Joseph Raymond Mackin was born in 1920 to Joseph and Margaret Mackin of Bayonne, N.J. He attended Saint Peter’s College for three years, from 1940-1943.

On January 15, 1943, Mackin enlisted in the Army in Newark, N.J., and rose to the rank of staff sergeant. He was assigned to the 8th Air Force, 445th Bombardment Group, 702 Bomb Squadron based in Tibenham, England.

On April 13, 1944, the 8th Air Force attacked armament industries in Fuerstenfeldbruck, Northwest of Munich. Mackin was killed in a bombing run during this action when his plane was shot down over Oberfaffenhafen, Germany. He was buried in the Prisoner of War Cemetery in Fuerstenfeldbruck, Germany.