Evening star., 1943-12-30

Three OF Washington's most out
standing heroes were honored last
night-one of them in person-as
the special exhibit of % drawings
by Newman Sudduth, Star staff
artist, was opened formally at the
Stage Door Canteen. The drawings
are part of a series on Heroes of
the Washington Area" now running
in The Sunday Star.
The men to whom tribute was paid
last night are 1t. Col. James Pat
rick Sinnott Devereux, 1t. Comdr.
Bruce McCandless and Sergt.
Maurice G.. Cecchini. Eight men,
bers of the Devereux family ap-
peared to accept the applause of the
enlisted men and Canteen hostesses
in the-name of the gallant marine
ofhcer, now a Japanese prisoner in
Shanghai, who for Is days COM
manded the heroic garrison on Wake
Island against overwhelming jap
anese forces. r.e
Relatives OF Comdr. McCandless
were unable to attend the cere-
monies. The naval officer won the
Congressional Medal of Honor in
one of the most stirring chapters in
this war when, on November 13, 1912,
he assumed command of the cruiser
San Francisco off Savo Island after
his senior officers had been killed
Although he was wounded, he di-
rected his ship in sinking one enemy
cruiser, one destroyer and SO badly
Gripping battleship that it after
ward sank.
Surprise Of the Evening.
Surprise of the evening was the
appearance of Sergt. Cecchini. The
reading of the citations of all three
heroes had been completed when
Sergt. Cecchini walked in f1anked
by five of his brothers-three OF
them also in uniform. The dancing
and entertainment program was in
terrupted as Howard P. Bailey, as
sistant to the managing editor OF
The Star, introduced the Cecchini
family.
Sergt. Cecchini recently returned
from the Mediterranean war zone
where he had been in combat as an
engineer-gunner on Flying For
tress since the British and Ameri-
cans first began pushing Rommel
back from the Egyptian border. He
had served throughout the North
African campaign, was among the
first to fly over Messina and Palermo
in Sicily, helped bomb italian cities
including Naples and flew on mis-
sions over Greece.
you've been kept pretty busy"
MIR. Bailey commented.
"Oh, I saw little action" Sergt.
Cecchini said. Nothing much"
300 Hours of Combat.
The nothing much" the sergeant
admitted, included more than 300
hours of combat flying. His plane.
he said, had seven enemy aircraft
to it's credit. A chronic illness, con-
tracted on the African desert, finally
forced him out of the Army under
medical discharge, and he arrived
at his home, 1914 Gales street NE,
in time for Christmas.
With him last night were his
brothers, Harry, boatswain, second
class, at the Coast Guard station in
Portsmouth, Va; Jerome, store
keeper in the Navy at Annapolis;
Daniel corporal in the air forces
now training at a North Carolina
base; Leo, taxi driver, and Tony,
who is employed at the Government
Printing Office.
Sergt. Cecchini holds the Distin-
guished Flying Cross and an Air
Medal with oak leaf cluster. AS Pat
Cecchini, he was we'll known to local
sports fans as an amateur boxer and
winner of the Golden Gloves feather
weight title back in 1896.
Devereux Family on Hand.
Joseph S. Devereux, brother OF
Col. Devereux, and Mrs. Dever-
eux arrived with their six daugh-
ters, Helen, .18; Ann Rogers, Is;
Agnes Kemp, 13; Sybil, IL; Vir-
ginia, 10, ana Patricia, g.. Two sons
are iE the service-Sergt. John Ryan
Devereux, Sd, who has been in the
South Pacific with the Sd Marine
Raider Battalion for % months, and
Joseph S. Devereux, jr., now training
as naval pilot at Amherst College
in observation-disclosures a third son,
Kemp, II, is student at Georgetown
Prep School.
Mr. Devereux commended Mr..
Sudduth for the lifelike portrait he
had drawn of the Wake Island hero.
A copy of the drawing was presented
to Helen Devereux by Mr.. Bailey as