JAMES W. CROWTHER, 1LT, USMC

James Crowther '35

Date of birth: December 10, 1911

Date of death: December 23, 1940

Age: 29

Lucky Bag

From the 1935 Lucky Bag:

JAMES WHITE CROWTHER

Longmeadow, Massachusetts

"Jim" "Red"

JIM likes to fiddle with firearms, and having served his apprenticeship with a hunting rifle, he decided to drop down to the Academy to see if these stories about the big guns were true. Though not exactly a savoir, he has had no difficulty in standing high in subjects relating to things explosive. For recreation he goes over to the rifle range, and has won his bull's eye and bronze medal for excellence in target practice. Jim is very determined in his views, but has the courage of his convictions, as arguments in bull sessions have demonstrated. His interest in small mechanical gadgets is manifested in the automatic door stop he devised Second Class Year.

Rifle 2, 1, Numeral. Lucky Bag Staff 1. 1 P.O.

JAMES WHITE CROWTHER

Longmeadow, Massachusetts

"Jim" "Red"

JIM likes to fiddle with firearms, and having served his apprenticeship with a hunting rifle, he decided to drop down to the Academy to see if these stories about the big guns were true. Though not exactly a savoir, he has had no difficulty in standing high in subjects relating to things explosive. For recreation he goes over to the rifle range, and has won his bull's eye and bronze medal for excellence in target practice. Jim is very determined in his views, but has the courage of his convictions, as arguments in bull sessions have demonstrated. His interest in small mechanical gadgets is manifested in the automatic door stop he devised Second Class Year.

Rifle 2, 1, Numeral. Lucky Bag Staff 1. 1 P.O.

Loss

James was lost on December 23, 1940 when the Navy bomber he was aboard crashed near Havana, Cuba.

From the March 9, 1941 edition of Pensacola News Journal:

ANOTHER ARRIVAL of special interest is Mrs. James W. Crowther (Anna Lucia Rangel), who has returned to Pensacola, after visiting Mrs. R. W. Crowther in Longmeadow, Mass.
THE DEATH OF First Lieutenant James W. Crowther came as a great shock to Pensacola. His bride learned of his death from the Navy department on Christmas-Eve. He was killed in a plane crash while a passenger from Havana to Guantanamo. The pilot also was killed.
HE AND LUCIA were married last fall in Norfolk at the home of Captain and Mrs. Guy M. Morrow, and she was their guest en route to Pensacola. She is the guest now of her mother, Mrs. Frank Marston.
LIEUT. CROWTHER crashed several days before Christmas, but the news did not reach Lucia until Christmas Eve. He was buried January 3rd at the family burying ground in Worcester, Mas. Lucia remained with his mother for a long visit and is now in Pensacola to make her home, because this city is dear to her and because the New England climate is too severe for this girl of the far South, who made her home for so many years at Caracaibo, Venezuela, South America.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

When his engagement was announced in October 1940, he was attached to the First Marine air group in Quantico, Virginia.
James graduated from Technical High School, Springfield, in 1930. “Jim,” “Red.” Hi-Y 3; Sherman Club 1; Rifle Club 1; Torch Club 1, 2; Forum 1, 2, 3; Crew 2, 3; Class Will 3; Traffic Squad 1, 2, 3. “The tongue is not steel, yet it cuts."

He was also survived by his mother.

James is buried in Massachusetts.

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.

October 1935

2nd Lieutenant, Marine Base San Diego, California