JOHN S. GRAFF, LTJG, USN

John Graff '26

Date of birth: July 31, 1905

Date of death: August 22, 1934

Age: 29

Lucky Bag

From the 1926 Lucky Bag:

John Scott Graff

Rushville, Illinois

"Jack"

"SAY, Jack; got that new book that came out last week?"

"Sure, but some one is reading it now. Vanity Fair came today, however."

Yes, the boy was a charter member of the Radiator Club, and an earnest exponent of its merits. A book and a pipe are his greatest delights. Pipe—it should be plural. Long pipes, short pipes, fat pipes and slim, slender ones. How he ran his cycle is a secret; but perhaps his big red tobacco can could tell.

"Never have and never will, by Gee!"—were his firm sentiments on dragging. It did seem strange that a boy who received as many letters as he, should be a Red Mike. But red he was, he even eschewed all music not sealed in red.

When he checkmated you in five moves, or set you two Spades, you may have been inclined to think that he should have been allowed a handicap, out where the grass is green, or that the love sets would all roll your way; but you might be surprised.

There is time though when he gets back from the Asiatics. We'll see. If she doesn't make him wear red neckties, she should. And methinks that in this little game of life, when the last move is made, we'll find the boy top-side.

Class Track (4, 2); Log Staff (2, 1).

John Scott Graff

Rushville, Illinois

"Jack"

"SAY, Jack; got that new book that came out last week?"

"Sure, but some one is reading it now. Vanity Fair came today, however."

Yes, the boy was a charter member of the Radiator Club, and an earnest exponent of its merits. A book and a pipe are his greatest delights. Pipe—it should be plural. Long pipes, short pipes, fat pipes and slim, slender ones. How he ran his cycle is a secret; but perhaps his big red tobacco can could tell.

"Never have and never will, by Gee!"—were his firm sentiments on dragging. It did seem strange that a boy who received as many letters as he, should be a Red Mike. But red he was, he even eschewed all music not sealed in red.

When he checkmated you in five moves, or set you two Spades, you may have been inclined to think that he should have been allowed a handicap, out where the grass is green, or that the love sets would all roll your way; but you might be surprised.

There is time though when he gets back from the Asiatics. We'll see. If she doesn't make him wear red neckties, she should. And methinks that in this little game of life, when the last move is made, we'll find the boy top-side.

Class Track (4, 2); Log Staff (2, 1).

Loss

John was lost on August 22, 1934 when his SU-1 aircraft, from Scouting Squadron (VS) 2B, "crashed into the sea" while attempting to land aboard USS Saratoga off the coast of Norfolk.

He earned his wings as naval aviator #3506 on August 7, 1929 as a LTjg.

From researcher Kathy Franz:

John’s father was also named John, his mother was Helen, and his sister was Sarah. John married Ella Marie Kettenburg, and they had two sons. John Alan was born in 1931 in Peking, China. He graduated from the Naval Academy in 1953 and later transferred to the Air Force and served 22 years. Paul was born in Maryland in 1933.
A week after his death, it was announced that he was one of 150 officers to be promoted to Lieutenant.

John is buried in California. He was survived by his wife, Ella, and son John (born 1931, USNA Class of 1953).

Other

On November 14, 1932, the car he was driving "collided with a Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis electric train at the crossing near Arnold. Mrs. Graff, who was riding with her husband, is in the hospital here with a fractured collar bone. Lieutenant Graff, a student at the post-graduate school at the Naval Academy, suffered lacerations." (The Baltimore Sun, November 15, 1932.)

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.