Age 38. 4 Fitz Terrace, Wilmington, MA. Born 8/21/1904, Dorchester (Boston), MA. Died en route to Cambridge City Hospital, Cambridge, MA (death certificate). "Trapped in burning building" (death certificate). Electrical inspector at Bethlehem-Hingham Shipyard, Inc., Hingham, MA. Was previously a caretaker at Silver Lake elementary school, in Wilmington. Also known as "Jim" (or "Jimmie"). Was the second-oldest of four Fitzgerald brothers to perish (also Henry, age 30, a U.S. Army Air Corps private on leave, John, age 41, and Wilfred, age 32) in a party of 12, eleven dead. Was accompanied by Miss Mildred Rogers, age 33, of Lowell, MA, principal and teacher at the above Silver Lake School. Lone party survivor, Pvt. Robert Horrigan, U.S. Army, age 29 (Born 10/04/1913. Died 5/09/1997, age 83), of Turners Falls (Montague), MA, revealed in a 1967 news interview that the group was seated in the main dining room (quote), "...near the dance floor and opposite the bar..." (Greenfield Recorder, Greenfield, MA, 11/29/1967). Latter recalled he heard a "loud commotion," thought there was a fight then saw a "ball of fire" shoot across the wall near the bar. Remains were identified on early Sunday at Cambridge Hospital by a school teacher who lived in Wilmington. "He had a suitcase packed at his home, ready to leave for work Sunday" (Lowell Sun, 11/30/1942). Was the first of four siblings confirmed dead. All four victim brothers (all single) lived with their widowed mother at the address above. Bereaved mother to The Boston Globe, 11/30/1942: "James...was the man of the family since his father died 20 years ago." Slight build (WWII draft registration, February '42: 5' 7," 130 lbs.). Parents Mrs. Mary A. (Walsh), same address, and the late Mr. William J. Fitzgerald (his father died in 1920). Mother died on 1/24/1951, age 79 (same address at death). A family descendant, Sarah Shemkus, related decades later in an essay that Mrs. Fitzgerald was "shattered" by the deaths of her "fine boys:" "...In her grief, she took to her bed. She lived with her daughter...and her grandchildren visited at her bedside, but she almost never left her room" (bostonglobe.com/magazine, 11/24/2013). Burial with his three victim brothers at Wildwood Cemetery, Wilmington. Middle name Joseph.

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