Julian C. Gallagher
Biography: Julian Cronin Gallagher was born on May 30, 1908, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was the son of Francis Thomas Gallagher and Julia Margaret Cronin and attended local schools through the 9th grade. He found work as an artist for Sears Roebuck prior to the war.
Courier-Post Camden, N.J. Article– Newspaper article for December 19, 1941, the large Red Cross relief drive poster designed and created by Julian and a few other Sears employees to be hung on the old building in Camden.
He did other art projects in support of the war effort including the image of Uncle Sam shown in the photo on left.
On August 20, 1930, Julian married the former Mildred Henrietta Barnes who was born in Darien, Connecticut and was the daughter of Frederick Allen Barnes and Anna Clara Riebicke. The new couple would have a son Kenneth born in 1932, and later a daughter Joan and another son Donald. They made their home in Camden, NJ.
Service Time: Julian entered the service on March 1, 1944, at Fort Dix, New Jersey. After completing his basic training, we believe he remained at Camp Hood, Texas where his artistic skills were utilized for numerous project including but not limited to distinctive artwork on the tank destroyers. His rank is listed as Technician 5th Grade but we are not sure if he was assigned to a tank destroyer battalion or assigned permanently to Camp Hood.
The photo of the tank destroyer on left clearly shows one of the black panther logos, which was hand-painted by Julian, on the rear of the unit’s turret. This particular photo was probably taken at Camp Hood and was used for promotional purposes.
After the war, Julian returned to New Jersey and at some point before 1955, moved to Westmont, NJ. He also returned to his creative roots by working as an artist and later as Secretary/Treasurer and Office Manager for Lewis Barton Irrigation. In his spare time, he enjoyed traveling. Julian passed away on January 23, 2001, and was buried in the Locustwood Memorial Park in Cherry Hill, NJ. 