Joe Boren
| Date and Place of Birth: | June 14, 1914 Carterville, IL |
| Date and Place of Death: | July 12, 1942 Carenage Bay, West Indies |
| Baseball Experience: | Minor League |
| Position: | Pitcher |
| Rank: | Ensign |
| Military Unit: | Patrol Squadron VP-31 U.S. Navy |
| Area Served: | Caribbean |
Growing up in Carterville, Illinois, Joseph Stumm Boren was a
mischievous and fun-loving youngster who always managed to get himself
in trouble. One time he and a classmate got a Mohawk haircut that in
those days was regarded as outlandish and resulted in them both being
expelled from school. The incident led to a whipping from his father,
and young Boren ran away from home and hid out for a while in his
grandmother’s barn near Crab Orchard Lake about five miles away.
Fortunately, Boren was allowed to return to high school where he made a
name for himself as a left-handed pitcher with the Carterville
Community High School team.
In 1935, Boren was signed by the St. Louis Cardinals’ organization and
farmed out to the Bloomington Bloomers of the Class B Three-I League. He
made just a handful of appearances that year and then played briefly
with the Winnipeg Maroons of the Class D Northern League. In 1936, he
joined the Monett Red Birds of the Class D Arkansas-Missouri League, and
in seven appearances, the southpaw was 1–4 with a 7.38 ERA.
Unable to see a future in professional baseball, Boren retired and later
enrolled at Southern Illinois Normal University (now Southern Illinois
University). In 1939, he enrolled at the University of Illinois and then
worked as a sports and feature writer for the Monett Times in Missouri.
Boren’s family had a strong military heritage. His father, James, was a
Spanish-American War veteran and his four brothers would all serve as
commissioned officers during World War II. On February 24, 1941, Boren
entered military service with the Navy as a seaman second class. He was
appointed an aviation cadet in May 1941, and trained at the Naval Air
Station in Corpus Christi, Texas.
In March 1942, he was commissioned an ensign, and piloted a Consolidated
PBY-5A Catalina flying boat with Patrol Squadron VP-31 at Naval Air
Station Trinidad in the British West Indies. VP-31 hunted for enemy
submarines and protected convoys as they passed through the dangerous
Caribbean Sea.
During the night of July 12, 1942, Boren was flying with pilot
Lieutenant Junior Grade Walter W. Winika as they returned to NAS
Trinidad following a patrol. The twin-engine Catalina’s airspeed was too
high as it approached the airfield. It touched down, bounced off the
runway and crashed into the sea at Carenage Bay. Boren, Winika and eight
other crew members were killed. Two others survived but suffered serious
injuries.
Joe Boren, the first casualty of the war from Carterville, Illinois, was
originally buried at the Fort Reed Cemetery in Trinidad. In 1947, his
body was returned to Carterville and now rests at Oakwood Cemetery.
On April 29, 1944, because of the commitment to service by the Boren
boys (all five brothers had gained commissions in the military), their
mother, Lulu Mae Boren, was invited by the Navy to christen the USS
Chestatee (AOG-49), a tanker used for transporting gasoline to warships
and remote Navy stations. At this point Joe had been dead for nearly two
years and his brother, J. Russell Boren, a second lieutenant with the
Army Air Force, was a prisoner-of-war in Germany, having been shot down
on a bombing raid over Berlin. Ralph C. Boren, was a doctor in the Navy
(Lt. Commander); and Captn. Ryburn D. Boren was serving in Burma. John
L. Boren (also an Ensign), was killed in 1946.
|
Year |
Team |
League |
Class |
G |
IP |
ER |
BB |
SO |
W |
L |
ERA |
|
1935 |
Bloomington |
Three-I |
B |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
|
1935 |
Winnipeg |
Northern |
D |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
|
1936 |
Monett |
Arkansas-Missouri |
D |
7 |
39 |
32 |
13 |
18 |
1 |
4 |
7.38 |
A PBY-5A. The type Ensign Boren was flying on July 12, 1942
Joseph Boren's marker at Oakwood Cemetery
Memorial to Joe Boren at Oakwood Cemetery
Date Added January 27, 2012 Updated June 15, 2014
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