FRANK C. GRAHAM, LT, USN

Frank Graham '36

Date of birth: October 12, 1912

Date of death: November 13, 1942

Age: 30

Lucky Bag

From the 1936 Lucky Bag:

Frank Campbell Graham

Wytheville, Virginia

"Frank"

Frank, a true Virginian patriot and gentleman, had lived all his life, prior to his four year sojourn in Annapolis, in his beloved southwest Virginia hills. He is a true friend, easy to know and get along with. The academic departments have worried him considerably, but you can't down a good man, and he has always come out on top in his brilliant victories in Dago and math. During plebe year he tried football, but gave it up until our last two years when he played on the class teams. Concerning his relations with the fair sex, Frank is not a snake, but he is by no means a red mike, and usually attends all the hops. We'll close by wishing him the best of luck always, and we can be sure he'll have it in Uncle Sam's navy.

Class Football 2; Lucky Bag; Two Stripes

Frank Campbell Graham

Wytheville, Virginia

"Frank"

Frank, a true Virginian patriot and gentleman, had lived all his life, prior to his four year sojourn in Annapolis, in his beloved southwest Virginia hills. He is a true friend, easy to know and get along with. The academic departments have worried him considerably, but you can't down a good man, and he has always come out on top in his brilliant victories in Dago and math. During plebe year he tried football, but gave it up until our last two years when he played on the class teams. Concerning his relations with the fair sex, Frank is not a snake, but he is by no means a red mike, and usually attends all the hops. We'll close by wishing him the best of luck always, and we can be sure he'll have it in Uncle Sam's navy.

Class Football 2; Lucky Bag; Two Stripes

Loss

Frank was lost when USS Juneau (CL 52) was sunk during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal on November 13, 1942.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz: "His father was James, a bank cashier, mother Mary Lou, and brother James, Jr."

His wife was listed as next of kin. He has a memory marker in Virginia.

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.