Irvine, Lawrence W.

Description

Lawrence W. Irvine was born in New York June 15, 1920 to Harry and Charlotte Baird Irvine. he had a brother Harry and two sisters Marylin and Grace. In Rye his family lived at 24 Palisade Road.

Lawrence was a Rye High School Graduate, Class of 1938. In high school he played football and was a member of the Drivers Club.

Lawrence enlisted February 1940 and served in the U.S. Navy during World War II.

A Navy muster roll has Lawrence serving on the USS Wasp (CV-7). USS Wasp (CV-7) was a United States Navy aircraft carrier commissioned in 1940 and lost in action in 1942.

On Tuesday, 15 September 1942, Wasp and USS Hornet, together with North Carolina and 10 other warships, were escorting the transports carrying the 7th Marine Regiment to Guadalcanal as reinforcements. The wasp was attacked by a Japanese submarine and hit by three topedoes.

The Captain ordered the ship to be abandoned and the next day the Wasp was scuttled from torpedoes of US Destroyers and sunk. During the attack 193 men had died and 366 were wounded. All but one of her 26 airborne aircraft made a safe trip to carrier Hornet nearby before Wasp sank, but 45 aircraft went down with the ship.

Lawrence survived the attack and returned to the states. He married Frances Helena Beaudry in February 1943 in her hometown of Portland, ME.

Lawrence was discharged in 1945. He returned to his wife in Maine and started a family. In 1950 the young couple had two children and Lawrence was working full time as an elevator mechanic.

Lawrence W. Irvine died November 22, 1999 in Los Angeles CA