I just finished Hellcats of the Sea: Operation Barney and the Mission to the Sea of Japan, by Vice Admiral Charles Lockwood and Hans C. Adamson. It’s the account of the attack by the US submarine force on shipping in the previously inaccessible Sea of Japan late in WWII. (New sonar technology allowed the subs to infiltrate and exfiltrate through mined channels.)

In it was a side story about the USS Harder, and her captain, Cdr. Samuel D. Dealey, of Dallas, Texas, who earned the moniker, “Destroyer Killer,” and was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions during Harder’s fifth combat patrol. Sadly, Harder and Dealey were lost to an enemy depth charge attack on their sixth patrol.

But of course, Dealey’s name and hometown had me wondering: is he the namesake for the infamous plaza where President John F. Kennedy Jr. was assassinated 55 years ago this past Wednesday? What a travesty it would be, I thought, to have a war hero’s name sullied by an innocent association with the murder of a fellow war hero.

It’s not the case. Dealey Plaza was named for George B. Dealey, a businessman who owned the A.H. Belo Corporation, a media company, and who was the longtime publisher of the Dallas Morning News.

Of course, it’s also a shame to have the name of an honorable businessman, public figure, and civic leader sullied by such an association. Such are the injustices of history.

So the thread I thought I’d found turned out to be nonexistent. But there is a lesser thread. George B. Dealey was Sam D. Dealey’s uncle.