Obituary of Paul J. Mulvehill

MULVEHILL, Paul Joseph Sr., 97, formerly of Ebensburg and Cresson, peacefully passed away at home in Monroeville, Pa., on Nov.23, 2017. Paul was born in the Johnstown neighborhood of Moxham on June 22, 1920, and was the second of three children of the late Frank Thomas and Anastasia Margaret (Lamont) Mulvehill. His older brother, Francis Emmett (Frances), preceded him in death. A younger sister, Joan Ann Mulvehill, resides in Santa Rosa, Calif. He is survived by three children: Cheryl A. (Francis) Pfiester of Chardon, Oh.; Paula A. (James) Smith of Monroeville; and Paul J. Mulvehill Jr. of Port Charlotte, Fl.; seven grandchildren: Mary (Ronald) Leyde, Christine (Donald) Hersh, Paul (Pamela) Pfiester, Melissa (Brant) Boyer, Nicole (Derrick) McCann, J.D. Bryan Smith, Dr. Alison Smith (Edward) Ready; eight great-grandchildren; five great-great-grandchildren; two nephews and two nieces. Paul’s home parish was St. Patrick Church in Moxham. He attended St. Patrick Grade School and was taught by the Sisters of St. Joseph. His family survived the Johnstown flood of 1936. While attending Johnstown High School and was on the football team, he worked at Glosser Brothers Department Store for .25 cents an hour. He enlisted in the United States Navy on August 8, 1938, in Pittsburgh, Pa. He received training at Newport, R.I., and was assigned to duty with the Pacific Fleet serving at California, Guam, Hawaii, Alaska, and other Pacific Naval bases. He graduated from US Naval Hospital Corps School and attended Williams College in Massachusetts. In 1939, he was on the second ship to pass through the Panama Canal Zone. While serving throughout World War II he was assigned to US Naval hospitals in locations that included the US, Greece, Italy, Philipine Islands, Shanhai, China, and Greenland. He served in the Atlantic and Pacific campaigns and was promoted to Chief Petty Officer. Under Operation Torch he completed nine landings at: Casablanca, French Morocco, Oran, North Africa, Algeria, Sicily, Salerno, Anzio and southern France. He was at the D-Day landing. During World War II, the ships he was assigned to included: USS Concord (ship that fired the last shot in WWII), USS Northampton, USS Biscayne, USS Taluga, USS Cone, USS Goodrich, USS Corregidor and USS Walsh. He played baseball for the USS Concord with a last game in Guantanemo Bay, Cuba, against the USS Arizona, who won. He sailed to Algeria, Bizerte and Tunisia. On two separate layovers in Rome, Italy, Paul and his shipmates were blessed by Pope Pius XII in private audiences at the Vatican. In 1943, under Operation Husky, he was aboard the USS Biscayne in a 38-day campaign at the landing at Sicily. At Bizerte harbor, Ernie Pyle, a famous war correspondent, boarded the “headquarters ship” of the invasion fleet and used his typewriter in sick bay to write stories while German planes routinely bombed. Pyle also came aboard the ship at Iwo Jima. He sailed back to the states and then to Okinawa, Japan. Some awards he received are the: American Campaign Medal, American Defense Service Medal, World War II Victory Medal, European African 4 Stars Medal, the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for Heroism, World War II Navy Occupation Service Medal and the Combat Action Ribbon. He served in the Korean War and 10 years in the Fleet Reserve before retiring in 1968. During this time, he graduated as an embalmer from Eckels School of Mortuary Science in Philadelphia, Pa. He earned embalmer and funeral director licenses to practice in Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Washington, DC. He and his wife, Julia, a nurse and licensed funeral director, owned the Mulvehill Funeral Home in Frostburg, Md. He later worked as an embalmer specialized in restorative art during the Vietnam War at Dover Air Force Base in Dover, De. He received many distinguished awards and letters of recognition for his professional and outstanding civilian service years. He was also a licensed pilot. He retired to Pennsylvania and was inspired to honor 34 pioneer U.S. Air Mail pilots and commissioned a monument dedicated to them. The 2800-pound, 9-foot granite monument stands at the American Philatelic Center in Bellefonte, Pa. Friends will be received from 4-8 p.m. Thursday with a vigil prayer service at the Askew-Houser Funeral Homes, Inc., Ebensburg. A Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated by Very Rev. John Byrnes, at 11 a.m. Friday at St. Michael the Archangel Basilica in Loretto. Interment will follow in Holy Name Cemetery in Ebensburg. In lieu of flowers, donations in Paul’s memory may be made to the Wounded Warriors project.