By Deborah Larsen
Joseph Artimus “Joe” McCulloch Jr.
Joseph Artimus “Joe” McCulloch Jr. was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on August 2, 1926, the son of Joseph and Clara Daniels McCulloch. The McCulloch family moved to Avon Township when Joe was a boy and lived in the Brooklands subdivision. Joe attended Rochester High School.
Before the war, Joe was employed at McAleer Manufacturing in Rochester. He entered the U.S. Army in September 1944 and was assigned to the 77th Infantry Division, where he served as a machine gunner. In the spring of 1945, Joe’s division participated in the Battle of Okinawa. His machine gun platoon was advancing in support of a rifle company assaulting a target known as “Chocolate Drop Hill” when Joe was hit in the arm and shoulder by Japanese mortar fragments. He was evacuated to a hospital in San Francisco and was awarded the Purple Heart.
Joseph Artimus McCulloch Jr. died at age 80 on December 2, 2006, and was laid to rest at Mount Avon Cemetery.