Today, we remember William McComiskey, the first Falmouth serviceman to die in WWII. He left behind his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Foster McComiskey, two brothers, and four sisters. He was 27.

William grew up on Wild Harbor Road in North Falmouth, and attended Falmouth schools. Employed as a mechanic at Noye’s Garage in North Falmouth, he did odd jobs around town, but enlisted in the Navy on February 15, 1942. His name is listed on a marker in Honolulu Memorial Cemetery, along with thousands of others who were buried at sea or on remote islands. The woman in the photograph, which looks as if it could be Nobska Beach, was his girlfriend, Martha “Marty” Bragg; the photos were recently donated to Falmouth Historical Society by one of Martha’s descendants.

On this Memorial Day, as we should every day, we honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice, and those they left behind.