Richard Oliver Kelleher
Rank: Fireman-Watertender, United States Merchant Marine
Ship: SS Patrick J. Hurley
Entered service from: New Jersey
Died:
Biography
Richard Oliver Kelleher
Richard Oliver Kelleher was born in 1921 in New Jersey. The son of Harry A. and Mrs. Kelleher, he grew up in Audubon before moving with his family to 300 Second Avenue in Haddon Heights, New Jersey. His father was plant manager of the Campbell Soup Company in Camden.
Richard Kelleher was a 1939 graduate of Haddon Heights High School, where he was a member of the basketball team. He joined the merchant marine less than a year before his death to “seek adventure.” His uncle was Camden County Treasurer Edward J. Kelleher. He also had a brother, Ensign Harry Kelleher, 23, serving in the U.S. Navy and attending a naval school. Another brother, Herbert D. Kelleher, would later become the founder and longtime CEO of Southwest Airlines.
Richard Kelleher served as a Fireman-Watertender aboard the SS Patrick J. Hurley. On September 12, 1942, the Patrick J. Hurley was attacked in the Caribbean by the German submarine U-512, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Wolfgang Schultze, using its deck gun. Thirteen crew members and four navy armed guard were killed. Kelleher was in the engine room when the attack began. The crew manned lifeboats and called to him to abandon ship. According to surviving shipmate Joseph Adamson, 19, of 49 Creston Avenue, Audubon, Kelleher refused to leave his post until the last moment, carrying out emergency orders. He managed to reach the main deck when a terrific explosion occurred. In a few seconds the ship disappeared beneath the waters, carrying Kelleher with it. Survivors were picked up by another vessel.
U-512 was sunk on October 2, 1942, north of Cayenne, by a U.S. Army B-18A aircraft.
Joseph Adamson, who was rescued, returned home and personally delivered the news of Kelleher’s death to his parents.
Richard Oliver Kelleher — Haddon Heights High School yearbook, 1939
SS Patrick J. Hurley
Haddon Heights, NJ — World War II memorial
Son of Harry Kelleher Killed When U-Boat Torpedoes Ship
Camden Courier-Post —
Young Merchant Marine Sailor Died Carrying Out Final Orders
Survivor Tells Kin of Heroism
By John J. Fitzgerald
A youthful survivor of a vessel torpedoed in the Atlantic a month ago brought back word today that Richard Kelleher, 21, son of Mr. and Mrs. Harry A. Kelleher, of Second avenue, Haddon Heights, died in action. The elder Kelleher is plant manager of the Campbell Soup Co.
The survivor, who told how Kelleher died when he refused to leave his post on shipboard and went down with the vessel, is Joseph Adamson, 19, of 19 Creston avenue, Audubon, Kelleher’s shipmate. The missing youth’s parents have received no official notification that their son is missing.
Tells of Torpedoing
Adamson is the son of Charles Adamson, who conducts a steamship ticket agency at 211 North Sixth street, Camden. He said the vessel on which he and Kelleher were shipmates was torpedoed. He told the missing youth’s parents Kelleher was in the engine room of the vessel when the torpedo struck. The crew manned the lifeboats but young Kelleher remained inside the ship carrying out emergency orders.
The crew called to Kelleher to get into the lifeboat but he refused and he was the last man, according to Adamson, to leave the engine room. Adamson said that Kelleher managed to reach the main deck when there was a terrific explosion.
In a few seconds the ship disappeared beneath the waters carrying Kelleher with it. The survivors were picked up by another vessel.
Adamson returned from the eventful voyage last Saturday night and called on the missing youth’s parents and gave them the details of his death.
High School Graduate
Kelleher was graduated from the Haddon Heights High school in 1939 and was a member of the school basketball team. He joined the merchant marine less than one year ago to “seek adventure.”
Another brother, Ensign Harry Kelleher, 23, is serving in the U.S. Navy and is attending a naval school at Harvard University.
Adamson was graduated from Audubon High school in 1940, and was a member of the school football team. He joined the merchant marine service eight months ago.
Mr. and Mrs. Kelleher were prostrated upon learning of the death of their son. They said they had received no confirmation of Richard’s death from any government agency and they were hoping against hope that their boy might return.
Young Kelleher was a nephew of County Treasurer Edward J. Kelleher.
Death of Kelleher Confirmed by Navy
Camden Courier-Post —
Official word that their son, Richard, 21, was missing at sea came to Mr. and Mrs. Harry A. Kelleher, of 300 Second avenue, Haddon Heights, from the Navy Department last night.
Young Kelleher, former Haddon Heights basketball star, was reported to have met death when his merchant ship was sunk in the Atlantic. The Navy Department did not disclose any details, but Joseph Adamson, 19, of 49 Creston avenue, Audubon, a shipmate who was rescued, told the Kellehers yesterday the youth was wounded and went down with the vessel which had been raked by submarine shellfire. Survivors, including Adamson, were landed at an Eastern port Friday.
Kelleher, whose father is plant manager of the Campbell Soup Co., joined the merchant marine less than a year ago seeking adventure. An uncle is County Treasurer Edward J. Kelleher.
3 From So. Jersey Reported Missing in Shipping Losses
Camden Courier-Post —
Haddon Heights Youth in List; Asbury Park Chief Mate Dead
The Navy Department yesterday reported three South Jersey men as missing and an Asbury Park man as dead in the second casualty list of the U.S. Merchant Marine.
Richard O. Kelleher, 21, son of Mr. and Mrs. Harry A. Kelleher, of 300 Second avenue, Haddon Heights, who was reported lost by a shipmate survivor of a ship sunk in the Atlantic more than two months ago, is listed officially in yesterday’s report as missing.
Other South Jersey men on the list of missing and probably shipmates of Kelleher are James A. Murphy, oiler, of Millville, and Thomas S. Tingle, second cook, of 156 Learning avenue, West Cape May. Kelleher was listed as a fireman-water tender. Harold A. Jordan, chief mate, of Asbury Park, is listed among the merchant marine dead.
The Navy Department report on merchant marine dead and missing listed New Jersey with two dead and 12 missing, and Delaware one missing. The list covering the period from Aug. 2 to Oct. 21, 1942.
The report listing Kelleher as missing is the first official notice of his fate.
A shipmate, Joseph Adamson, 19, of 49 Creston avenue, Audubon, was saved after the ship was shelled and sunk. On his return home he broke the news to Kelleher’s parents. The father is plant manager of the Campbell Soup Company.
Tells of Attack
Adamson is a son of Charles Adamson, who conducts a steamship and travel ticket agency at 211 North Sixth street, Camden.
Adamson said Kelleher was in the engine room of the ship when it was hit. The crew manned lifeboats and called to Kelleher, who had reached the main deck to leap overboard. Kelleher, he said, insisted on carrying out his ship duties when the first shell struck. Before he could reach the rail he was trapped when an explosion occurred. He had been struck in the leg by a shell fragment.
Young Kelleher, a graduate of Haddon Heights High school, joined the merchant marine to seek adventure. He was a nephew of County Treasurer Kelleher. Another brother, Ensign Harry Kelleher, 23, is attending a Naval intelligence school at Cornell University.
Tingle, a Negro, was 41 and the son of Mrs. Mary E. Tingle. He had served more than five years in the merchant marine. His mother was notified by the Navy Department Aug. 6.
Joseph Adamson — Survivor
Joseph Adamson, 19, of 49 Creston Avenue, Audubon, was a survivor of the torpedoed vessel who brought word of the tragic death of his shipmate, Richard Kelleher, of Haddon Heights, who went down with the boat. His father, Charles Adamson, conducts a steamship agency in Camden.