JOHN M. DUKE, LT, USN

John Duke '26

Date of birth: February 16, 1903

Date of death: December 9, 1938

Age: 35

Lucky Bag

From the 1926 Lucky Bag:

John Martindale Duke

Ashland City, Tennessee

"Jawn" "What Ho!"

HAVING achieved considerable success in 'possum hunting, Ye Duke felt the need of bigger guns and smaller targets, which accounts for another pampered pet from the Volunteer State.

At a glance you would think Jawn reserved, almost shy; nothing could be further from the facts. While he exhibits that backwood's grin he digests and files you, and five years later when you meet him in Lower Squankum he'll hand you the Addison Sims of Seattle, "Of course I———etc."

The Duke's specialty is wrestling. Plebe year it was for a 2.5 in Math, and while it was a long bout our hero nosed the Academics out and it wasn't a Semitic nose. Youngster year, attention went to the legitimate mat, and continued effort Second Class year brought toast with it.

Jawn also takes his turn in the Armory, and a week-end without a hop is a week-end wasted, almost. After all, as he admits, a week-end is a week-end.

What-Ho! has no great vices but there are a few things that might be told. When he brushes his teeth it sounds like an elephant taking a drink from a shallow pan. He thinks the "Lives of the Lady Killers" would be an autobiography, and that the Ashland City Announcer or whatever it may be is a newspaper.

Wrestling Squad (2); Class Soccer (1).

John Martindale Duke

Ashland City, Tennessee

"Jawn" "What Ho!"

HAVING achieved considerable success in 'possum hunting, Ye Duke felt the need of bigger guns and smaller targets, which accounts for another pampered pet from the Volunteer State.

At a glance you would think Jawn reserved, almost shy; nothing could be further from the facts. While he exhibits that backwood's grin he digests and files you, and five years later when you meet him in Lower Squankum he'll hand you the Addison Sims of Seattle, "Of course I———etc."

The Duke's specialty is wrestling. Plebe year it was for a 2.5 in Math, and while it was a long bout our hero nosed the Academics out and it wasn't a Semitic nose. Youngster year, attention went to the legitimate mat, and continued effort Second Class year brought toast with it.

Jawn also takes his turn in the Armory, and a week-end without a hop is a week-end wasted, almost. After all, as he admits, a week-end is a week-end.

What-Ho! has no great vices but there are a few things that might be told. When he brushes his teeth it sounds like an elephant taking a drink from a shallow pan. He thinks the "Lives of the Lady Killers" would be an autobiography, and that the Ashland City Announcer or whatever it may be is a newspaper.

Wrestling Squad (2); Class Soccer (1).

Loss

John was lost on December 9, 1938 when the plane he was aboard collided with another and then crashed off Point Loma, California. He was a member of Fighting Squadron (VF) 2.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

The planes were attached to fighting squadron 2, temporarily based at North Island from the aircraft carrier Lexington. They were engaged in gunnery training when they both dived on a sleeve target and collided.
John was appointed to the Naval Academy by Congressman Joseph W. Byrns.
He married Eleanor Carrington Stark of Norfolk in August 1928. They had two children, Eleanor and John, Jr.
John would usually land at the Clarksville Airport when he flew to Tennessee to visit his father.
His father John was a hardware store merchant, mother Josephine, and sisters Cora, Julia, Sarah, Nancy and Virginia.

He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. "Lt. Duke is survived by his wife, Mrs. Eleanor S. Duke and two children, Eleanor and Johnnie, who left for Norfolk this week."

His class ring is in the collection of the US Naval Academy Museum.

Photographs

VF-2 at NAS San Diego in late 1937 or 1938.

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 1926

Ensign, USS Texas

Others at this command:

LT Charles Cecil '16

January 1927

Ensign, USS Texas

Others at this command:

LT Charles Cecil '16

April 1927

Ensign, USS Texas

Others at this command:

LT Charles Cecil '16

Others at or embarked at this command:

LTjg William Davis '22 (Observation Plane Squadron (VS) 6)

October 1927

Ensign, USS Texas

January 1928

Ensign, USS Texas

Others at this command:

ENS Robert Winters '27

ENS Joseph Flynn '27

April 1928

Ensign, USS Kidder

Others at this command:

ENS James Smith, Jr. '25

July 1928

Ensign, USS Kidder

Others at this command:

ENS James Smith, Jr. '25

October 1928

Ensign, USS Kidder

January 1929

Ensign, USS Kidder

April 1929

Ensign, USS Kidder

July 1929

Lieutenant (j.g.), USS Kidder

October 1929

Lieutenant (j.g.), USS Kidder

Others at this command:

ENS Weldon Hamilton '28

January 1930

Lieutenant (j.g.), USS Kidder

Others at this command:

ENS Weldon Hamilton '28

April 1930

Lieutenant (j.g.), USS Roper

October 1931

Lieutenant (j.g.), Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 9S, USS Northampton

Others at or embarked at USS Northampton:

LCDR Albert Rooks '14 (USS Northampton)
ENS Alfred Grove '30 (USS Northampton)
ENS Arthur Spring '30 (USS Northampton)

ENS Lion Miles '31 (USS Northampton)
ENS Damon Cummings '31 (USS Northampton)
ENS James Kelsey, Jr. '31 (USS Northampton)

January 1932

Lieutenant (j.g.), Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 9S, USS Northampton

Others at or embarked at USS Northampton:

LCDR Albert Rooks '14 (USS Northampton)
ENS Arthur Spring '30 (USS Northampton)
ENS Lion Miles '31 (USS Northampton)

ENS Damon Cummings '31 (USS Northampton)
ENS James Kelsey, Jr. '31 (USS Northampton)

April 1932

Lieutenant (j.g.), Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 9S, USS Northampton

Others at or embarked at USS Northampton:

LCDR Albert Rooks '14 (USS Northampton)
ENS Arthur Spring '30 (USS Northampton)
ENS Lion Miles '31 (USS Northampton)

ENS Damon Cummings '31 (USS Northampton)
ENS James Kelsey, Jr. '31 (USS Northampton)

October 1932

Lieutenant (j.g.), Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 9S, USS Northampton

Others at or embarked at USS Northampton:

LCDR Albert Rooks '14 (USS Northampton)
ENS Alfred Grove '30 (USS Northampton)
ENS Arthur Spring '30 (USS Northampton)

ENS Damon Cummings '31 (USS Northampton)
ENS James Kelsey, Jr. '31 (USS Northampton)

January 1933

Lieutenant (j.g.), Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 9S, USS Northampton

Others at or embarked at USS Northampton:

LCDR Albert Rooks '14 (USS Northampton)
ENS Alfred Grove '30 (USS Northampton)
ENS Arthur Spring '30 (USS Northampton)

ENS Damon Cummings '31 (USS Northampton)
ENS James Kelsey, Jr. '31 (USS Northampton)

April 1933

Lieutenant (j.g.), Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 9S, USS Northampton

Others at or embarked at USS Northampton:

LCDR Albert Rooks '14 (USS Northampton)
ENS Alfred Grove '30 (USS Northampton)

ENS Damon Cummings '31 (USS Northampton)

July 1933

Lieutenant (j.g.), Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 9S, USS Northampton

Others at this command:

ENS Alfred Tucker, III '31

Others at or embarked at USS Northampton:

ENS Alfred Grove '30 (USS Northampton)
ENS Damon Cummings '31 (USS Northampton)

2LT Cleo Keen '32 (USS Northampton)

October 1933

Lieutenant (j.g.), Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 9S, USS Northampton

Others at this command:

ENS Alfred Tucker, III '31

Others at or embarked at USS Northampton:

LTjg Alfred Grove '30 (USS Northampton)
ENS Damon Cummings '31 (USS Northampton)

2LT Cleo Keen '32 (USS Northampton)

April 1934

Lieutenant (j.g.), Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 9S, USS Northampton

Others at this command:

ENS Alfred Tucker, III '31

Others at or embarked at USS Northampton:

LTjg Alfred Grove '30 (USS Northampton)
ENS Damon Cummings '31 (USS Northampton)

2LT Cleo Keen '32 (USS Northampton)

October 1935

Lieutenant (j.g.), Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida

Others at this command:

September 1937

Lieutenant, Fighting Squadron (VF) 2, USS Lexington

Others at this command:

LTjg William Kane '33

Others at or embarked at USS Lexington:

LT William Eaton '21 (USS Lexington)
LT Ralph Smith '26 (Torpedo Squadron (VT) 2)
LT Renwick Calderhead '27 (Torpedo Squadron (VT) 2)
LTjg George Ottinger '32 (Bombing Squadron (VB) 2)
LTjg Burden Hastings '33 (Torpedo Squadron (VT) 2)

LTjg George Klinsmann '33 (Torpedo Squadron (VT) 2)
LTjg Thompson Guthrie, Jr. '34 (Scouting Squadron (VS) 2)
ENS John Eichmann '35 (USS Lexington)
ENS Thomas Edwards, Jr. '37 (USS Lexington)

January 1938

Lieutenant, Fighting Squadron (VF) 2, USS Lexington

Others at this command:

LTjg William Kane '33

Others at or embarked at USS Lexington:

LT William Eaton '21 (USS Lexington)
LT Ralph Smith '26 (Torpedo Squadron (VT) 2)
LT Renwick Calderhead '27 (Torpedo Squadron (VT) 2)
LTjg John Speer '32 (USS Lexington)
LTjg George Ottinger '32 (Bombing Squadron (VB) 2)

LTjg Burden Hastings '33 (Torpedo Squadron (VT) 2)
LTjg George Klinsmann '33 (Torpedo Squadron (VT) 2)
LTjg Thompson Guthrie, Jr. '34 (Scouting Squadron (VS) 2)
ENS Thomas Edwards, Jr. '37 (USS Lexington)

July 1938

Lieutenant, Fighting Squadron (VF) 2, USS Lexington

Others at this command:

LTjg Charles Crommelin '31

Others at or embarked at USS Lexington:

LT Clair Miller '29 (USS Lexington)
LTjg John Speer '32 (USS Lexington)
LTjg Robert Goodgame, Jr. '32 (Scouting Squadron (VS) 2)
LTjg Burden Hastings '33 (Torpedo Squadron (VT) 2)
LTjg George Klinsmann '33 (Torpedo Squadron (VT) 2)

LTjg Thompson Guthrie, Jr. '34 (Scouting Squadron (VS) 2)
ENS Thomas Edwards, Jr. '37 (USS Lexington)
ENS Frank Case, Jr. '38 (USS Lexington)
ENS John Woodruff '38 (USS Lexington)

Class of 1926

John is one of 36 members of the Class of 1926 on Virtual Memorial Hall.

← Charles Signer '26

Ralph Smith '26 →

The "category" links below lead to lists of related Honorees; use them to explore further the service and sacrifice of alumni in Memorial Hall.

JOHN M. DUKE, LT, USN

John Duke '26

Lucky Bag

John Martindale Duke

John Martindale Duke

Loss

Other Information

Photographs

Navy Directories & Officer Registers

October 1926

January 1927

April 1927

October 1927

January 1928

April 1928

July 1928

October 1928

January 1929

April 1929

July 1929

October 1929

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October 1934

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