Specific Veteran Memorial: Radioman First Class Joseph A. Gosselin - Chicopee, MA

Radioman First Class Joseph A. Gosselin

Chicopee, MA

N 42° 09.711 W 072° 34.920

Short Description: 

A monument honoring Radioman First Class Joseph A. Gosselin, the first serviceman from Chicopee to be killed during World War II, is located in Memorial Square at the intersection of Memorial Rd. and Montgomery St. in Chicopee, MA.

Long Description:

R1C Joseph Alfred Gosselin was a radioman first class whose duties were to transmit and receive radio messages and encipher and decipher messages. He was serving aboard the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. He was killed, along with over 1,000 other sailors on the USS Arizona when the Japanese planes attacked the naval base on Sunday morning and sunk the USS Arizona.

Joseph A. Gosselin was born in Chicopee, MA on July 7. 1914. He enlisted in the Navy on March 24, 1936 and was six months away from being discharged when he died at age 27. The monument contains a large bronze plaque on a granite base. The plaque contains the insignia of the United States Navy and encircled symbolized radio waves. It is inscribed:

JOSEPH A. GOSSELIN

U.S.N.

FIRST SERVICEMAN OF

WORLD WAR II

KILLED IN ACTION

AT PEARL HARBOR

DECEMBER 7, 1941

MEMORIAL SQUARE