DAVID W. DRIVER, LT, USN

David Driver '65

Date of birth: June 5, 1943

Date of death: June 29, 1969

Age: 26

Lucky Bag

From the 1965 Lucky Bag:

DAVID W. DRIVER

Marcellus, New York

From a small clearing in the woodlands of upstate New York came a huge bundle of talent by the name of David Driver. His fine high school record both in athletics and academics paved the way for what Dave had expected to be four years of leading the brigade. Since the books had never presented much of a challenge to Dave, most of his free time was spent in pursuits of higher types of activity; the pad. As he had been a high school All-Star quarterback Dave decided to try his luck on the gridiron at Navy but was waylaid on the way to the field and spent the next four years rowing a boat up the Severn. Beside his many days on the river Dave also found time to participate in Company sports, run the traditional football pools, play cards, harass the first class and maintain his "star" academic average.

DAVID W. DRIVER

Marcellus, New York

From a small clearing in the woodlands of upstate New York came a huge bundle of talent by the name of David Driver. His fine high school record both in athletics and academics paved the way for what Dave had expected to be four years of leading the brigade. Since the books had never presented much of a challenge to Dave, most of his free time was spent in pursuits of higher types of activity; the pad. As he had been a high school All-Star quarterback Dave decided to try his luck on the gridiron at Navy but was waylaid on the way to the field and spent the next four years rowing a boat up the Severn. Beside his many days on the river Dave also found time to participate in Company sports, run the traditional football pools, play cards, harass the first class and maintain his "star" academic average.

Loss

Dave was lost when his A-6A Intruder crashed during takeoff from McChord Air Force Base, Washington on June 29, 1969.

Other Information

From the September-October 1969 issue of Shipmate:

Lt. Driver, born in Syracuse, N. Y., was a member of the Thirteenth Company at the Naval Academy, and was graduated in the top fifteen percent of the class of 1965. Following flight training at Meridian, Miss. and at Pensacola, Lt. Driver joined Attack Squadron 52 in 1967 and was based at the Naval Air Station, Whidbey Island, Oak Harbor, Wash. Among other awards, he held the Navy Commendation Medal and the Vietnam Service Medal.
Survivors include his mother Mrs. Maxine M. Driver of 39 First St., Marcellus, N. Y. 13108, and a sister Mrs. Nancy D. Holbrook of Charles St., Baltimore, Md.

David survived an ejection from his A-6A Intruder when both engines failed during takeoff from Whidbey Island NAS on September 5, 1967.

He is buried in New York.

Remembrances

From Dave's sister Nancy in an email on November 22, 2017:

Dave was a good friend of Dick Pierson and Hope, and family (Richard Pierson '65, classmate, also among those in this Hall).
Dave loved flying from the get-go. In a letter home from flight school in Pensacola in summer 1963, he wrote: "Today we flew in the jet...It is really great. Smooth as silk and relatively quiet. We went up to 20,000 ft., and you could see thunderstorms and all kinds of cloud formations. I flew the thing up to Mobile Bay twice and back once, plus trying all the acrobatics."
A relatively quiet person, with a dry sense of humor and a keen sense of observation, Dave talked of going into diplomacy after the Navy.
All his schooling before the Academy was at Marcellus Central School, close to the Finger Lakes in Central New York State. At the Academy, Dave kept close track of his studies and relished honing his strategies for maximum grade point average. Lightweight crew was his sport at the Academy. Tall and lean, he was a natural; but he also liked Navy chow and cookies from home, so making weight also required strategizing.
David Driver and Stephen Spurlock died in June 1969 when their A-6 Intruder crashed on take-off from McChord AFB. Dave and Steve were to have flown the plane back to Whidbey Island Naval Station; everything had been good at the air show display at McChord.