John Wallace Cathcart II
War: WW II
 Class: 1939
Major: General Science
Activities and sports while at Clemson: Freshman Football; Fairfield County Club; Pre Med Club; Sharpshooters
Home Town: Winnsboro, SC
Service: US Army
Rank: Captain
Unit: Battalion Aid Surgeon, 1st Battalion 21st Infantry, 24th Division
Date of Death: May 5, 1945
Details of Death: Killed in Action, by a Japanese sniper in fighting near Mintai, Mindanao, Pacific Theater
Married / Children: Wife, Margaret Caughman; Daughter, Virginia
Other: He received his MD degree from the SC Medical College, Charleston. Buried in Winnsboro, SC.
Personal remembrances and tributes:
The son of Samuel C. and Tirzah K. Cathcart, John was born in Winnsboro on January 31, 1918. He entered Clemson College in 1935. At Clemson, he played freshman football, participated in the Fairfield County and Pre-Med clubs, and graduated with the Class of 1939 with a BS degree in General Science. In 1942 he received his M.D. degree from the South Carolina Medical College, where he was a member of the AKK medical fraternity. He next served a one-year internship at the Columbia hospital.
On February 21, 1944, John was married to Margaret Caughman, then a supervisor at a Columbia hospital. Three weeks later, on March 10, he reported to Carlisle Barracks, PA, then to Breckenridge, KY for six weeks of intensive training. In August of 1944 he was shipped overseas as a 1st Lieutenant. He was promoted to Captain in January, 1945. John first saw active service on Leyte, from whence he was sent to a combat area on Mindanao. A few weeks later, while serving as Battalion Aide Surgeon with a field unit of the 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry, 24th Division, Captain Cathcart was killed in action. He had planned to return to Winnsboro after military service to practice medicine there.
In December 1944, John's only child, Virginia, whom he never saw, was born in Columbia; Both she and her mother Margaret C. Cathcart now live in Charleston, SC. Virginia is the wife of Dr. Joseph G. Reves, and Margaret is in a retirement center, The Cloister, located at 3 Bishop Gadsden Way, Charleston.
Biography written by James O, Sweeny, Clemson College Class of 1939.
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Robert Basha
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John W. Cathcart II
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