Joseph Mulcahy’s name is not on the Brandon High School Monument. That’s because he went to Mount Saint Joseph Academy, in Rutland. Mulcahy is included in this series because his monument is elsewhere in Brandon. It can be found in the sacristy of St. Mary’s Catholic Church, a place that was very important to his family.
The Mulcahys lived in Sudbury, where Joseph’s father, John, was a farmer. They were an active and prominent family in town. His father served in numerous local offices, including as town moderator, and on various committees. The Mulcahys sent their children to Catholic schools. Joseph went to the Holy Innocents School (now Christ the King School) in Rutland before attending MSJ, from which he graduated in 1935. In the 1940 census he was listed as living at home on his parents’ farm, working as a farmhand. In 1941, he joined the Vermont National Guard.
Mulcahy had a very difficult war. He was shipped overseas with his regiment, the 172nd Infantry, in October 1942. He was a machine gunner in the Solomon Islands campaign in the South Pacific. He was wounded on Guadalcanal on July 17, 1943, and badly wounded again exactly a month later, on Aug. 17, on the island of New Georgia, in fierce, horrific jungle combat. After spending six months in a hospital in New Zealand, he returned to the 172nd, then stationed in New Guinea. In January 1945, the regiment was transferred to the island of Luzon in the Philippines. They landed on Jan. 9. Four days later, Mulcahy was killed in action while fighting at his machine gun. He was 27.
He was posthumously awarded a Bronze Star “for heroic action against the enemy on Jan. 13, 1945.”
“Sgt. Mulcahy displayed outstanding courage and devotion to duty in manning a machine gun under terrific small arms and mortar fire and supporting the advance of the troops until he was finally killed by enemy mortar fire,” his captain wrote.
Joseph Mulcahy was deeply mourned. At least four Masses were held for him at St. Mary’s, three of them in February 1945. One was said “at the request of students at Castleton Normal School” (now VSU-Castleton), where his sister was studying. The second was said “at the request of friends and neighbors in Sudbury.” The third was a military Mass conducted by four priests and attended by many members of the state guard, at which his mother was presented with a flag.
The fourth Mass was his funeral. Sgt. Mulcahy’s body was returned to his family in August 1948. The coffin lay in his family home for a few days until the funeral on Aug. 26. He is buried in St. Mary’s Cemetery in Brandon.
His name is on the World War II memorial at the town hall in Sudbury. His family also placed a memorial plaque in the St. Mary’s sacristy and donated the sacristy windows in his name. In addition to his parents, he left behind three living siblings.
Kevin Thornton is a historian living in Brandon.
