BLEECKER P. SEAMAN, JR., LT, USN

Bleecker Seaman, Jr. '41

Date of birth: June 9, 1919

Date of death: February 16, 1945

Age: 25

Lucky Bag

From the 1941 Lucky Bag:

BLEECKER P. SEAMAN, JR.

Garden City, New York

Age, 21. Description, that of a glamour boy. Origin, Garden City, Long Island. We remember watching Bleecker enter the Academy during our plebe summer. He did not arrive until near the end of the applicants and then seemed such a mere lad. Bright, twinkling eyes, and platinum blond, curly hair gave him his appearance.

He answers to the name of "Stinky'" in his gang. The other members are "Pinky," "Tony," "Butch," "Dapper," "Willie," and "Tully." By the names no sophistication can be implied and none will ever be. They are a happy-go-lucky bunch, with women and song their chief amusements.

However, to stop here would never give his real accomplishments for Bleecker is a lacrosse player of no mean merit. Second class year he was outstanding and was elected captain of the 1941 team, only to be denied the pleasure of playing his senior year by an early graduation.

Class Crest Committee; Company Representative 3, 2 1; Lacrosse 4, 3, 2, 1, Captain 1.

The Class of 1941 was the first of the wartime-accelerated classes, graduating in February 1941.

BLEECKER P. SEAMAN, JR.

Garden City, New York

Age, 21. Description, that of a glamour boy. Origin, Garden City, Long Island. We remember watching Bleecker enter the Academy during our plebe summer. He did not arrive until near the end of the applicants and then seemed such a mere lad. Bright, twinkling eyes, and platinum blond, curly hair gave him his appearance.

He answers to the name of "Stinky'" in his gang. The other members are "Pinky," "Tony," "Butch," "Dapper," "Willie," and "Tully." By the names no sophistication can be implied and none will ever be. They are a happy-go-lucky bunch, with women and song their chief amusements.

However, to stop here would never give his real accomplishments for Bleecker is a lacrosse player of no mean merit. Second class year he was outstanding and was elected captain of the 1941 team, only to be denied the pleasure of playing his senior year by an early graduation.

Class Crest Committee; Company Representative 3, 2 1; Lacrosse 4, 3, 2, 1, Captain 1.

The Class of 1941 was the first of the wartime-accelerated classes, graduating in February 1941.

Loss

Bleeker was lost when his F6F-5 Hellcat was shot down near Tokyo on February 16, 1945. He was a member of Bombing Fighting Squadron (VBF) 12 operating from USS Randolph (CV 15).

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Bleecker played left end for the Garden City High School football team in 1935 and 1936.

His wife was listed as next of kin. His remains were returned to the United States and first interred in Savannah, GA and later in Alexandria, VA.

Photographs

From the Lucky Bag

Memorial Hall Error

Bleecker's name is spelled "Bleeker" with his classmates; the killed in action panel is correct ("Bleecker").

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.