CARL A. R. LINDGREN, LTJG, USN

Carl Lindgren '28

Date of birth: March 26, 1905

Date of death: February 19, 1935

Age: 29

Lucky Bag

From the 1928 Lucky Bag:

CARL ALBIN RUDOLPH LINDGREN

White Rock, South Dakota

"Swede" "Oley" "Lindy"

IT must have been an inherited love for the water that lured "Lindy" out of the tall grass up in Minnesota. After prepping for a time at a school near Tiajuana he arrived at the Academy as wooden and innocent as any Plebe. "Lindy" not only knew gymnasium Swedish, but he also speaks the language. Plebe Year he was frequently called on to demonstrate both, and he was always ready to amuse someone with his recitations of the popular Academy verse: " Tis I, The Duke."

Socially Swede is a go-between, but he can be expected to escort to some of the hops. His greatest experiences in this line were his Youngster Year femme, his Annapolitan friend, and his trip with Binney to New York.

In athletics "Oley" has been very consistent, though not unusually successful. Boxing under the tutelage of Spike Webb is his forte; the rest of the time he devotes to class football and baseball.

We are assured that Swede's future has a lot in store for him if he displays the same perseverance throughout life that he has shown at the Naval Academy. He has his heart set on aviation; he is "airy" enough for it; and his will will get him there and his pluck will carry him through.

Class Football (4, 3, 2); Class Baseball (4, 3); Boxing A-Squad (4, 3, 2, 1), Navy Numerals (4, 3), bNAt; Christmas-Card Committee (1); Company Representative (3, 2); Two Stripes.

CARL ALBIN RUDOLPH LINDGREN

White Rock, South Dakota

"Swede" "Oley" "Lindy"

IT must have been an inherited love for the water that lured "Lindy" out of the tall grass up in Minnesota. After prepping for a time at a school near Tiajuana he arrived at the Academy as wooden and innocent as any Plebe. "Lindy" not only knew gymnasium Swedish, but he also speaks the language. Plebe Year he was frequently called on to demonstrate both, and he was always ready to amuse someone with his recitations of the popular Academy verse: " Tis I, The Duke."

Socially Swede is a go-between, but he can be expected to escort to some of the hops. His greatest experiences in this line were his Youngster Year femme, his Annapolitan friend, and his trip with Binney to New York.

In athletics "Oley" has been very consistent, though not unusually successful. Boxing under the tutelage of Spike Webb is his forte; the rest of the time he devotes to class football and baseball.

We are assured that Swede's future has a lot in store for him if he displays the same perseverance throughout life that he has shown at the Naval Academy. He has his heart set on aviation; he is "airy" enough for it; and his will will get him there and his pluck will carry him through.

Class Football (4, 3, 2); Class Baseball (4, 3); Boxing A-Squad (4, 3, 2, 1), Navy Numerals (4, 3), bNAt; Christmas-Card Committee (1); Company Representative (3, 2); Two Stripes.

Loss

From Naval History and Heritage Command:

Lt. (jg) Carl A. R. Lindgren and Radioman 2 class Arthur Austin Freeman died when SU-2 from VS-2B crashed into the sea 10 miles west of La Jolla, Calif. 19 Feb. 1935.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Carl’s plane was attached to an observation squadron of the carrier Saratoga. He was returning from routine maneuvers to North Island with two other planes. On board was his radioman Arthur A. Freeman. Their plane suddenly seemed to break out of control and plunge 500 feet down into the sea. Destroyers Hovy, Hatfield and Dahlgren, several planes and small boats immediately searched the area, but their bodies were not found.
Carl attended school in White Rock, South Dakota, which is just nine miles from Monson, Minnesota. He also lived in Big Stone, Minnesota.
Carl's father was Jacob Albin Lindgren, a grain buyer from Sweden, who died in 1908. His mother was Anna, his sister was Ethelyn, and his brothers were Edwin and Albin Jacob. The family moved to Monson, Minnesota by 1910. His parents are buried in Graceland Cemetery, Boisberg, Minnesota.

Photographs

From the Star Tribune on February 21, 1935

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.

October 1928

Ensign, USS West Virginia

Others at this command:

ENS Ralph Smith '26
ENS Cyrus Clendening '27

ENS Wendell Osborn '27

Ensign, USS West Virginia

Others at this command:

ENS Cyrus Clendening '27

Others at or embarked at this command:

LT Stephen Cooke '21 (Observation Squadron (VO) 5B)

ENS Francis Jordan '29 (Battleship Division 5)

April 1930

Ensign, USS West Virginia

Others at this command:

ENS Cyrus Clendening '27

Others at or embarked at this command:

LT Stephen Cooke '21 (Observation Plane Squadron (VO) 5B)

ENS Francis Jordan '29 (Battleship Division 5)

October 1931

Lieutenant (j.g.), USS Detroit

January 1932

LTjg Loren Morris '27

LTjg Charles Ostrom '30

Others at or embarked at USS Saratoga:

CDR Walter Webster '11 (Aircraft Squadrons)
LT Arnold Isbell '21 (Aircraft Squadrons)
LT John Jones '21 (USS Saratoga)
LT Matthias Marple, Jr. '23 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 6B)
LT Charles McDonald '24 (Bombing Plane Squadron (VB) 2B)
LTjg Harold Richards '27 (Aircraft Squadrons)
LTjg Leonard Southerland '27 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 6B)
LTjg Mathias Wyatt '29 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 6B)
LTjg Bruce Van Voorhis '29 (Bombing Plane Squadron (VB) 2B)

LTjg Robert Patten '30 (Aircraft Squadrons)
LTjg Charles Palmer, Sr. '31 (Bombing Plane Squadron (VB) 2B)
LTjg James Murphy '31 (Torpedo Plane Squadron (VT) 2B)
ENS George Stone '31 (USS Saratoga)
ENS Albert Gates, Jr. '32 (USS Saratoga)
ENS Bertram Prueher '33 (USS Saratoga)
ENS Paul Burton '33 (USS Saratoga)
ENS Robert Fair '33 (USS Saratoga)
ENS Wendell Froling '34 (USS Saratoga)

January 1935

Lieutenant (j.g.), Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 2B, USS Saratoga

Others at this command:

LTjg Loren Morris '27

LTjg Charles Ostrom '30

Others at or embarked at USS Saratoga:

CDR Walter Webster '11 (Aircraft Squadrons)
LT Arnold Isbell '21 (Aircraft Squadrons)
LT John Jones '21 (USS Saratoga)
LT Matthias Marple, Jr. '23 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 6B)
LT Charles McDonald '24 (Bombing Plane Squadron (VB) 2B)
LTjg Harold Richards '27 (Aircraft Squadrons)
LTjg Leonard Southerland '27 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 6B)
LTjg Mathias Wyatt '29 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 6B)
LTjg Bruce Van Voorhis '29 (Bombing Plane Squadron (VB) 2B)
LTjg Charles Palmer, Sr. '31 (Bombing Plane Squadron (VB) 2B)

LTjg Ford Wallace '31 (Aircraft Squadrons)
LTjg James Murphy '31 (Torpedo Plane Squadron (VT) 2B)
LTjg Edward Blessman '31 (Aircraft Squadrons)
LTjg George Stone '31 (USS Saratoga)
ENS Albert Gates, Jr. '32 (USS Saratoga)
ENS Bertram Prueher '33 (USS Saratoga)
ENS Paul Burton '33 (USS Saratoga)
ENS Robert Fair '33 (USS Saratoga)
ENS Wendell Froling '34 (USS Saratoga)

Class of 1928

Carl is one of 17 members of the Class of 1928 on Virtual Memorial Hall.

John Nelson '28 →

The "category" links below lead to lists of related Honorees; use them to explore further the service and sacrifice of alumni in Memorial Hall.

CARL A. R. LINDGREN, LTJG, USN

Carl Lindgren '28

Lucky Bag

CARL ALBIN RUDOLPH LINDGREN

CARL ALBIN RUDOLPH LINDGREN

Loss

Other Information

Photographs

Navy Directories & Officer Registers

July 1928

October 1928

January 1929

April 1929

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October 1929

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