Harry Wilbur Beggs, Jr. was born July 30, 1924 and was a resident of Downers Grove. He died in the line of duty, serving as a radioman on the USS England during WW II on May 9, 1945 at the age of 20. He received the Purple Heart, awarded for sacrifice to those wounded or killed in combat, and is listed on one of the tablets in the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial, Hawaii.
Beggs was a member of the Commended Ship Crew of the USS England (DE-635), a renowned United States Navy Buckley-class destroyer escort during World War II, famous for sinking six Japanese submarines in a 12-day span in May 1944. Commissioned in late 1943, she set a record for anti-submarine warfare, named in honor of Ensign John C. England, killed at Pearl Harbor.
Memorials of Harry W Beggs Jr.
RM3 Harry Wilbur Beggs Jr. is included at the monument at the Honolulu Memorial, Honolulu, Honolulu County, Hawaii at the Plot of the Courts of the Missing
Harry W Beggs listed at Okinawa Peace Memorial Park Itoman-shi, Okinawa, Japan
Harry Wilbur Beggs Jr as a grave marker at Forest Home Cemetery Forest Park, Illinois.
Harry W Beggs Jr is engraved on the plaque at Memorial Park in Downers Grove honoring local servicemen who never returned home.
