HORACE C. BUSBEY, 1LT, USMC

Horace Busbey '23

Date of birth: January 11, 1900

Date of death: June 23, 1928

Age: 27

Naval Academy Register

Horace Carleton Busbey was admitted to the Naval Academy from Illinois on May 31, 1918 at age 18 years 5 months.

He was initially a member of the Class of 1922, but was reassigned to the Class of 1923 on July 17, 1920. However, a week later on July 24, 1920 he resigned.

Lucky Bag

"Busbey, H. C." is listed in the section of the 1923 Lucky Bag titled "Down Three Double O". Some have pictures and brief updates; Horace does not.

Photographs

From the Evening Star on June 23, 1928. Photograph located by Kathy Franz.

Loss

Horace was lost on June 23, 1928 when the plane he was aboard crashed near File, Virginia. Also lost was Major Charles A. Lutz, who was enroute to take command of Marine Corps air forces in Nicaragua, and an enlisted crewman. A fourth crewman survived; they had departed Anacostia for Miami.

Other Information

Horace, as a 2nd Lt., was designated Naval Aviator #3373 in 1927.

He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery with his wife, who survived him; they had no children. He was also survived by his mother, and brother RADM Leroy White Busbey, Jr '18.

From the Evening Star on June 23, 1928:

Lieut. Busbey was a Washingtonian, having been born here January 11, 1900. His mother, Mrs. L. W. Busbey, resides at 900 Nineteenth street and his widow, Mrs. Rowena Busbey, lives at Pensacola, Fla. Lieut. Busbey entered the Naval Academy in June 1917, but did not complete the course.
He entered the Marines in May, 1922, serving at Quantico, Parris Island and aboard the U. S. S. Mississippi. While aboard this vessel he was commended by the Secretary of the Navy for rescuing, in September 1925, a man who had fallen overboard from the battleship Maryland.
Lieut. Busbey was commissioned a first lieutenant in January of last year, a year after he began training as an aviator. Following his graduation from Pensacola, he was detailed to Quantico and was a squadron commander at the time he was selected by Maj. Lutz to go along on the flight as assistant pilot. Lieut. Busbey was to have served a tour of "foreign duty" in Nicaragua. The lieutenant's specialty in the Marine Corps was aerological work.

From the May 6, 1922 issue of "Army and Navy Register and Defense Times":

Eighteen enlisted men of the Marine Corps and twelve graduates of distinguished military colleges have been confirmed by the Senate for appointment as probationary second lieutenants in the Marine Corps, and commissions were sent out to them this week. One of the enlisted men is Horace C. Busby, who at one time belonged to the Naval Academy class of 1923 and for whom special legislation was put through Congress to permit his appointment as a second lieutenant in advance of the graduation of that class.

His father, L. White Busbey, was personal secretary to the Speaker of the House, Joseph Cannon, and secretary of the International Joint Commission in 1913. He also authored two books.

Memorial Hall Errors

He is listed on the killed in action panel at the front of Memorial Hall as having died during the Nicaraguan Intervention of 1932. The accident that killed him occurred four years before that conflict, and over 1,500 miles away.

Horace's last name is spelled "Busbey", not "Busby" as is on the class of 1923 panel.

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.

May 1923

2nd Lieutenant, Marine Barracks, Parris Island, South Carolina

July 1923

2nd Lieutenant, Marine Barracks, Parris Island, South Carolina

September 1923

2nd Lieutenant, Marine Barracks, Parris Island, South Carolina