HUBERT T. WATERS, LT, USN
Hubert Waters '25
Lucky Bag
From the 1925 Lucky Bag:
Hubert Temple Waters
Grandview, Texas
"Hal" "Cowboy" "Hank"
LOCHINVAR came out of the West. So did Cowboy. The only prime difference is that the former came earlier. Otherwise, they are practically identical. Of course our Cowboy has not carried off any any fair damsel—that is, not on horseback. Yet in soaring spirits and fancy free he is the husband of a hundred wives!
Youngster cruise served to dismount Hal from his pony and, after a fashion, to convert him into a deep-sea sheik. Every hop found Hank with one of two well-known lines—receiving or stag. With his genial smile, characteristic of the great open spaces, he assured each little girl that her star was on the meridian.
In the classroom, Cowboy resembles the virile pioneer. A smoke-screen of chalk dust, the gnashing of teeth, a brief interval, and—Hank emerges, P-rade rest, with a "Read-'em-and-weep" look as on the blue print above. Savvy?
On leave, the Puncher cuts loose. All the pent-up energy of 'steen ac months bursts forth in a wild orgy of feverish dissipation. He often spends hours upon hours in the public library!
Class Football (4, 3); Class Track (3); Sub-Squad.
Hubert Temple Waters
Grandview, Texas
"Hal" "Cowboy" "Hank"
LOCHINVAR came out of the West. So did Cowboy. The only prime difference is that the former came earlier. Otherwise, they are practically identical. Of course our Cowboy has not carried off any any fair damsel—that is, not on horseback. Yet in soaring spirits and fancy free he is the husband of a hundred wives!
Youngster cruise served to dismount Hal from his pony and, after a fashion, to convert him into a deep-sea sheik. Every hop found Hank with one of two well-known lines—receiving or stag. With his genial smile, characteristic of the great open spaces, he assured each little girl that her star was on the meridian.
In the classroom, Cowboy resembles the virile pioneer. A smoke-screen of chalk dust, the gnashing of teeth, a brief interval, and—Hank emerges, P-rade rest, with a "Read-'em-and-weep" look as on the blue print above. Savvy?
On leave, the Puncher cuts loose. All the pent-up energy of 'steen ac months bursts forth in a wild orgy of feverish dissipation. He often spends hours upon hours in the public library!
Class Football (4, 3); Class Track (3); Sub-Squad.
Loss
Hubert was lost on January 15, 1930 when the plane he was aboard "missed the landing deck" of USS Saratoga (CV 2) near San Diego, California. Another officer, identified as the pilot, survived.
Other Information
He was a member of Torpedo Squadron (VT) 2.
He earned his wings as naval aviator #3535 on October 11, 1929.
The Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps of 1931 lists Hubert as a LT(jg); posthumous promotion?
From researcher Kathy Franz:
Hubert had just married Gussie Sims in November 1929 in Pensacola. He was a member of Flight Class No. 36 at Pensacola and finished his training in December. He was then assigned to the Saratoga. His plane sank in 235 fathoms of water, and he and the plane were not recovered. On January 20, the airplane carrier Saratoga held his funeral service while planes dropping wreaths circled the spot where he died. His wife was the only member of the family to be on the Saratoga.
In 1910 Hubert’s father was William, a schoolteacher, and his mother was Mamie. They also ran a farm in Grandview, Texas with his older brothers C. Lamone and E. Mershom helping out. He also had a brother Waldo, and a sister Gladys.
Hubert was one of the pallbearers for Ensign Henry G'sell's (’26) funeral in October 1929.
Hubert's Find A Grave page is here.
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.
October 1927
January 1928
April 1928
July 1928
October 1928
January 1929
LT Edwin Conway '20
LT LaRue Lawbaugh '20
LT Stephen Cooke '21
LT James Carney '21
LT Francis Bridget '21
LT John Jones '21
LTjg William Davis '22
April 1929
LT LaRue Lawbaugh '20
LT James Carney '21
LT Francis Bridget '21
LT John Jones '21
LTjg William Davis '22
LT James Craig '22
LTjg Walter Leach, Jr. '24
LTjg Creighton Lankford '25
ENS Henry G'Sell '26
July 1929
LT LaRue Lawbaugh '20
LT James Carney '21
LT John Jones '21
LTjg William Davis '22
LT James Craig '22
LTjg Matthias Marple, Jr. '23
LTjg Walter Leach, Jr. '24
LTjg Walter Dey '24
ENS Henry G'Sell '26
October 1929
LT John Jones '21
LTjg William Davis '22
LT James Craig '22
LTjg Matthias Marple, Jr. '23
LTjg Walter Dey '24
LTjg Hubert Hayter '24
LTjg John Waldron '24
ENS Henry G'Sell '26
LTjg Claude Haman '26
January 1930
LT Thomas Fisher '18 (Light Bombing Plane Squadron (VB) 2B)
LTjg Walter Leach, Jr. '24 (Light Bombing Plane Squadron (VB) 2B)
LTjg Charles McDonald '24 (USS Saratoga)
LTjg Charles Signer '26 (Torpedo and Bombing Plane Squadron (VT) 2B)
LTjg Claude Haman '26 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 2B)
ENS Henry Twohy '29 (USS Saratoga)
The "category" links below lead to lists of related Honorees; use them to explore further the service and sacrifice of alumni in Memorial Hall.
