JOSEPH C. HUBBARD, CDR, USN
Joseph Hubbard '21
Lucky Bag
From the 1921 Lucky Bag:
Joseph Charles Hubbard
Danbury, Connecticut
"Si" "Shorty" "Pom" "Joe"
SI HAILS from Danbury where they make the famous hats, "the best state in the union, absolutely." He is savvy but not energetic, or rather his work comes in sport. "Well Si you sat in everything.?" "Oh I dunno, let's see—"
One weakness towers above all others—he falls for the wimmen. He shakes his roommate for the mail three times a day and gets all the letters anyhow. Philadelphia made a strong impression on him. One cruise there and he knew all the girls in town. Why doesn't he drag often? Well they live too far away and all the small talk necessary to get along with the femmes is rather strenuous. Besides they don't shimmy at the hops, just plain dancing.
Nicotine? Yeh, someone gave him a cigar once. He took it and tried to appear normal to a shipmate. Two minutes later he looked blue in the face. "Sort of a bum cigar?"
Shorty's cheerful disposition and good nature should be a valuable asset to him in the days to come and we'll always know where to take our troubles.
Buzzard; Log Staff (3, 2, 1).
The Class of 1921 was the last of the wartime-accelerated classes. "1921A" was graduated on June 3, 1920; the second half, "1921B", was graduated on June 2, 1921. Joseph was graduated with 1921B.
Joseph Charles Hubbard
Danbury, Connecticut
"Si" "Shorty" "Pom" "Joe"
SI HAILS from Danbury where they make the famous hats, "the best state in the union, absolutely." He is savvy but not energetic, or rather his work comes in sport. "Well Si you sat in everything.?" "Oh I dunno, let's see—"
One weakness towers above all others—he falls for the wimmen. He shakes his roommate for the mail three times a day and gets all the letters anyhow. Philadelphia made a strong impression on him. One cruise there and he knew all the girls in town. Why doesn't he drag often? Well they live too far away and all the small talk necessary to get along with the femmes is rather strenuous. Besides they don't shimmy at the hops, just plain dancing.
Nicotine? Yeh, someone gave him a cigar once. He took it and tried to appear normal to a shipmate. Two minutes later he looked blue in the face. "Sort of a bum cigar?"
Shorty's cheerful disposition and good nature should be a valuable asset to him in the days to come and we'll always know where to take our troubles.
Buzzard; Log Staff (3, 2, 1).
The Class of 1921 was the last of the wartime-accelerated classes. "1921A" was graduated on June 3, 1920; the second half, "1921B", was graduated on June 2, 1921. Joseph was graduated with 1921B.
Loss
Joseph was lost when USS San Francisco (CA 38) was severely damaged during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal on November 13, 1942.
Other Information
From Navsource:
Joseph Charles Hubbard was born 24 January 1900 in Danbury, Conn., and graduated from the Naval Academy in 1921. After serving in various ships during his early career, Hubbard underwent submarine training in 1924-25 and reported on board his first command, O-7, in 1930. Following other assignments ashore and afloat, he reported to cruiser San Francisco in November 1939 as Damage Control Officer and First Lieutenant. Appointed Commander in 1942, Hubbard died 13 November 1942 on board San Francisco after the flagship for Admiral Callaghan, was crashed by a Japanese plane on 12 November. Hubbard relieved the critically wounded executive officer, and it was in this post that he was killed next day during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, as American ships prevented a Japanese bombardment of the island.
From researcher Kathy Franz:
On February 12, 1917, Joseph was interviewed per the direction of the State of Connecticut. His form stated he was 6’1” tall and weighed 126 lbs. He could ride a horse, handle a team, and drive a car.
Joseph was first alternate to the Naval Academy, but when the primary failed the physical examination, Joseph was accepted after passing his physical.
In December, 1937, Joseph sailed from Manila to San Francisco. His wife Helen joined him on the ship in Yokohama. Their children were Elizabeth born in Philadelphia in 1935, and Joseph born in Washington, D. C., in 1939.
Joseph’s parents were both born in Ireland. His father William was a hat maker in a Danbury factory. His mother was Hattie, and his brothers were William and Frances “Frank.”
His wife, Helen, was listed as next of kin; he was also survived by a daughter and son. Joseph has a memorial marker in Ohio.
Namesake
USS Hubbard (DE 211) was named for Joseph; the ship was sponsored by his widow.
Other
From the Urbana Daily Citizen, Tuesday March 20th 2012:
‘Children of Pearl’ to preserve memories of historic attack
A former Urbana woman has inspired a film project featuring people who were children of U.S. military families at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked on Dec. 7, 1941. Vivid recollections are being recorded by survivors, some who lost parents during the attack or during the wartime that followed. Their stories are being chronicled in a documentary, “Children of Pearl.” The hope of producers Glenn Burris and Jerry Sisser is to bring the stories to public television, museums and the Internet.
A woman with local family ties is involved with the project to preserve such memories. She spoke of the attack and film project with the Daily Citizen.
The aerial bombardment began at 7:55 a.m. and lasted until 9:45 a.m. as Japanese forces attacked about 84,000 uniformed Americans on the island of Oahu. It was mostly military personnel among the more than 2,400 killed in the battle.
Today, it’s estimated that fewer than 8,000 military survivors are alive. On Dec. 31, 2011, the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association disbanded as fewer than 2,700 members are living. Now in their late 80s and 90s, many have health issues that prevent them from attending anniversary events.
Many of the survivors’ children, now in their 70s and 80s, are members of the Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors national organization. Their goal is to keep the memory of the act of war alive for younger generations.
The former Anne Hubbard, formerly of Urbana, was living at Pearl Harbor with her father, Commander Joseph C. Hubbard, her mother and younger brother, Joe Hubbard, at the time of the attack.
She is now 77 years old and known as Anne Shambaugh, living in Sagamore Hills Township near Cleveland. Joe Hubbard lives in Glendale, near Cincinnati, where he once served as mayor.
Burris and Sisser of Home Stand, an Ohio production company, are collaborating on the project in hopes of preserving the memories for future generations. Burris, of Bowling Green, is Shambaugh’s son-in-law.
“Anne has been my mother-in-law for 20 years. She has talked about (Pearl Harbor) for years. I thought it would be a great public interest item to talk with these people. It all started with Anne,” he said.
In 2010, Burris attended the 69th anniversary of the attack with survivors in Hawaii. The project will include Hawaiian children and Japanese children living on the island at the time and how their lives changed.
In a posting on Facebook, Shambaugh’s ordeal is noted.
It reads, in part, that her father “was on his way to duty on that fateful Sunday morning, driven by Anne’s mother. Before they could reach the base, the attack began, and their car was strafed (dam- aged by enemy fire). Anne’s mother soon found herself alone by the side of the road, as Commander Hubbard hurried on to Pearl Harbor alone. Anne’s mom had to make her way home on her own, and Cmdr. Hubbard was soon at sea, sadly, never to return.”
Shambaugh recalls her mother attempting to drive her father to the naval base as enemy planes flew overhead and shrapnel hit the car. She said her brother was an infant at the time, too young to recall the day.
Although the commander survived the Dec. 7 attack, it would be the last time the family saw him. He was killed aboard the USS San Francisco during a night surface engagement on Nov. 13, 1942. He was honored posthumously with the Navy Cross, one of the Navy’s highest honors. As a tribute, the USS Hubbard was launched a year later serving as a destroyer escort ship.
Shambaugh spoke of the phone call her mother received Dec. 24, 1941. An officer advised her of an evacuation telling her to have the family packed and ready to board a ship in Honolulu headed to the states by 5 p.m. the next day.
The Hubbards first traveled to San Francisco and soon would return to Urbana.
Shambaugh said her local family roots extend into the pre-Revolutionary War era. Connected family names include Simon Kenton, Chance, Whitaker and Steinberger. Her mother, the former Helen Chance, lived at 419 N. Main St., a house no longer in existence.
Chance taught school and eventually moved to Boston, where she met her future husband, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis. They were married the day of an Army-Navy football game.
Anne was born in Philadelphia. The family was stationed in Singapore before being sent to Pearl Harbor. When her father was killed, Shambaugh said, the family stayed in Urbana to care for her maternal grandparents. She graduated from Urbana High School in 1952.
Shambaugh moved from Urbana in 1972 when her husband, who died in 2000, was transferred to the Cleveland area. Her sister-in-law, Janet Anderson, lives in Urbana.
“I believe it’s important for people not to forget Pearl Harbor. We were very fortunate that World War II changed the way we thought about the world, but we were only bombed that one time in our country,” Shambaugh said.
She plans to return to Urbana for her 60th high school class reunion this year.
Burris and Sisser are featuring the stories of other survivors. One recalls a piece of the USS Arizona landing in the front yard after exploding. Another tells of staring into the eyes of a Japanese pilot in her front yard. Several spoke of their playground becoming a battlefield.
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.
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LCDR Norman Scott '11
LCDR Albert Rooks '14
LCDR Cassin Young '16
LT John Gillon '20
LT John Burrow '21
LT Edwin Crouch '21
LTjg Howard Healy '22
LTjg William Ault '22
October 1928
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