Joseph Patrick Kennedy, Jr. (July 25, 1915 – August 12, 1944) was the eldest of the nine children born to Joseph Patrick Kennedy, Sr. and his wife, Rose Elizabeth Kennedy née Fitzgerald. Elder brother of future President John F. Kennedy, he was expected to bear the family`s political hopes. Although Kennedy had completed his 25 combat missions and was eligible to return home, he volunteered for an Operation Aphrodite mission in which he died on August 12, 1944. In 1946, the Navy named a destroyer for Kennedy, the USS Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. (DD-850), aboard which his younger brother Robert F. Kennedy briefly served. Among the highlights of its service are the blockade of Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis and the afloat recovery teams for Gemini 6 and Gemini 7. It is now a floating museum in Battleship Cove, Fall River, Massachusetts. In 1946, the Kennedys established the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation and funded the construction of the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Memorial Hall at Boston College, now a part of Campion Hall and home to BC`s Lynch School of Education. The foundation is currently led by Edward M. Kennedy. In 1957, the Lieutenant Joseph Patrick Kennedy Junior Memorial Skating Rink was opened in Hyannis, Massachusetts with funds from the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation.