EDWARD M. BLESSMAN, LT, USN
Edward Blessman '31
Lucky Bag
From the 1931 Lucky Bag:
Edward Martin Blessman
Appleton, Wisconsin
"Eddie" "Champ" "Ed"
Gather round folks, and I'll tell you what I can of Appleton, the Civic Center of the Middle West, beautiful little city located on the banks of the Fox, population twenty-five thousand, street car service, incandescent lights at every corner— Say did I ever tell you fellows about the time it snowed back home for twenty straight days?—Excuse me, boys, here comes the "Roomie". Well, I see you're on the tree, Pal! Anything you want me to explain? Gosh, it surely hurts to be savvy."
History has it that this young lad, Ping-Pong champion of the Badger State, after serving an illustrious apprenticeship at Appleton High and Lawrence College, did sever home ties and fare forth to answer the call of the sea. Chief eater at the Cross Country table and 2.497 in Youngster Math are the things for which we know him best.
Certainly there is no one who does not feel that we lost a real friend and shipmate when Ed decided to retire to the Gyrenes but no doubt he will have the situation well in hand.
Cross Country 4,2,1; cNc 1; Class Football 3; Track 4, 3, 2, 1; 1 P. O.
Edward Martin Blessman
Appleton, Wisconsin
"Eddie" "Champ" "Ed"
Gather round folks, and I'll tell you what I can of Appleton, the Civic Center of the Middle West, beautiful little city located on the banks of the Fox, population twenty-five thousand, street car service, incandescent lights at every corner— Say did I ever tell you fellows about the time it snowed back home for twenty straight days?—Excuse me, boys, here comes the "Roomie". Well, I see you're on the tree, Pal! Anything you want me to explain? Gosh, it surely hurts to be savvy."
History has it that this young lad, Ping-Pong champion of the Badger State, after serving an illustrious apprenticeship at Appleton High and Lawrence College, did sever home ties and fare forth to answer the call of the sea. Chief eater at the Cross Country table and 2.497 in Youngster Math are the things for which we know him best.
Certainly there is no one who does not feel that we lost a real friend and shipmate when Ed decided to retire to the Gyrenes but no doubt he will have the situation well in hand.
Cross Country 4,2,1; cNc 1; Class Football 3; Track 4, 3, 2, 1; 1 P. O.
Obituary
From Wikipedia:
Blessman was born in Nott, North Dakota. He was appointed midshipman from the 9th District of Wisconsin on 21 June 1927 and graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy on 4 June 1931. Service at sea in the battleship Maryland (BB-46) and the destroyer Hale (DD-133) preceded flight training at Naval Air Station Pensacola, in Florida, after which he served in VS-2B in the aircraft carrier Lexington (CV-2) and VP-17F, based on the seaplane tender Thrush (AVP-3). Following a two-year tour at the Naval Air Station Anacostia, Blessman — promoted to lieutenant in January 1939 — joined Marblehead (CL-12), then with the U.S. Asiatic Fleet, on 10 December 1939. He was still serving in her when Japan launched its onslaught in the Far East in December 1941.
On 4 February 1942, Marblehead stood out of Surabaya, Java, as part of a mixed American-Dutch cruiser-destroyer force under Rear Admiral Karel W. F. M. Doorman, Royal Netherlands Navy. Japanese flying boats from the Toko Kōkūtai (Toko Air Group), however, spotted the force as it attempted to transit the Madoera Strait to attack the Japanese invasion fleet bound for Borneo. Thus forewarned, Japanese naval land attack planes bombed the allied force. At 10:27, a stick of seven bombs from a Mitsubishi G4M1 "Betty" bomber of Kanoya Kōkūtai straddled Marblehead. The first of the two bombs to hit the ship penetrated the main deck and exploded near "wardroom country," the blast ripping through the light sheet metal bulkheads that comprised the boundaries of the compartment. Blessman, who, as the ship’s senior aviator had no air defense station and was in the wardroom at the time, was killed instantly by the concussion.
Loss
Edward was lost when USS Marblehead (CL 12) was damaged by Japanese bombers on February 4, 1942 during the Battle of Makassar Strait.
Other Information
From researcher Kathy Franz:
Born in North Dakota, Edward graduated in 1926 from Appleton high school in Wisconsin. He was on the school newspaper staff and was prominent in Hi-Y work at the Y. M. C. A. He attended Lawrence college for one year. He was appointed to the Naval Academy by Congressman George J. Schneider.
Edward was the principal speaker at the bi-monthly meeting of the Appleton Junior Chamber of Commerce in July, 1931.
He married Nellie Blanche Malloy on May 2, 1932, in Los Angeles.
His parents were Edward, a cobbler who died in 1919, and Hattie who died in 1918. His sister was Florence; brother was Harold. Their grandfather Martin died in 1934. In 1930, Martin and the grandchildren lived with Edward’s uncle and aunt, Louis and Anya (nee Blessman) Krause in Appleton.
Along with those killed on USS Houston, Edward was initially buried in Tjilatjap, Java. His wife was listed as next of kin; they are buried together in California. He was also survived by a sister and a brother, Harold Blessman.
Photographs
From his high school yearbook's 1925 student council page
Namesake
USS Blessman (DE 69) was named for Edward; the ship was sponsored by his widow, Helen.
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.
July 1931
October 1931
January 1932
April 1932
October 1932
January 1933
April 1933
July 1933
October 1933
April 1934
LTjg Oscar Pate, Jr. '27
LTjg Leonard Southerland '27
LTjg Frank Highley, Jr. '30
LTjg Robert Patten '30
LTjg Claud Hughes '30
LTjg Baylies Clark '30
July 1934
LT James Craig '22
LTjg John Duke '26
LTjg Ralph Smith '26
LTjg Baylies Clark '30
ENS Charles Palmer, Sr. '31
ENS Lorenz Forbes '31
ENS Ford Wallace '31
October 1934
LTjg John Duke '26
LTjg Ralph Smith '26
LTjg Lorenz Forbes '31
LTjg Ford Wallace '31
LTjg William Freshour '31
LTjg Vernon Hain '31
January 1935
LT Matthias Marple, Jr. '23 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 6B)
LT Charles McDonald '24 (Bombing Plane Squadron (VB) 2B)
LTjg Loren Morris '27 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 2B)
LTjg Leonard Southerland '27 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 6B)
LTjg Carl Lindgren '28 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 2B)
LTjg Mathias Wyatt '29 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 6B)
LTjg Bruce Van Voorhis '29 (Bombing Plane Squadron (VB) 2B)
LTjg Charles Ostrom '30 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 2B)
LTjg James Murphy '31 (Torpedo Plane Squadron (VT) 2B)
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)
April 1935
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 Charles Palmer, Sr. '31 (Bombing Plane Squadron (VB) 2B)
LTjg Ford Wallace '31 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 6B)
LTjg James Murphy '31 (Torpedo Plane Squadron (VT) 2B)
ENS Albert Gates, Jr. '32 (USS Saratoga)
ENS Bertram Prueher '33 (USS Saratoga)
ENS Paul Burton '33 (USS Saratoga)
ENS Wendell Froling '34 (USS Saratoga)
October 1935
LT Arnold Isbell '21 (Aircraft Squadrons)
LT Charles McDonald '24 (Bombing Plane Squadron (VB) 2B)
LTjg Charles Signer '26 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 6B)
LTjg Ralph Smith '26 (USS Saratoga)
LTjg Harold Richards '27 (Aircraft Squadrons)
LTjg Elmer Cooper '27 (Bombing Plane Squadron (VB) 2B)
LTjg Leonard Southerland '27 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 6B)
LTjg James Murphy '31 (Torpedo Plane Squadron (VT) 2B)
LTjg Thomas Ashworth, Jr. '31 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 6B)
LTjg Alfred Tucker, III '31 (USS Saratoga)
LTjg Albert Gates, Jr. '32 (USS Saratoga)
ENS Paul Burton '33 (USS Saratoga)
ENS Wendell Froling '34 (USS Saratoga)
ENS Maurice Fitzgerald '35 (USS Saratoga)
January 1936
LT Arnold Isbell '21 (Aircraft Squadrons)
LT Charles McDonald '24 (Bombing Plane Squadron (VB) 2B)
LT Richard Moss '24 (Bombing Plane Squadron (VB) 2B)
LTjg Charles Signer '26 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 6B)
LTjg Harold Richards '27 (Aircraft Squadrons)
LTjg Elmer Cooper '27 (Bombing Plane Squadron (VB) 2B)
LTjg Leonard Southerland '27 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 6B)
LTjg James Murphy '31 (Torpedo Plane Squadron (VT) 2B)
LTjg Thomas Ashworth, Jr. '31 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 6B)
LTjg Albert Gates, Jr. '32 (USS Saratoga)
LTjg Edwin Hurst '32 (Bombing Plane Squadron (VB) 2B)
ENS Wendell Froling '34 (USS Saratoga)
ENS Maurice Fitzgerald '35 (USS Saratoga)
April 1936
LT Arnold Isbell '21 (Aircraft Squadrons)
LT Charles McDonald '24 (Bombing Plane Squadron (VB) 2B)
LT Richard Moss '24 (Bombing Plane Squadron (VB) 2B)
LTjg Charles Signer '26 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 6B)
LTjg Harold Richards '27 (Aircraft Squadrons)
LTjg Elmer Cooper '27 (Bombing Plane Squadron (VB) 2B)
LTjg Leonard Southerland '27 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 6B)
LTjg James Murphy '31 (Torpedo Plane Squadron (VT) 2B)
LTjg Thomas Ashworth, Jr. '31 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 6B)
LTjg Albert Gates, Jr. '32 (USS Saratoga)
LTjg Edwin Hurst '32 (Bombing Plane Squadron (VB) 2B)
ENS Wendell Froling '34 (USS Saratoga)
ENS Maurice Fitzgerald '35 (USS Saratoga)
July 1936
LT Richard Moss '24 (Bombing Plane Squadron (VB) 2B)
LTjg Elmer Cooper '27 (Bombing Plane Squadron (VB) 2B)
LTjg Gerald Dyson '27 (Bombing Plane Squadron (VB) 2B)
LTjg Leonard Southerland '27 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 6B)
LTjg William Pye, Jr. '28 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 6B)
LTjg John Collett '29 (Aircraft Squadrons)
LTjg Lloyd Greenamyer '29 (Aircraft Squadrons)
LTjg Ford Wallace '31 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 6B)
LTjg Thomas Ashworth, Jr. '31 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 6B)
LTjg Albert Gates, Jr. '32 (USS Saratoga)
LTjg George Bellinger '32 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 6B)
LTjg Edwin Hurst '32 (Bombing Plane Squadron (VB) 2B)
ENS Wendell Froling '34 (USS Saratoga)
ENS Maurice Fitzgerald '35 (USS Saratoga)
January 1937
April 1937
September 1937
January 1938
July 1938
January 1939
October 1939
November 1940
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