HONORING THE 65th ANNIVERSARY
OF THE SINKING
OF THE DORCHESTER
ON FEBRUARY 3rd, 1943

A Tribute to my Uncle Jim

Able Seaman James John O'Rourke

My uncle, James John O'Rourke, was born in Motherwell, Lamarkshire, Scotland on April 10th, 1918.  He was the youngest of ten children brought in to this world by Thomas O'Rourke, a coalminer and Catherine (nee Regan).

In 1925, with his father, mother and two sisters, he arrived in the United States to join the rest of the family who were already here. They settled in the Kensington area of Philadelphia where he attended the Ascension of Our Lord grade school located at G and Westmoreland Streets.

Jim attended Northeast Catholic High School for two years and, recognizing the importance of more specialized skills, transferred to Mastbaum Vocational School from which he graduated with skills as a machinist enabling him to gain employment in that field before enlisting in the service.

He joined the Merchant Marine on September 29, 1942 and was sent to Hoffman Island in New York for training.  Upon completion of his training he proudly held the rating of Able Seaman. Seaman.

My uncle was assigned to the S.S. Dorchester scheduled to sail out of New York on Friday, January 22, 1943.  He was 24 years old and this was his first trip.  There was a fueling stop in St. John's Newfoundland on January 30th.  A little after midnight on February 3rd a torpedo struck the S.S. Dorchester and ended my uncle's first and last trip taking with him the lives of 672 men.

On February 19, 1943 my Aunt Esther O'Rourke was notified by the Navy Department "that he was missing in action."

For God and Country

Thomas M. Laverty, PDVC  
Post #150, Mt. Ephraim, NJ

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