JOSEPH H. MELESKY, LCDR, USN
Joseph Melesky '47
Lucky Bag
From the 1947 Lucky Bag:
Joseph Howard Melesky
Charleston, South Carolina
From the South comes another favorite son to take his place amongst those who follow the sea. Joe is a Navy junior and as blue and gold as they come, a fact which is belied by his happy-go-lucky attitude. One of the most popular among his classmates, his quick wit and continual antics are always in demand at a bull session. Although he never starred, no one will deny that Ski really has a head on his shoulders (7 1/2). Soccer and lacrosse have claimed most of Joe's attention in outdoor sports, but in indoor sports his field is unlimited. His laughing, wholesome personality will live long in the memories of his classmates.
He was a member of the 3rd Battalion staff (winter set), the soccer team, and the lacrosse team.
The Class of 1947 was graduated in June 1946 due to World War II. The entirety of 2nd class (junior) year was removed from the curriculum.
Joseph Howard Melesky
Charleston, South Carolina
From the South comes another favorite son to take his place amongst those who follow the sea. Joe is a Navy junior and as blue and gold as they come, a fact which is belied by his happy-go-lucky attitude. One of the most popular among his classmates, his quick wit and continual antics are always in demand at a bull session. Although he never starred, no one will deny that Ski really has a head on his shoulders (7 1/2). Soccer and lacrosse have claimed most of Joe's attention in outdoor sports, but in indoor sports his field is unlimited. His laughing, wholesome personality will live long in the memories of his classmates.
He was a member of the 3rd Battalion staff (winter set), the soccer team, and the lacrosse team.
The Class of 1947 was graduated in June 1946 due to World War II. The entirety of 2nd class (junior) year was removed from the curriculum.
Loss
Joseph was a passenger aboard Capital Airlines Flight 20, which crashed on January 18, 1960 while enroute from Washington, D.C. to Norfolk, Virginia.
From the Kingsport News Tennessee on January 20, 1960, via GenDisasters:
INVESTIGATORS PROBE FOR CAUSE OF CRASH.
By George Taylor and Bill JohnsonHoldcroft, Va. (AP) -- The fire-blackened wreckage of a Capital Airlines Viscount, yielded the last of 50 bodies Tuesday, nearly 15 hours after the Chicago-to-Norfolk plane pancaked into a swampy ravine near here.
Throughout the day rescue workers toiled under a clear sky in marked contrast to the fog and rain that shrouded the area when the prop-jet airliner crashed Monday night. The last two bodies brought out were the stewardesses, finally reached by searchers who crawled on hands and knees from the nose through the still-smouldering ruins.
Immediately after these bodies were removed, teams of investigators began sifting through the tangled debris looking for clues that might show why the plane fell.
A spokesman for the Civil Aeronautics Board termed the crash pattern "a little unusual. It was as if it had been let down by parachute."
There was no swath cut through the trees, such as a falling plane usually makes. A black gum tree impaled the plane and thrust 30 feet through the mid-section of the fuselage. Only six trees in the immediate area showed any marks of the tragedy.
Cause of the crash was not readily apparent.
The pilot, Capt. JAMES B. FORNASERO, 50, made a routine radio check with the Norfolk tower, at about 10 p.m. Then at 10:20 about 10 minutes before the plane was due to land, trouble apparently developed.
Three times the craft circled over the farm home of ROBERT H. TENCH. The last time the engines roared as if they were wide open -- and then silence.
Each body brought from the plane was strapped in, an indication those aboard expected a crash landing. The bodies of the stewardesses in their seats facing the tail, were held by safety belts.
It was the nation's worst air disaster since Feb. 3, 1959. Then 65 persons perished in the crash of an American Airlines plane in the East River while attempting a landing at New York's LaGuardia Airport. Only three months ago, 26 of 27 persons died when a Piedmont Airlines plane slammed into the Blue Ridge Mountains near Charlottesville, Va.
The Capital plane, flight 20, had left Washington at 9:48 p.m. with 46 passengers -- 29 men, 14 women and 3 children -- and a crew of four. Forty-one of the passengers boarded the plane in Washington for the short hop to Norfolk. The others were through passengers from Chicago who came in on another section of the flight and switched planes in Washington. The airline said this was routine on many flights through the capital.
Other Information
From researcher Kathy Franz:
Joseph attended school in San Diego, Virginia, and Washington. He won second place honors in the Veterans of the Foreign Wars essay contest in June, 1941. At that time, he was considered to be a member of the 1942 class of Holy Trinity High School in Norfolk.
He served with the Seventh Fleet in the Pacific and also in Europe. In October 1952, he reported to Engineering School of the Naval Postgraduate School at Monterey, California. He was a student officer in the Communications Curriculum. He completed the curriculum in July 1953, and was assigned as communications officer on the staff of Commander Destroyer Squadron 17 in the Pacific.
Between 1954 and 1956, Joseph served on Admiral Felix B. Stump’s Pacific headquarters staff in Honolulu.
Joseph was a Navy representative to the NATO conference the summer of 1959 in Paris and had at times been on assignment for the United Nations. At the time of his death, he was on duty in Washington, D. C., with the Office of Chief of Naval Operations. He was one of four officers who were en route to a logistics conference in Norfolk by the commander of the Atlantic Fleet.
He and his wife Lois (nee Hatfield) attended school together in Virginia, and their fathers were shipmates in the Navy. The couple returned from Bermuda in March, 1947.
Joseph’s father was an engineer for the Navy. He retired as a lieutenant in 1949 after 30 years of service. His mother was Mary, and his sister was Mrs. Mary Grether.
Joe is buried in California.
Photographs
From the Oakland Tribune on January 19, 1960
Related Articles
Roy Anderson ’47 and Henry Rathbone ’47 were also members of the soccer team.
Kenneth Brown '47, John Pownall '47, George Dent, Jr. '47, and William Grimes '47 were also in 10th Company.
The "category" links below lead to lists of related Honorees; use them to explore further the service and sacrifice of alumni in Memorial Hall.
