HORATIO G. SICKEL, IV, CAPT, USN
Horatio Sickel, IV '20
Lucky Bag
From the 1920 Lucky Bag:
Horatio Gates Sickel, 4th.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
"Sic"
HE loves the ladies, and they—oh boy! If stripes and stars appeal at all to the fairer sex he certainly must be almost irresistible. He has a convincing manner which causes even a prof to doubt himself at times, and when he gets serious you may expect to hear a fluent line. It is due to this line that he now wears those trophies from the Academic Department. But in spite of this, Gates is not entirely above such material things as food, and the quickest and most efficient way to make him grin with pleasure is to place some eatables before him.
Sickel qualifies in other ways than this, however. He is always ready to help one with no questions asked. And he is a staunch friend to those who have learned to understand him and his ways. He is determined to do his best for the service and he will surely make a success in the fleet. Confident of this, we wish him the best of luck in his future career.
"Do they call you 'daddy?'"
"I wish I were a nut in the shady lane on Squirrel Hill."
Honors: Two Stripes; Plebe Crew; Star, 3.
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.
Horatio Gates Sickel, 4th.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
"Sic"
HE loves the ladies, and they—oh boy! If stripes and stars appeal at all to the fairer sex he certainly must be almost irresistible. He has a convincing manner which causes even a prof to doubt himself at times, and when he gets serious you may expect to hear a fluent line. It is due to this line that he now wears those trophies from the Academic Department. But in spite of this, Gates is not entirely above such material things as food, and the quickest and most efficient way to make him grin with pleasure is to place some eatables before him.
Sickel qualifies in other ways than this, however. He is always ready to help one with no questions asked. And he is a staunch friend to those who have learned to understand him and his ways. He is determined to do his best for the service and he will surely make a success in the fleet. Confident of this, we wish him the best of luck in his future career.
"Do they call you 'daddy?'"
"I wish I were a nut in the shady lane on Squirrel Hill."
Honors: Two Stripes; Plebe Crew; Star, 3.
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
Horatio was lost in the crash of a Navy Air Transport Service PB2Y Coronado flying boat taking off from Funafuti Atoll in the Ellice Islands (now known as Tuvalu) on July 31, 1944.
Other Information
From researcher Kathy Franz:
Horatio married Frances Ball on September 18, 1920, at the Second Baptist Church in Germantown. Their sons were Horatio Gates, Jr. (‘44,) and John (’46). In September 1933, son Horatio, age 12, was playing with two friends at the rear of his house in Honolulu. He received a laceration to his thumb and numerous cuts to his body when he lit a dynamite cap that exploded.
In December 1941, Horatio spoke to the Priorities Commission in Washington, D. C., regarding the senate’s O’Mahoney bill which offered to protect “little business.” The issue was should production materials, such as copper, steel, and zinc, be given priority for use in the military or private business. Horatio said, “This would put small business ahead of defense. We cannot afford to slow down the defense program.” He was with the Army-Navy Munitions Board at the time.
Horatio participated in the landings at Casablanca in November 1942.
Horatio later was captain of a cruiser operating in the Pacific. He was en route to a new assignment when he died.
Horatio’s father was Horatio, III, (1874-1947,) and his mother Louisa was a teacher. In 1917 his father was manager of the Bean Fletcher Co. of Philadelphia, and in 1920, he was an assistant manager at a publishing company. In 1930, he was a salesman at a brokerage in Wayne. In May 1941, his second wife Edna served as the only woman on a hung jury in U. S. District Court. The trial was for retired U. S. Circuit Court Judge J. Warren Davis and Morgan S. Kaufman on the charge of corrupt criminal conspiracy.
Horatio's grandfather Horatio (1854-1918) was a colonel in the Army, the 12th U. S. Cavalry. He graduated from West Point in 1876. He served gallantly in Troop “E” of the 7th Cavalry during the 1891 Pine Ridge Campaign at Wounded Knee, South Dakota. In 1917, he was stationed in El Paso and increased the border patrol guard as Villa threatened to attack Juarez. He was forced to retire at age 65 after 45 years of service. Sadly, he committed suicide six months later.
Horatio's great-grandfather Horatio (1817-1890) was a colonel of the Third Reserve Pennsylvania Regiment and Brevet Major General in the Civil War. In 1848, he invented a new method of producing artificial light and went on to excel in the manufacture of lamps.
He is buried in the Naval Academy Cemetery.
Legion of Merit
From Hall of Valor:
The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Legion of Merit to Captain Horatio G. Sickel, IV, United States Navy, for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services to the Government of the United States during the occupation of French Morocco in November 1943. Landing under fire at Fedala, French Morocco, Captain Sickel commenced the installation of the naval operating base at Casablanca. Through ingenious employment of the limited facilities available, he soon had the harbor cleared out so that convoy ships could unload. His keen judgment and initiative contributed in large measure to the success of the operation.
General Orders: Bureau of Naval Personnel Information Bulletin No. 319 (October 1943)
Action Date: November 1942
Service: Navy
Rank: Captain
This citation is for his second Legion of Merit; unable to find citation for the first.
Family
His son Horatio Sickel, V '44, is also in Memorial Hall.
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.
January 1921
January 1922
July 1923
September 1923
November 1923
January 1924
March 1924
May 1924
July 1924
September 1924
November 1924
January 1925
March 1925
May 1925
July 1925
October 1925
January 1926
October 1926
January 1927
April 1927
October 1927
January 1928
April 1928
January 1929
April 1929
July 1929
October 1929
January 1930
April 1930
October 1930
January 1931
April 1931
July 1931
October 1931
January 1932
April 1932
October 1932
January 1933
April 1933
July 1933
October 1933
April 1934
July 1934
October 1934
January 1935
April 1935
October 1935
January 1936
April 1936
July 1936
January 1937
April 1937
September 1937
January 1938
July 1938
January 1939
October 1939
June 1940
November 1940
April 1941
Related Articles
Charles Cecil '16 was also lost in this crash.
The "category" links below lead to lists of related Honorees; use them to explore further the service and sacrifice of alumni in Memorial Hall.
