GEORGE C. SKINNER, JR., ENS, USN
George Skinner, Jr. '20
Lucky Bag
From the 1920 Lucky Bag:
George Coleman Skinner, Jr.
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
"Skinny" "Otis" "Underfed"
WHEN George goes out into the service, he will turn out the results that the Navy wants, for he is considerable of a toiler as his crew and football records testify.
"Skinny" decided to favor the Navy, instead of West Point, after living out in Cedar Rapids a while. Although he 's hardly to blame for his place of residence, it has always seemed to us to be a misfortune meted out by a very negligent Fate, that caused such a good fellow to make his residence out among the corn and oats of Ioway.
It is as a fusser that the handsome blond has maintained more than a passing reputation, and it is in the exercise of this art of fussing that he has displayed qualities which fit him for the diplomatic service. Who has ever heard him asking Doc or General to drag for him, without marveling at the line, or sympathizing with the unfortunate so selected? His dark deeds along this particular branch would excite the envy of a Borgia. Why, Doc claims that an operation on his foot was made necessary by one of "Georgie's" refractory stove linings.
"Skinny" has always stood above a 3.0, both in studies and athletics, but the Dago Department used to worry him at intervals. "Senor Skinnairre, donde es Ud?" "Son las tres, Senor."
"Skinny" typifies the true officer, and while the Academy loses a good midshipman, the service gains a member who will never give it any cause for worry. Where George is, things will go as they should.
Honors: Two Stripes; Football Squad, 4, 3, 1; Football Numerals, 4, 3; Crew N Cross Oar.
The Class of 1920 was graduated in June 1919 due to World War I. The entirety of 2nd class (junior) year was removed from the curriculum.
George Coleman Skinner, Jr.
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
"Skinny" "Otis" "Underfed"
WHEN George goes out into the service, he will turn out the results that the Navy wants, for he is considerable of a toiler as his crew and football records testify.
"Skinny" decided to favor the Navy, instead of West Point, after living out in Cedar Rapids a while. Although he 's hardly to blame for his place of residence, it has always seemed to us to be a misfortune meted out by a very negligent Fate, that caused such a good fellow to make his residence out among the corn and oats of Ioway.
It is as a fusser that the handsome blond has maintained more than a passing reputation, and it is in the exercise of this art of fussing that he has displayed qualities which fit him for the diplomatic service. Who has ever heard him asking Doc or General to drag for him, without marveling at the line, or sympathizing with the unfortunate so selected? His dark deeds along this particular branch would excite the envy of a Borgia. Why, Doc claims that an operation on his foot was made necessary by one of "Georgie's" refractory stove linings.
"Skinny" has always stood above a 3.0, both in studies and athletics, but the Dago Department used to worry him at intervals. "Senor Skinnairre, donde es Ud?" "Son las tres, Senor."
"Skinny" typifies the true officer, and while the Academy loses a good midshipman, the service gains a member who will never give it any cause for worry. Where George is, things will go as they should.
Honors: Two Stripes; Football Squad, 4, 3, 1; Football Numerals, 4, 3; Crew N Cross Oar.
The Class of 1920 was graduated in June 1919 due to World War I. The entirety of 2nd class (junior) year was removed from the curriculum.
Loss
George died on December 18, 1920 "of illness" in a hospital at Pola, Austria. He was serving aboard USS Chandler (DD 206) at the time.
A long article in the Cedar Rapids Gazette on February 19, 1921 said that the cause of death was still unclear, but that it was an illness of some kind.
Other Information
From The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, December 21, 1920, via researcher Kathy Franz:
“Tod” Skinner . . . was a grade school pupil at the Polk and Madison schools and at Washington high school. In 1915 he played right guard on the high school team under Coach Ray Finger. He was a prominent member of the Alpha Rho society, of the Booster Club and of the “C. R. Club,” composed of athletic monogram men of the high school.
In the spring of 1916, “Tod” studied under Prof. Edward O. Fiske, of this city, preparing himself for examinations of the U. S. Naval academy, Annapolis. He received the appointment as midshipman from James W. Good, congressman from the Fifth district, and entered the academy in 1916. He played football for the navy three years.
The midshipmen at the academy were rushed through in three years time on account of the war and Skinner was graduated in 1919. During the war the students at the academy were on active duty in the war-zone for several months. So high was Skinner’s standing at the end of his course that he was kept during the summer months of 1919 to instruct the first year men who came into the academy.
He went into service as an ensign and was stationed at the Philadelphia ship yards for several months overseeing the materials which were going into a battleship then under construction [USS Tennessee.] He elected to go on a three year cruise around the world on the Destroyer Chandler, on which boat it is presumed that he died. The port of Pola, Austria, is on the lowest tip of the Austrian peninsular which juts into the Adriatic. It is about fifty miles south of Trieste.
From researcher Kathy Franz:
At his farewell party in May, 1916, given by members of the Alpha Rho Club, each boy talked suffrage to a girl in a progressive suffrage meeting. The trophy went to Roscoe Wright. Music and dancing followed, and tiny American flags were given as favors. [In its archaic form, suffrage means intercessory prayers or petitions.]
His father, Dr. George Coleman Skinner, was a major in the medical corps during WW I. He was wounded in France when his first aid dressing station just behind the front lines was fired on. In 1920 he was serving in the United States public health service headquartered in St. Louis. George’s mother was Helen who during WW I worked for the war insurance bureau in Washington, D. C. His grandfather, a doctor, was one of the pioneers of Cedar Rapids who died in March, 1920. His uncles Frank and Arthur Skinner were also doctors.
He has a memory marker in Arlington National Cemetery and is buried in Iowa.
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.
Memorial Hall Error
Illness is not a criteria for inclusion in Memorial Hall.
George is one of 27 members of the Class of 1920 on Virtual Memorial Hall.
The "category" links below lead to lists of related Honorees; use them to explore further the service and sacrifice of alumni in Memorial Hall.
