JOHN W. SALVAGE, LT, USN

John Salvage '39

Date of birth: July 26, 1916

Date of death: November 13, 1942

Age: 26

Lucky Bag

From the 1939 Lucky Bag:

JOHN WALTZ SALVAGE

Coshocton, Ohio

Rosy, Sal

Aside from his habit of singing "Marching Through Georgia," he's been a fine roommate, having passed the acid test of having what you want to borrow when you want to borrow it. Plebe year he was dubbed "Rosy" and has constantly lived up to his name. He boasts the most entrancing blush east of the Rockies (you ought to see him on Saturday nights!) Quite snaky with the women, too, he has set an unprecedented record of dragging six out of seven weekends. A fiend at bridge but conservative at poker, he usually comes out ahead in both; and this is pretty typical of the results of all his doings — he gets the bacon. It's been fun to be around him, and great to know him.

Boxing 4; Battalion Boxing 2, 1; Battalion Football 3; Company Pistol 2; Radio Club 4, 3, 2, 1; Boat Club 3, 2; M.P.O.

JOHN WALTZ SALVAGE

Coshocton, Ohio

Rosy, Sal

Aside from his habit of singing "Marching Through Georgia," he's been a fine roommate, having passed the acid test of having what you want to borrow when you want to borrow it. Plebe year he was dubbed "Rosy" and has constantly lived up to his name. He boasts the most entrancing blush east of the Rockies (you ought to see him on Saturday nights!) Quite snaky with the women, too, he has set an unprecedented record of dragging six out of seven weekends. A fiend at bridge but conservative at poker, he usually comes out ahead in both; and this is pretty typical of the results of all his doings — he gets the bacon. It's been fun to be around him, and great to know him.

Boxing 4; Battalion Boxing 2, 1; Battalion Football 3; Company Pistol 2; Radio Club 4, 3, 2, 1; Boat Club 3, 2; M.P.O.

Loss

John was lost in USS Juneau (CL 52) during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal on November 13, 1942.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

John played center on the Coshocton High School football team and graduated in 1934. Glee Club 1, 2; Party Com. 1, 2; Football 2, 3, 4; Scholarship Team 2; Class Basketball 2, 3, 4; Hi-Y 3, 4; Class Play 3; Dramatics Club 3, 4; Howler Club 4; Tom-Tom 4; County Test 4. Prophecy: owns a ritzy night club.
He married in June of 1941. His son was John Waltz Salvage, Jr., of Smithfield, Virginia.
The Tribune newspaper reported that he did not receive mail for quite a while and received 80 letters at once.
In late 1941, high school classmate Gene (Ralph) Kempf met John in a store 10,000 miles from Coshocton while both were on shore leave. Neither knew that both were in the Navy. In 1962, Gene owned Kempf Electric which stocked GE appliances.
John's father Robert was a foundry production manager in 1930. He died on June 2, 1942. John’s mother was Gladys; brothers Robert and Seward, and sister Hester.

His wife, Betty, was listed as next of kin. He has a memory marker in Ohio.

Photographs

From the Lucky Bag
From The Coshocton Tribune on December 13, 1942

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.