William Joseph Cusick, 92, of Milton, died June 17 at Orchard Cove in Canton.
He was born, raised and educated in Philadelphia before joining the Marine Corps in 1934. In 1938 he joined the Navy and in May 1939 reported for duty aboard the USS Preston (DD-379) at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
During the Battle of Guadalcanal, he was a signalman first class on the Preston, when shortly after midnight on Nov. 15, 1942, the ship was struck by salvos from the Japanese cruiser Nagara. He was stationed on the bridge and was with the skipper when the skipper gave the order to abandon ship. Mr. Cusick recalled in an oral history of the USS Preston compiled by E.A. Wilde Jr., in the mid-1990s, that he was one of the fortunate ones to be able to swim out of the way of the
oncoming battleships. He managed to get hold of a life raft with two shipmates on it and they were able to stay afloat in the warm, but shark-infested waters of Iron Bottom Sound, until they were picked up by the USS Meade 15 hours later. One hundred seventeen of the 263 crew members of the Preston were lost in that battle.
His last assignment prior to retiring from the Navy as a senior chief petty officer was as an instructor in the Naval ROTC Unit at Harvard University. He was then hired by Brad Washburn at the Museum of Science to oversee the ship’s bridge at the museum.
Mr. Cusick later joined the U.S. Weather Bureau working at Logan Airport until 1972 when he was transferred to the Blue Hills Observatory in Milton where he worked until his retirement in 1978. He was also a senior tax preparer for H&R Block for 35 years, retiring in 2003.
Mr. Cusick moved to Milton in 1952 and had been a member of the St. Agatha’s Holy Name Society and a member of the Milton Seniors’ Bowling League and the Cunningham Men’s Bowling League. He was a big Boston Red Sox fan, enjoyed trips to see the Pawsox play in Pawtucket, R.I., and loved any Cape Cod League baseball game. Other than his war years, he spent part of almost every summer from his childhood through 1999 at the New Jersey Shore in Ocean City or Sea Isle City with his extended families.
Husband of the late Helen (Guzewicz) Cusick,
he is survived by his children, Paula Fullerton, of Milton, and Kevin Cusick, of Abington; his grandson, Daniel William Cusick, of Abington; and 19 nieces and nephews.
A funeral Mass was celebrated in St. Agatha Church on June 22. Burial was in Milton Cemetery.
Donations may be made to Old Colony Hospice, One Credit Union Way, Randolph, MA 02368.
Arrangements were by the Chapman, Cole & Gleason Funeral Home.