HENRY H. HARRISON, ENS, USN

Henry Harrison '24

Date of birth: December 29, 1901

Date of death: November 1, 1926

Age: 24

Lucky Bag

From the 1924 Lucky Bag:

HENRY HARTWELL HARRISON

Washington, D.C.

"Rosie"

HE is, we believe, the only man who had a blush upon entering the Academy and who has retained that blush through all his four Academic years. Some blushes are born to flare for a short period of life and then to fade in the discouragement of the years. This one, however, seems of a more lasting variety and remains to prove that although service records may be made or broken, ideals live on with the man.

"Si monumentum requiris, circumspice." As a man, his friends know him; as a writer, his articles in the "Log" show the mind within the man; as an athlete, his team-mates know the spirit which gives its best to the game. We now wait to see how the Service accepts the man to whom his friends regretfully say good-bye.

Football Squad (4, 3, 1); Class Football (2), Numerals (2); Crew Squad (4, 3, 2); Water Polo (3, 2), wNAp (3); Log Staff (2); Log Board (1); Star (3).

HENRY HARTWELL HARRISON

Washington, D.C.

"Rosie"

HE is, we believe, the only man who had a blush upon entering the Academy and who has retained that blush through all his four Academic years. Some blushes are born to flare for a short period of life and then to fade in the discouragement of the years. This one, however, seems of a more lasting variety and remains to prove that although service records may be made or broken, ideals live on with the man.

"Si monumentum requiris, circumspice." As a man, his friends know him; as a writer, his articles in the "Log" show the mind within the man; as an athlete, his team-mates know the spirit which gives its best to the game. We now wait to see how the Service accepts the man to whom his friends regretfully say good-bye.

Football Squad (4, 3, 1); Class Football (2), Numerals (2); Crew Squad (4, 3, 2); Water Polo (3, 2), wNAp (3); Log Staff (2); Log Board (1); Star (3).

Loss

Henry was lost on November 1, 1926 when he fell from the seaplane he was piloting near Pensacola, Florida. He was a student aviator and on his second solo flight.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Henry was born in Brookline, Massachusetts. When he died, his family lived in Cambridge.

He is buried in the Naval Academy Cemetery and was survived by his parents, Mr. & Mrs. William C. Harrison; his brother, William C. Harrison, Jr.; and a sister, Mrs. Mary Bowies.

Photographs

From the Boston Globe on November 2, 1926.

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.