Cornelius “Neil” Dorcy of Butler Township shares a photograph of his namesake, Navy Coxswain Cornelius Dorcy, who died shortly after the Invasion of Normandy began. He was 21. Below is the article announcing his death that appeared in the Butler Eagle in 1945.

Cornelius “Neil” B. Dorcy of Butler Township will never forget a man he has never met.

Neil's uncle and namesake died before he was born. He knew little of his uncle, but over the years he has researched Navy Coxswain Cornelius Dorcy, who died shortly after the Invasion of Normandy began.

Neil said his uncle joined the Merchant Marines after graduating Butler High School in 1940, but Pearl Harbor changed his plans.

Dorcy joined the U.S. Navy in early 1942. After boot camp, he was sent to Northern Africa.

Neil said in early 1944, an article was published in the Butler Eagle about how his uncle and his father, John Dorcy, met in Italy before his uncle's death.

Neil said his uncle had been in Italy preparing for D-Day, and found John Dorcy, who died in 1990, was nearby. It turned into a surprise visit.

“You can only imagine, you're half a world away from Butler, but in the middle of a war, and you end up finding each other,” Neil said.

After the brothers' reunion, Coxswain Dorcy left for the beaches of Normandy.

Five days into the invasion, his uncle volunteered to take the watch of a sick soldier, coincidentally this man was also from Butler, on the Landing Craft Infantry 219.

A German plane returning from a London bombing attacked LCI 219. A cannon shell struck and killed Coxswain Dorcy, just six weeks short of his 22nd birthday.Neil said his uncle was buried in northern France until 1946, when his body was returned to his home country. He was buried in Calvary Cemetery later that year.Neil said his father didn't share much about the war or his uncle's role in it. Through talking with relatives and his own research, he became more familiar with the man he was named after.“I was very proud of that,” Neil said. “Sad that I didn't know the man, but proud to be named after him.”Neil said one thing his father did tell him was how much meeting up with his uncle Cornelius meant to him.“He thought it was fate and as it turned out, it was,” he said.Neil said the family cherishes items the military gave his uncle's family after his death. The family has kept them safe ever since.“Everybody is aware of what a folded flag and a Purple Heart mean,” he said. “And in a lot of cases a Purple Heart is a wound, but in just as many cases, it's death.“That's the ultimate wound.”