ARTHUR H. VORPAHL, LT, USN

Arthur Vorpahl '32

Date of birth: December 18, 1907

Date of death: March 2, 1942

Age: 34

Lucky Bag

From the 1932 Lucky Bag:

ARTHUR HENRY VORPAHL

Laramie, Wyoming

"Pop" "Vorp"

A true son of Wyoming, Pop came to us from the land of the high wooded mountains and crystal streams. His first year at the Academy was spent amidst varying degrees of fortune and misfortune until the latter finally won, by a mean trick of fate. It was with great sorrow that '31 was forced to give him up and with open arms that '32 received him.

An athlete of no mean ability—if it so pleases him to be such. Swimming first claimed his attention, but his interest soon turned to Lacrosse, in which his success would have been unlimited, but for a knee injury sustained early in Youngster year. Pop has been like a father to us for four years, and more than once his fatherly advice has turned us from the path of wrong-doing to that of righteousness.

With his foot on a table and a skag in his lips, with a fluent line of conversation that never tires, and a listener who will allow himself to be browbeaten by remaining passive, we have a perfect picture of Pop that we will never forget.

M.P.O.

ARTHUR HENRY VORPAHL

Laramie, Wyoming

"Pop" "Vorp"

A true son of Wyoming, Pop came to us from the land of the high wooded mountains and crystal streams. His first year at the Academy was spent amidst varying degrees of fortune and misfortune until the latter finally won, by a mean trick of fate. It was with great sorrow that '31 was forced to give him up and with open arms that '32 received him.

An athlete of no mean ability—if it so pleases him to be such. Swimming first claimed his attention, but his interest soon turned to Lacrosse, in which his success would have been unlimited, but for a knee injury sustained early in Youngster year. Pop has been like a father to us for four years, and more than once his fatherly advice has turned us from the path of wrong-doing to that of righteousness.

With his foot on a table and a skag in his lips, with a fluent line of conversation that never tires, and a listener who will allow himself to be browbeaten by remaining passive, we have a perfect picture of Pop that we will never forget.

M.P.O.

Loss

Arthur was lost when USS Pillsbury (DD 227) was sunk by a Japanese navy surface force in a night action on March 2, 1942, 200 miles east of Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Anthony graduated from Laramie high school in 1925. His sister Emma was also a senior that year. Class Prophecy (year 1965): Arthur took Mr. Conrey’s place, although he knew nothing about Chemistry. His sister Emma was a bathing beauty with the Mack Sennett Comedies.
Arthur and wife Anna visited A. E. Vorpahl in Scottsbluff and would sail for China about July 1, 1941. In 1940, Arthur and Anna lived in Annapolis with their daughter Linda, age 1.
His father was Gustav, mother Ada, sister Adelaide, and brother John.

His wife was listed as next of kin. He has a memory marker in Arlington National Cemetery.

Photographs

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.