EDGAR G. CHASE, LCDR, USN

Edgar Chase '32

Date of birth: September 12, 1910

Date of death: October 17, 1942

Age: 32

Lucky Bag

From the 1932 Lucky Bag:

EDGAR GRIFFITH CHASE

Washington, D.C.

"Barney" "Ed" "Izzy"

The tow-haired boy is another example of our men without a country. He hails from that section of our country generally known as Washington, D. C. And, therefore, forfeits all rights to partisanship in titanic "rebel" arguments.

Barney, the record shows, has found himself oftentimes being weighed in the balance of the academic departments and found not wanting, but sometimes by the merest scratch. They have been baying at his trail at every turn, but since the burial of Math (?) he has valiantly shaken them off.

Being unsat with the academic and executive departments, while for the moment vexatious, has not altered this care- free boy's happy nature. In fact that is his dominating characteristic: to look upon nothing but the sunny side of life. Weekends and hops find him bubbling over with happiness over a new find or a recurring old find.

Barney is as stout-hearted a fellow as ever won the esteem of his classmates. We can but look forward to serving with just as stout-hearted an officer in the fleet.

2 P. O.

EDGAR GRIFFITH CHASE

Washington, D.C.

"Barney" "Ed" "Izzy"

The tow-haired boy is another example of our men without a country. He hails from that section of our country generally known as Washington, D. C. And, therefore, forfeits all rights to partisanship in titanic "rebel" arguments.

Barney, the record shows, has found himself oftentimes being weighed in the balance of the academic departments and found not wanting, but sometimes by the merest scratch. They have been baying at his trail at every turn, but since the burial of Math (?) he has valiantly shaken them off.

Being unsat with the academic and executive departments, while for the moment vexatious, has not altered this care- free boy's happy nature. In fact that is his dominating characteristic: to look upon nothing but the sunny side of life. Weekends and hops find him bubbling over with happiness over a new find or a recurring old find.

Barney is as stout-hearted a fellow as ever won the esteem of his classmates. We can but look forward to serving with just as stout-hearted an officer in the fleet.

2 P. O.

Loss

Edgar was lost on October 17, 1942, two days after USS Meredith (DD 434) was sunk by Japanese air attack. He and dozens of other survivors had not been rescued; he "had become increasingly disoriented, the result of the concussion he had sustained from a bomb explosion on the ship. Early on the second day, he stood up in the raft and said, "I think I'll get some cigarettes." Before he could be restrained, he dove off, swam away, and was never seen again."

Edgar was the ship's executive officer; he had been engineering officer when the ship was commissioned. His wartime experience and actions are included in "The Short Life of a Valiant Ship: USS Meredith (DD434)" by Barry Friedman and Robert Robinson.

Other Information

His wife was listed as next of kin; he was also survived by a young son.

His memorial is in the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, Philippines.

Photographs

Captioned simply "off to war."

Namesake

USS Edgar G. Chase (DE 16) was named for Edgar.

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.