ARTHUR F. ALEXANDER, LT, USN

Arthur Alexander '40

Date of birth: April 15, 1918

Date of death: January 3, 1944

Age: 25

Lucky Bag

From the 1940 Lucky Bag:

ARTHUR FREDERICK ALEXANDER

Clinton, Massachusetts

Alex

With a flashing twinkle in his banjo eyes, Alex will go through life never permitting any obstacles to cause him any undue solicitude. Convention, with this gentleman, is taboo. Constantly looking for the unusual in the way of amusement and entertainment, he has been the instigator of many pleasurable moments that will always be remembered by his friends. His happy-go-lucky nature sometimes led him into academic difficulties, but the ability was there also, and Alex managed to come through unscathed. If you ever have to ride out some bad weather, he's the kind of shipmate you will want at your side.

Lacrosse 40, N.A., 4, 2, 1; Soccer 1; M.P.O.

ARTHUR FREDERICK ALEXANDER

Clinton, Massachusetts

Alex

With a flashing twinkle in his banjo eyes, Alex will go through life never permitting any obstacles to cause him any undue solicitude. Convention, with this gentleman, is taboo. Constantly looking for the unusual in the way of amusement and entertainment, he has been the instigator of many pleasurable moments that will always be remembered by his friends. His happy-go-lucky nature sometimes led him into academic difficulties, but the ability was there also, and Alex managed to come through unscathed. If you ever have to ride out some bad weather, he's the kind of shipmate you will want at your side.

Lacrosse 40, N.A., 4, 2, 1; Soccer 1; M.P.O.

Loss

Alex was lost in the explosion of USS Turner (DD 648) in New York harbor on January 3, 1944.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Arthur graduated from Clinton High School in 1935. In 1930, his father Roy was a shoe salesman, mother Etta, brother Robert.

His wife was listed as next of kin.

Arthur has a memory marker in Massachusetts and is remembered at the East Coast Memorial.

Photographs

From the Lucky Bag
From his high school yearbook

Navy Directories & Officer Registers

The "Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps" was published annually from 1815 through at least the 1970s; it provided rank, command or station, and occasionally billet until the beginning of World War II when command/station was no longer included. Scanned copies were reviewed and data entered from the mid-1840s through 1922, when more-frequent Navy Directories were available.

The Navy Directory was a publication that provided information on the command, billet, and rank of every active and retired naval officer. Single editions have been found online from January 1915 and March 1918, and then from three to six editions per year from 1923 through 1940; the final edition is from April 1941.

The entries in both series of documents are sometimes cryptic and confusing. They are often inconsistent, even within an edition, with the name of commands; this is especially true for aviation squadrons in the 1920s and early 1930s.

Alumni listed at the same command may or may not have had significant interactions; they could have shared a stateroom or workspace, stood many hours of watch together… or, especially at the larger commands, they might not have known each other at all. The information provides the opportunity to draw connections that are otherwise invisible, though, and gives a fuller view of the professional experiences of these alumni in Memorial Hall.