More detail on this person: Colonel John LaVoy,
USMC, Ret'd passed away on Easter Sunday April
20,2014. He was born in Sparks, NV on October
31,1919 - son of Hazel and Lewis La Voy.
He attended the Robert H. Mitchell school in
Sparks, Imlay Elementary, and was in the first
graduating class of the St. Thomas Aquinas
Cathedral School in Reno. Graduating from Reno
High School in 1939, he enrolled at the University
of Nevada and was a member of Beta Kappa
Fraternity. He attended Ground School classes and
learned to fly the Taylor Craft at the Sky Ranch
Flying School.
December 7, 1941 shocked the nation, and he
immediately drove to San Francisco to enlist in
Naval Aviation Training_after a short wait he was
toold to report to Pre-Flight School at St. Mary's
in Moraga, CA as a Seaman Second Class and
later as a Cadet. He moved to E Base at Livermore,
CAâǦThe E stood for Elimination and the
Indoctrination Officer informed the Cadets that
they'd either leave by the front gate as pilots,
or the back gate in a casket. Corpus Christi, TX,
and training at Cudahy Field, and fighter training
at Kingsville followed. In May 1943, he graduated
as a 2nd Lt., choosing USMC aviation. Following
receiving his Gold Wings, he went to Great Lakes
Naval Station for carrier training and to
Jacksonville, FL for combat training.
Overseas orders soon followed, and he arrived in
American Samoa to fly SBD's in VMSB-151. This
tour flew patrol around the Ellis Islands and
moved with the fighting to the Gilbert and
Marshall Islands and raids on the Carolina
Islands.
Returning to the U.S., he married Marian Hennen La
Voy on September 26, 1944 at St. Thomas Aquinas
Cathedral with their dear friend, Rev. Luigi
Roteglia officiating. They had been married 9
months and were living at Cherry Point, NC when
overseas orders arrived to report to Malabang
(Mindanao) Phillipines to do air support of both
Army and Navy ground forces. Flying SB2C's, the
squadron moved to Okinawa to prepare for the
invasion of Japan. The war ended and VMSB/244
moved to Tsingtao, China where pilots flew the
China Wall patrol and bombed railroads to check
Mao Tse-Tung's moves on Chiang Kai-shek forces.
Returning to the states, "Big John", as he was
fondly known decided to make the Marine Corp his
career. He was stationed at MCAS El Toro-MB
Quantico and MB Camp Lejeune where he was sent
to Ellingson Field at Pensacola FL for helicopter
training. Shortly thereafter, he received orders
to Korea and joined VMO-6 and spent a year on the
front lines evacuating wounded Marines and
Soldiers.
Returning to El Toro for four months, he was
deployed to Gifu, Japan for over a year as there
was a fear that Chinese troops would once again be
deployed to Korea.
Kaneohe MCAS was next and he was CO of
Headquarters Sqdn. The Honolulu newspaper
honored him with a headline that referred to him
as "Mr. Rescue" for all the downed pilots and
civilians that he rescued off the coast of Oahu.
Sikorsky Corp. also honored him for his bravery.
Edenton MCAS and Cherry Point found him back in
fixed wing aircraft. He next "Bootstrapped" at The
University of Nebraska at Omaha, receiving flight
time at Offutt AFB. He graduated in 1962 with a BS
in Military Science and moved on to Senior Officer
School in Quantico, VA.
Vietnam beckoned, and as CO of HMM-364, he
took a squadron of young helicopter pilots to Da
Nang. Their heroics are legendary and not one man
in the squadron was lost. The Legion of Merit with
combat V was presented to him by USMC
Commandant Major General Wallace Greene at the
historic H and I base in Washington DC. He ended
his career at the Pentagon where he worked for the
Secretary of the Navy in The Office of Program
Appraisal until 1969, and then became President of
The Naval Examining Board.
Retiring in 1970, he returned to Reno and taught
Industrial Arts at Hug High School for eleven
years, and then he and Marian purchased a small
ranch in Fallon NV where they lived for over 20
years. While in that community, he served as
President of the Fallon Chapter of Navy League,
Grand Knight for the Knights of Columbus,
President of the FOE, a member of the Advisory
Board of the Western Nevada Community College,
Chairman of the Parish Council at Saint Patrick's
Church, and an active member of the Fallon Rotary
Club.
Moving back to Reno in 1999, he has been active at
St. Albert's Catholic Church, The Knights of
Columbus, Navy League, Marine Corps Aviation
Assn., and the Marine Combat Helicopter Assn.
Col. La Voy is survived by his loving wife of 69
years, Marian; children Col. Donald La Voy
(Candace), Michele LaVoy Reimer (Karl), John La
Voy Jr. (Anne), Matthew LaVoy (Megan);
grandchildren: Christina Hummel, Andrew La Voy,
John K. La Voy, Jeffrey Reimer, Joseph Reimer,
Robert La Voy, Alexander La Voy, Seth La Voy,
Ryann La Voy, Drew LaVoy, Luke La Voy and nine
great- grandchildren. He is also survived by his
siblings; Dolores Walker, Rita Bugica (Joe), and
numerous nieces and nephews. John was preceded
into heaven by siblings; Lewis La Voy, Marguerite
Kerr (George), Monsignor Elwood La Voy, Sister
Gerald La Voy, and Sister Anna Louise La Voy.
Funeral Mass will be held at St. Albert the Great
Catholic Church at Wyoming Ave at Kings Row on
Friday April 25th at 10am. Rosary services and
viewing will be held at Walton's Funeral Home, 875
W. 2nd Street in Reno at 7pm on Thursday evening.
The family requests that in lieu of flowers,
contributions may be made in John's memory to
The Libraries at the U of N Reno (c/o UNR
Foundation-Mail Stop 0162, Reno, NV 89557-0162)
or The Marine Corps Heritage Foundation P.O. Box
96628 Washington DC 20090-6628.
Published in Reno Gazette-Journal on Apr. 23, 2014
This information was last updated 05/18/2016
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