JAMES H. KELSEY, JR., ENS, USN

James Kelsey, Jr. '31

Date of birth: May 27, 1910

Date of death: August 14, 1934

Age: 24

Lucky Bag

From the 1931 Lucky Bag:

James Hiram Kelsey, Jr.

Stoughton, Massachusetts

"Jim" "Hiram" "Kelse"

HERE he is, another of those famous sea-faring New Engenders holding up his end of tradition. Living next door to Boston, naturally he early became acquainted with the old standby—beans—and couldn't resist the temptation to join the Navy to see the world, and eat—beans. Once here, however, his thoughts became far removed from chow, except thrice daily, and concentrated instead on the interesting academics and the O. A. O. Being fairly savvy and not too ambitious, he stayed well up on the sunny side of 3.0 and utilized the well-framed study hours for outside reading and penning sweet phrases to the one who made him a one woman man. Not exactly what you would call regulation, but the pap sheet was shunned like poison. Extra duty and awkward squad were for those who were too wooden to profit by former examples. Likes sports and always stuck up for the class, but outside of that he didn't indulge except for daily workout and recreation purposes. Makes friends easily and retains them—a square shooter.

Class Football 4, 3, 2; Class Lacrosse 2, Numerals 2; 150-pound Crew 1; 1 P.O.

James Hiram Kelsey, Jr.

Stoughton, Massachusetts

"Jim" "Hiram" "Kelse"

HERE he is, another of those famous sea-faring New Engenders holding up his end of tradition. Living next door to Boston, naturally he early became acquainted with the old standby—beans—and couldn't resist the temptation to join the Navy to see the world, and eat—beans. Once here, however, his thoughts became far removed from chow, except thrice daily, and concentrated instead on the interesting academics and the O. A. O. Being fairly savvy and not too ambitious, he stayed well up on the sunny side of 3.0 and utilized the well-framed study hours for outside reading and penning sweet phrases to the one who made him a one woman man. Not exactly what you would call regulation, but the pap sheet was shunned like poison. Extra duty and awkward squad were for those who were too wooden to profit by former examples. Likes sports and always stuck up for the class, but outside of that he didn't indulge except for daily workout and recreation purposes. Makes friends easily and retains them—a square shooter.

Class Football 4, 3, 2; Class Lacrosse 2, Numerals 2; 150-pound Crew 1; 1 P.O.

Loss

James was lost on August 13, 1934 when his SF-1 airplane (BuNo A-9468) ran out of fuel and crashed into the ocean approximately 37 miles east of Cape Henry Lighthouse. (Information via US Navy Casualties Books, 1776-1941.) Unit is only given as USS Lexington (CV 2).

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

James graduated as president of his class from Stoughton high school in June, 1927. He received the Edwin A. Jones $100 prize for outstanding excellence in his studies.
He married the former Marjorie Drake of Stoughton on June 18, 1932, in Los Angeles.
In 1934, he attended the wedding of his older brother, John Donald Kelsey (’23), in Canton, Massachusetts.
Donald helped the Navy for four days to search for James’ body with no success.
Their father James was an insurance publisher, mother Martha.

He is not listed in the 1934 Navy Directory.

He earned his wings as naval aviator #4013 on March 22, 1934.

Photographs

From The Boston Globe on August 14, 1934

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.