Em3c Ralph Martin Gaultney

Gunner’s Mate Third Class Ralph Martin Gaultney was severely burned in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, and died on Christmas Eve. He had been blown off the U.S.S. Arizona and into fuel oil aflame around the battleship.

Mr. Gaultney’s brother Leonard, a machinist’s mate, was killed in early August 1942 when his heavy cruiser, the U.S.S. Vincennes, was sunk in the night Battle of Savo Island. Their mother, Nellie, died the next summer at age 54. Her daughter Laverne said “mom grieved herself to death.”

The family’s loss grew still worse in March 1945 when a third son, David, a Marine private, was killed at Iwo Jima. He’d enlisted in March 1944.

The Gaultneys lived at LeRoy in central Illinois by at least 1938. Ralph Gaultney was born about three hours south at Creal Springs, Illinois, on Sept. 23, 1910. He enlisted in the Navy in January 1940 at Chicago.  His father, William, was a farmer. He and three daughters plus another son were left to mourn Ralph, Leonard, and David.

Ralph was buried in Hawaii until after the war. His body was returned to LeRoy in October 1947. The American Legion conducted a millitary funeral at the Methodist church for Ralph and for Leonard, whose body was never recovered. The town of fewer than 2,000 closed all businesses during the service.

Though the father knew by then that his third son, David, was also dead he decided to wait to hold a service for him until his body was returned. That took place at the same church in June 1948.

Gaultney Park in LeRoy is named in honor of the brothers, as is the portion of Interstate 74 that runs through LeRoy.

Both Ralph and David are at Gilmore Cemetery in LeRoy. Their parents are buried there, and there’s also a cenotaph for Leonard.