When Mary Mullaney answered a knock at the door of her Newark, New Jersey, residence in the summer of 1944, she found officials from the U.S. Navy waiting to speak to her. Several of her sons were serving overseas during World War II, and this visit was one every parent dreaded. Mullaney knew she had lost a son, and she instantly knew which one. âWhen she opened the door, she knew who it was because Jerry was the only one who was in the Navy,â her granddaughter Mary Louise Brambilla said.