WWII veteran Francis Cavanaugh dies at 87

When one of his five children would ask Francis Cavanaugh about his World War II experiences, the Garden City man would tell them about his pants catching fire, at his rear end.

To kids, the image of pants on fire was funny, said his daughter, Marybeth Zeman-Patterson. "We'd all laugh," she said.

Deflecting attention was part of his humble nature, said his wife, Margaret Cavanaugh, 82. It also was his way of burying horrific memories.

"He was like most of the men who came home then," she said. "They were eager to get on with their lives."

Cavanaugh, awarded a Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts, died Wednesday of heart illness at home, family said. He was 87 and had lived in Garden City since 1966.

Cavanaugh was injured three times while serving with the Army's 3rd Infantry Division at Anzio Beach and in France, said Zeman-Patterson of Forest Hills. Only later in his life did he open up about the war.

At the urging of his son-in-law, Tom Lee of Stewart Manor, Cavanaugh did write about three days he spent fighting in May 1944 at Anzio Beach.

SEE PHOTOSNotable deaths: Long Islanders we recently lost

The memoir was published in a newsletter circulated by the Society of the 30th Infantry Regiment Association.

Just after an exploding shell killed a wounded soldier Cavanaugh was talking to, he wrote about phosphorus from the same shell igniting the seat of his pants.

Amid artillery shells exploding and enemy machine guns firing, he entered a fox hole and found a wounded colleague: "One fellow's leg was bleeding profusely. I took off his belt and tied it around his leg to stop the bleeding. This apparently worked because at a later date this soldier sent word back to me that the doctors said if it wasn't for my actions, he would have died. That was nice to hear."

The injured soldier -- who lost his leg -- called on Cavanaugh after the war, in 1947, at his family's home in Brooklyn, to thank him.

SEE PHOTOSRecent notable deaths

"He looked up Frank and that was the first time any of us, his family or me, had heard this story," said Margaret Cavanaugh, who at the time was Cavanaugh's fiancee.

After the war, Cavanaugh worked for the Thule Ship Agency in Manhattan, from which he retired as vice president.

In addition to his wife of 62 years and his daughter, survivors include daughters Frances Lee of Stewart Manor; Meg McCormick and Irene Norniella of Garden City; son John Cavanaugh of North Yarmouth, Maine; sisters Irene Cesarsky and Loretta Nassau of Manorville; and 13 grandchildren.

Visitation is Monday at Dalton Funeral Home in Floral Park. A funeral Mass will be celebrated 10 a.m. Tuesday at St. Anne's Roman Catholic Church, Garden City, followed by burial at Cemetery of the Holy Rood, Westbury.