer for the Elizabeth Daily Journal, The New York News, The Summit Herald, The Pocono Record and The Bernardsville News, where he wrote for many years under the byline "Jack Mack."
He was a member of St. John Neumann Church in Lord's Valley, PA.
An Army veteran of World War II, he was awarded the Purple Heart.
Survivors included his wife Celine; five children, Therese, Lauren, James, Nancy and Gayle; and 13 grandchildren.
John had been a sportswriter at the now-defunct Elizabeth Daily Journal when he learned of his older brother's death from the Associated Press newswire.
John was the only sibling of James B. McGovern Jr., a fighter pilot who became one of the first two killed in combat 7 years before America's official entry into the Vietnam War.
It wasn't until 1998 that John was informed that the United States government knew since 1959 of a possible location where villagers had buried his brother, but that it had kept the information classified for decades.
He had been living in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains, died after a long battle with a blood disorder, never knowing whether his brother's body would ever be recovered.
Before he died, he learned of an internal CAT memorandum dated May 4, 1959, detailing the locations of three grave sites of a C-119 plane that had crashed near Muang Het in northern Laos. The heading on the memorandum read, "Interment of McGoon and Buford." His brother's remains were discovered in an unmarked grave in 2002 and positively identified in September 2006.
John Joseph McGovern, 75, of Hawley, Pennsylvania, died on Sunday, December 2, 2001, at Bon Secours Community Hospital in Port Jervis, NY.
Born on April 1, 1926, in Elizabeth, New Jersey to James and Myrtle McKenna McGovern, he married Celine Yingling McGovern on February 11, 1956, in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Mr. McGovern was a public relations writer for F.W. Woolworth in New York City, NY. He was also a sports writer for the Elizabeth Daily Journal, The New York News, The Summit Herald, The Pocono Record and The Bernardsville News, where he wrote for many years under the byline "Jack Mack."
He was a member of St. John Neumann Church in Lord's Valley, PA.
An Army veteran of World War II, he was awarded the Purple Heart.
Survivors included his wife Celine; five children, Therese, Lauren, James, Nancy and Gayle; and 13 grandchildren.
John had been a sportswriter at the now-defunct Elizabeth Daily Journal when he learned of his older brother's death from the Associated Press newswire.
John was the only sibling of James B. McGovern Jr., a fighter pilot who became one of the first two killed in combat 7 years before America's official entry into the Vietnam War.
It wasn't until 1998 that John was informed that the United States government knew since 1959 of a possible location where villagers had buried his brother, but that it had kept the information classified for decades.
He had been living in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains, died after a long battle with a blood disorder, never knowing whether his brother's body would ever be recovered.
Before he died, he learned of an internal CAT memorandum dated May 4, 1959, detailing the locations of three grave sites of a C-119 plane that had crashed near Muang Het in northern Laos. The heading on the memorandum read, "Interment of McGoon and Buford." His brother's remains were discovered in an unmarked grave in 2002 and positively identified in September 2006.
Born on April 1, 1926, in Elizabeth, New Jersey to James and Myrtle McKenna McGovern, he married Celine Yingling McGovern on February 11, 1956, in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Mr. McGovern was a public relations writer for F.W. Woolworth in New York City, NY. He was also a sports writer for the Elizabeth Daily Journal, The New York News, The Summit Herald, The Pocono Record and The Bernardsville News, where he wrote for many years under the byline "Jack Mack."
He was a member of St. John Neumann Church in Lord's Valley, PA.
An Army veteran of World War II, he was awarded the Purple Heart.
Survivors included his wife Celine; five children, Therese, Lauren, James, Nancy and Gayle; and 13 grandchildren.
John had been a sportswriter at the now-defunct Elizabeth Daily Journal when he learned of his older brother's death from the Associated Press newswire.
John was the only sibling of James B. McGovern Jr., a fighter pilot who became one of the first two killed in combat 7 years before America's official entry into the Vietnam War.
It wasn't until 1998 that John was informed that the United States government knew since 1959 of a possible location where villagers had buried his brother, but that it had kept the information classified for decades.
He had been living in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains, died after a long battle with a blood disorder, never knowing whether his brother's body would ever be recovered.
Before he died, he learned of an internal CAT memorandum dated May 4, 1959, detailing the locations of three grave sites of a C-119 plane that had crashed near Muang Het in northern Laos. The heading on the memorandum read, "Interment of McGoon and Buford." His brother's remains were discovered in an unmarked grave in 2002 and positively identified in September 2006.
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