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USS BEGOR (APD-127) |
LTJG BEGOR TRIBUTEThis page is a memorial to our ship's namesake, containing his biography and official and personal photographs from his naval service and his life before the Navy.
On a ski trip to St. Saveur, north of Montreal in the winter of 1939, he met Katherine Savage, daughter of J. K. Savage, General Manager of the Canadian Pacific Railway and on 24 August 1940 they were married. Fay and Katherine had their first child, a daughter Anne Charlotte on 23 November 1941. Upon receiving his M.D. in 1941 Fay began his medical internship at Montreal General Hospital. On completion of his internship, he applied for a commission in the US Navy on 1 July 1942, and was appointed a Lieutenant Junior Grade in the Medical Corps on 22 July. After training in San Francisco, he began active duty in September at the age of 25. He had requested foreign service, and was assigned to the Amphibious Forces in the Pacific, where he was medical officer for a group of fourteen Landing Craft Infantry Vessels.
On 4 September 1943, during a beachhead landing, Dr. Begor was mortally wounded at Japanese occupied Lae, New Guinea during repeated Japanese bombing and strafing attacks on the landing force. He died 9 September on a Navy Hospital Ship en route to the Naval Hospital at Buna, and was buried temporarily in New Guinea, and later in the family plot in Moriah. [See LTJG Begor's official US Navy biography, including a more detailed recounting of his naval service and the World War II battle in which he performed with dedication and valor and was gravely wounded. There is also a history of USS Begor's active service, following the story on Fay Broughton Begor.]
On 25 May 1944, Fay Begor's widow, Katherine, christened USS BEGOR (APD-127) at Bay City, Michigan. Present at the commissioning were Mr. H. J. Defoe (president and founder of Defoe Shipbuilding Company), LT. Frank B. Saunders (sponsor's escort) and Captain E. L. Patch, USN (supervisor of shipbuilding). 
The president of McGill University, Dr. F. Cyril James, presented the ship with a bronze plaque in memory of Fay Begor for the ship's commissioning in March 1945. LTJG Fay Broughton Begor was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for his "extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty" and "courageous spirit of self-sacrifice".
Epilogue (May 2007)
[For more on how USS Begor's insignia was designed and by whom, see the Sea Story " Begor Days and Begor Knights"] |
Page Last Updated: 07/16/09
USS Begor was named for Fay Broughton Begor, who was born on 15
October 1916 in Moriah, New York, a few miles from Port Henry on Lake
Champlain. The second of three sons of Charles Begor and Grace
Broughton, he grew up in Moriah with his brothers, Charles (Jr.) and
Vernon. He attended Mineville High School, then went to Union
College in Schenectady, from which he graduated in 1937.
Determined to become a doctor, he enrolled in medical school at
McGill University in Montreal, Canada, which at that time was one of
the top medical schools in North America.
Portrait of a Canadian-American family who made the ultimate sacrifice
for the freedom of two homelands: Fay Begor, who died a hero in
World War II, his wife Katherine and their daughter Anne. Our
ship bore LTJG Begor's name to honor him for his courage and
selflessness: our Association honors him still. Fay Begor's
family has honored our crew by attending our reunions and sharing their
memorabilia with us, for our Newsletter and Web Site. For their
generous spirit, we thank them and welcome their continued connection
to us.
