IRVING H. HOWELL, ENS, USN

Irving Howell '26

Date of birth: April 26, 1903

Date of death: November 2, 1928

Age: 25

Lucky Bag

From the 1926 Lucky Bag:

Irving Howell

Macomb, Illinois

"Bobby" "Horsey"

"LET'S see now. Oh, yes, she's my millionairess from New York." But can you blame this poor lad for not remembering her. He has so many that it would tax anyone's brain—not saying that he isn't there mentally. Far from it. But that would be getting away from our story of this blue-eyed Adonis. It isn't his mentality that sets them all aglow. Despite his—let us call eloquence—it is his smile that gets 'em.

They all love the husky brute, and maybe that has something to do with it. To show that he is there physically, he was the lightest oarsman on the Junior Varsity Youngster year. That sort of complicated matters for poor Irv. Returning from the Olympic tryouts, the crew squad had to go through Paris to get to those four battlewagons at Brest. And there it was that the Navy nearly lost a good man. He eventually found his ship but Irv has never been quite the same since.

Let us pass on, though, and not dwell too long on his physical prowess. Let us look at him from an artistic viewpoint. It is true that the outbursts of this sailor-poet are lost to American letters, but they certainly must be potent. Why? Oh, they always write for more.

Crew Squad (4, 3), aNa; Plebe Crew (4), Navy Numerals; Water Polo Squad (2, 1); Class Football (3, 2), Class Numerals (2, 1); Glee Club (1); Football B-Squad (1).

Irving Howell

Macomb, Illinois

"Bobby" "Horsey"

"LET'S see now. Oh, yes, she's my millionairess from New York." But can you blame this poor lad for not remembering her. He has so many that it would tax anyone's brain—not saying that he isn't there mentally. Far from it. But that would be getting away from our story of this blue-eyed Adonis. It isn't his mentality that sets them all aglow. Despite his—let us call eloquence—it is his smile that gets 'em.

They all love the husky brute, and maybe that has something to do with it. To show that he is there physically, he was the lightest oarsman on the Junior Varsity Youngster year. That sort of complicated matters for poor Irv. Returning from the Olympic tryouts, the crew squad had to go through Paris to get to those four battlewagons at Brest. And there it was that the Navy nearly lost a good man. He eventually found his ship but Irv has never been quite the same since.

Let us pass on, though, and not dwell too long on his physical prowess. Let us look at him from an artistic viewpoint. It is true that the outbursts of this sailor-poet are lost to American letters, but they certainly must be potent. Why? Oh, they always write for more.

Crew Squad (4, 3), aNa; Plebe Crew (4), Navy Numerals; Water Polo Squad (2, 1); Class Football (3, 2), Class Numerals (2, 1); Glee Club (1); Football B-Squad (1).

Loss

Irving was lost on November 2, 1928; he died of internal injuries suffered when the airplane he was aboard as a student collided with another and then crashed. Though the pilot of his plane was killed, initial reports said Irving escaped with only a broken arm. The collision occurred near Pensacola, Florida.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Irving later succumbed to internal injuries per The Birmingham News, Alabama, November 4, 1928. He was buried in Macomb.
Irving graduated from the Academy at the Northwestern Illinois Normal School in 1921.
His father was Ira, a proprietor of a billiard hall, mother Ada, brother William. His parents are buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Macomb.

His brother William graduated with the class of 1933 and retired as a Navy Captain; William entered the Academy shortly after Irving was killed.

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.