2Lt. Raymond Sinclair
Raymond Sinclair Jr., born in the town of Collingswood New Jersey, not far across the Delaware River from Philadelphia. His father was an Army veteran who had returned home from the battlefields of France and built a successful career in finance, ultimately purchasing his own seat on the New York Stock Exchange in 1929.
Unfortunately, the Black Friday market crash happened just a couple months after he made it, his highly-promising venture proving short-lived. Fortunately, he was able to secure employment as the financial planner for the wealthy Fitzsimmons family, allowing his own family to get through the Depression years well enough and keep their home.
Although better off than many, life still was not completely comfortable. Often hobos would come through their neighborhood, begging to seemingly more affluent for food. Raymond’s kind mother Olive would never turn any of them away, although they never forgot one particular visit. One Thanksgiving, an enterprising man knocked on the door, assuming a great meal was waiting to be shared inside. Olive informed him that the family was having hot dogs for dinner, as that was all that they were able to do, but that he was welcome to one. The man apparently thought he could do better elsewhere, so moved on to try another door. While the family always laughed at that story, it also highlighted the struggles of the period. “Things got tough,” Sinclair later told his children, “but we got through it.”
An avid athlete, Raymond was also blessed with a tall frame and build, measuring just over six feet tall and working his way each year towards nearly two-hundred pounds. Collingswood High School quickly put him to work as both a defensive tackle and tight end in the Fall, then had him throwing shotput and discuss for their track team in the Spring. He was proud to have played on both sides of the ball throughout high school, and he ultimately lettered in both sports. In his summers he was able to secure a job through a family friend as a brakeman for the Pennsylvania Railroad’s route from Philadelphia to Ocean City New Jersey. This allowed him not only a little spending cash, but also a free “working” ride to the beach each day, where he had no responsibilities until his duties with the line’s return route in the evening. With one of his friends working with him, the two never complained about the layover, forced to spend almost every day of their summers on the sand.
After high school he attended Pennington Prep School for one year, where he continued to pursue his athletics at the collegiate level, ultimately earning a varsity letter on the school’s football team. In the Fall of 1940 he then attended Washington College in Chestertown Maryland, beginning his studies in economics while again playing football and competing in track, lettering in both as a freshman. Active and outgoing, Sinclair also joined the school’s chapter of the Kappa Alpha fraternity.
After hearing the news from Hawaii, he and his fellow Kappa Alpha brothers discussed their duty and all came to the agreement that any further collegiate studies would have to be put on hold for the time being. The group all decided they would finish out the remainder of the school year, then all go down and enlist together.
On June 17, 1942, roughly a dozen Kappas did just that, going as a group and signing up for the Marines, no doubt catching the attention of any they passed as they marched down the street to the recruiting center.
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