John T. Murphy
| Class Year | 1932 |
| Rank | LCDR |
| Service | USN |
| Conflict | WWII |
| Born | |
| Hometown | Dorchester, MA |
| Died | 06/28/1944 |
| Location of Death | Southwest Pacific |
Additional Information
John T. Murphy was a 1932 BC undergraduate and a 1933 Boston College Graduate School graduate. His brother, Edward Murphy, was also a Boston College graduate (1929) and was a teacher in the Boston Public Schools.
John T. Murphy taught at Boston College High School from approximately 1934 to 1938. In 1938, he was appointed to the Boston Public School Department as a teacher at the Patrick T. Campbell School.
In 1937, John T. Murphy joined the Naval Reserve, prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor. He attended the Naval Officer’s Candidate School in Washington, D.C. He served a year at the Boston Navy Yard and then at the Naval Station at Great Diamond Island in Maine (1941–43). In October 1943, he was transferred to the South Pacific.
John T. Murphy served as a Supply Officer in Charge from 1943 to 1944 at a Naval supply base in the South Pacific. In April 1944, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Commander and was assigned to an advance Naval Base north of New Guinea.
Lt. Commander Murphy died in service, most likely of a tropical disease, which was an unfortunate frequent danger for servicemen in the Pacific theater. In May 1944, John T. Murphy was buried on U.S. Naval Grounds in the South Pacific.
(Information provided by his family.)