HUGH W. HADLEY, CDR, USN

Hugh Hadley '22

Date of birth: February 17, 1901

Date of death: September 5, 1942

Age: 41

Lucky Bag

From the 1922 Lucky Bag:

HUGH WILLIAM HADLEY

The Dalles, Oregon

"Had," "Rooster," "Bill."

STRAIGHT from the Northwest and big outdoors—that's the "Rooster." He certainly rates his name for he is always "up and at 'em." Didn't he crawl out of bed two days after an operation and rummage the whole hospital ward for a skag?—while the "Doc" had said he was down and out! "It can't be done!" The Exec Department thought they had him Second Class Year, but he went five months on one demerit and fooled them all.

"A little beech canoe and you" used to be his favorite, but he sang it once too often on Second Class Leave, and now he's among those spoken for. And when that moon started rising over the Chesapeake, you couldn't stay in the same room with him. Ask "Mac" or "Jerry"—they'll tell you that love must be grand.

"Oh no! I swear I'm perfectly all right. It's simply the effect of that slum we had for chow tonight."

"Well, how about breezin' up on one."

Choir (4); Probation (2).

HUGH WILLIAM HADLEY

The Dalles, Oregon

"Had," "Rooster," "Bill."

STRAIGHT from the Northwest and big outdoors—that's the "Rooster." He certainly rates his name for he is always "up and at 'em." Didn't he crawl out of bed two days after an operation and rummage the whole hospital ward for a skag?—while the "Doc" had said he was down and out! "It can't be done!" The Exec Department thought they had him Second Class Year, but he went five months on one demerit and fooled them all.

"A little beech canoe and you" used to be his favorite, but he sang it once too often on Second Class Leave, and now he's among those spoken for. And when that moon started rising over the Chesapeake, you couldn't stay in the same room with him. Ask "Mac" or "Jerry"—they'll tell you that love must be grand.

"Oh no! I swear I'm perfectly all right. It's simply the effect of that slum we had for chow tonight."

"Well, how about breezin' up on one."

Choir (4); Probation (2).

Loss

Hugh was lost when USS Little (APD 4) was sunk was sunk near Guadalcanal by Japanese surface forces early in the morning of September 5, 1942. He was embarked as the commander of Transport Division 12.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Hugh was appointed the second chief applicant for admittance to the Naval Academy by Congressman N. J. Sinnott. He was 16 years old and was a junior at The Dalles high school. He was on the school’s all-star debating team which won the state championship in 1917.
On April 10, 1926, Hugh married Marion Vaughan Ells in Bellingham, Washington. Their daughters were Jean and Marion. In June 1931, the family sailed from San Francisco to Honolulu.
In 1940, Hugh and his family were on the Coco Solo Naval Reservation at Cristobal, Canal Zone. In June 1941, they sailed from there to San Francisco. Hugh was at Pearl Harbor during the attack.
His father William was district deputy fish and game warden. His mother was Mary/Minnie, and his sister was Elizabeth.

From Wikipedia:

Hugh William Hadley was born 17 February 1901 at Moro, Oregon, and was appointed to the Naval Academy in 1918. Commissioned Ensign 29 May 1922, he served on board many ships, including Pennsylvania and S-27, and various shore stations in the prewar years. After serving as Executive Officer of Roper 1936-1939 and on board Maryland 1941-1942, he was appointed Commander and assigned to command Transport Division 12 in the Pacific. Hadley's attack transports made nightly runs into Guadalcanal to support American troops there, and while on board Little 5 September 1942 Hadley was surprised by three Japanese destroyers off Lunga Point. His outgunned ship fought valiantly, but was sunk along with attack transport Gregory. Commander Hadley was killed in the action and was posthumously awarded the Silver Star for his outstanding performance in the bitter Solomons campaign

His wife was listed as next of kin; he was also survived by two daughters. Hugh has a memory marker in Oregon.

Photographs

From The Oregon Daily Journal on May 27, 1917
From The Oregon Daily Journal on November 28, 1917

Silver Star

From Hall of Valor:

The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Silver Star (Posthumously) to Commander Hugh William Hadley (NSN: 0-57581), United States Navy, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity as Commander of Transport Division TWELVE during action against enemy Japanese forces in the Solomon Islands for the period from 7 August to 5 September 1942. Under frequent air, surface and submarine attack by a desperate and persistent foe, Commander Hadley, although handicapped by limitation of fire power and reduction of armament, successfully disembarked troops during initial landing operations and thereafter fed vital reinforcements and supplies to the Tulagi and Guadalcanal garrisons. During the tense period prior to development of our own local air facilities, he and his command were continually subjected to vigorous Japanese bombardment while operating in logistic support of our established positions. Subsequently conducting night patrols and furnishing anti-submarine screen for cargo vessels, Commander Hadley, by his superb seamanship and heroic devotion to duty, contributed materially to the success of our strategic operations in the island area. He gallantly gave up his life in the service of his country.
Service: Navy

Namesake

USS Hugh W. Hadley (DD 774) was named for Hugh; the ship was sponsored by his widow.

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.