FOR my item on Fr. Joseph Martusciello Way in Woodhaven the other day, I mentioned that it was unusual to find someone I knew on a city street sign. Here’s a street sign and public square dedicated to someone related to me who I never met.
When the Gowanus Expressway was constructed from 1959-1964, Fort Hamilton Parkway was moved and bridged across the open-cut trench, forming a triangle with 7th Avenue and 81st Street. The triangle was named for one of my relatives, Lieutenant William E. Coffey. He was one of my uncles, but I never knew him as he died quite young at World War II’s Battle of the Bulge, two days before his daughter, one of my cousins, was born. There was also a long-vanished American Legion outpost on 7th Avenue that was named for him.
| William E Coffey was the son of John J. Coffey and Sara T. Blake. He was married to Margareth M .Wall and had a daughter named Margie, born on the one year anniversary of her father’s death in France.* He enlisted in the Regular Army in Jamaica, New York on February 24, 1941. He attended high school and was a construction worker before he enlisted. An American Legion Post on 10th Avenue, Brooklyn is named in his honor. [Honor States] |
*My cousin Margaret Coffey says she was born one day before her father’s death.
Lt. Coffey was posthumously awarded a Purple Heart. He is interred in Lorraine American Cemetery, St. Avold, France.
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1/16/24
5 comments
Kevin, you’ve made that monument more real and human. It means a lot. My father flew missions over Germany in 1944-45, and you can tell, since I’m here, that he survived the anti-aircraft fire. Not all did.
“He was married to Margareth M .Wall and had a daughter named Margie, born on the one year anniversary of her father’s death in France.”
I’d say the people at Honor States sorta got the details wrong.
My cousin Margaret Coffey says she was born one day before her father’s death.
Very interesting. My father was too young for WW1 and too old for WW2 but worked the Fire Watch in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. My uncle was in the Navy and survived the Pearl Harbor attack because he was onshore in the brig for brawling with another sailor when the bombers came in.
I had passed Coffey Square probably 100s of times when I still lived in Brooklyn and did not know it’s background. Related, I also have a relative, an uncle, who fought and died at the Battle of the Bulge. The exact time and place are lost, but family history mentions he was a member of the 84th Railsplitters.