Who is Major William F Deegan?
ir...@hourigan.com
an expressway in New York City maned after him. I suspect that he
served in either WWII of Korea
Joe Hourigan
George Hardy
Organization: Club of Anchor Friends
X-Newsreader: WinVN 0.90.4
No. Before those wars. He designed a number of forts in the New York
area.
GFH
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Jim Erickson
>
> Does anybody have any information of Major William F Deegan? He has
> an expressway in New York City maned after him. I suspect that he
> served in either WWII of Korea
>
Sorry to spoil St. Paddy's Day, but major Deegan is older than you think
and never served in combat.
>From a piece by John Tierny in the NY Times 3/11/99
On renaming the Major Deegan Expressway for Joe DiMaggio:
"The reason is not that Major Deegan did anything to merit immortality.
He led no troops into the breach. William F. Deegan spent World War I
thousands of miles from the nearest bullet. He was an architect who
helped build Army bases in the New York area, and who eventually died
after an attack of appendicitis. His greatest achievement was making
friends with politicians during the 1920's, when he commanded the
state's American Legion and was president of the Bronx Chamber of
Commerce. He became the city's commissioner of tenement housing and
chairman of the Mayor's welcome committee. "
Deegan died in 1932. Shortly thereafter a road in the Bronx, that was
later to connect with the Triborough bridge, was named after him. In
the mid-50s the road was incorporated into the new Expressway and the
name stayed.
Jim Erickson
bsha...@orednet.org
George Hardy <geo...@mail.rlc.net> wrote:
> References: <7ci5qo$f...@dgs.dgsys.com>
> Organization: Club of Anchor Friends
> X-Newsreader: WinVN 0.90.4
> In article <7ci5qo$f...@dgs.dgsys.com>, ir...@hourigan.com says:
> >Does anybody have any information of Major William F Deegan? He has
> >an expressway in New York City maned after him. I suspect that he
> >served in either WWII of Korea
> No. Before those wars. He designed a number of forts in the New York
> area.
And later became something of a "civic leader" in New York City,
serving as chairman of the city's housing commission and the
Mayor's Welcoming Committee as well as the head of the New York
State American Legion and the Bronx Chamber of Commerce.
I doubt he ever heard a bullet fired in anger but he was apparently
a "hale fellow, well met" and a popular figure of his era. He
died in 1932 at the age of 49 and his funeral attracted thousands.
The Major Deegan Expressway was named shortly thereafter in his
honor.
Cheers and all,
> GFH
> ***************************************************************
> http://www.ankerstein.org/
> The Anchor Stone Building Set (Anker-Steinbaukasten) Home Page
> See what makes me tick.
> ***************************************************************
>
>
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