An O'Callaghan Visits O'Callaghan Way

It was an accidental event. Master Chief Petty Officer, U.S. Coast Guard (Retired) Jim O'Callaghan was googling on the Internet and found his family name in the Classical website on the History Club page. He decided to email Club Advisor and Classical History teacher Greg Washington. After his grandmother had passed away, Chief Jim O'Callaghan found letters and telegrams about his uncle who passed away before he was born. A series of emails ensued, and now Chief O'Callaghan flew up from his home in Virginia to speak to the History Club. Well, about three hundred students showed up in the Classical auditorium to hear about Daniel O'Callaghan, the man who our street in West Lynn was named after.

The Assembly was topical, with Memorial Day just a week or so away.

World War Two was over. Our Armed Forces were still entrenched all over the world. US Air Corps Officer Dan O'Callaghan sent a telegram on November 2nd, 1945  to his family that he was coming home. His plane left from India and was never heard from again. In December, another Air Force plane was flying over the mountains of Bhutan and saw yellow oxygen tanks on the side of a ridge. It took a while to confirm it was the ill-fated Air Corps plane. Thirty of the men were never identified individually, and their remains were  put in a group burial site at the Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri.

The family and friends of Daniel O'Callaghan (who attended Classical High School ) asked the city of Lynn to honor his service, so this street was named after him. The city still maintains the post and flags at the corner of O'Callaghan Way, and will continue to do so forever.