ORVILLE S. SMITH, ENS, USN

Orville Smith '40

Date of birth: June 13, 1916

Date of death: December 7, 1941

Age: 25

Lucky Bag

From the 1940 Lucky Bag:

ORVILLE STANLEY SMITH

Iraan, Texas

Smitty

Smitty comes from those picturesque prairies covered with oil derricks — Western Texas. He hasn't starred yet, but he has always made a good showing, even with the odds decidedly against him at times. Good natured, serious minded, but not too serious to appreciate even the worst joke, tolerant of the novel and unusual, as well as the old and trite ideas and discoveries of his roommates, ambitious but not a cutthroat, Smitty gives indications of being able to hold his own in the Navy or wherever he may happen to be. His ability and perseverance will make him a worthy officer; his adaptability, a fine friend.

Log 4; Spanish Club 2; 1 Stripe.

ORVILLE STANLEY SMITH

Iraan, Texas

Smitty

Smitty comes from those picturesque prairies covered with oil derricks — Western Texas. He hasn't starred yet, but he has always made a good showing, even with the odds decidedly against him at times. Good natured, serious minded, but not too serious to appreciate even the worst joke, tolerant of the novel and unusual, as well as the old and trite ideas and discoveries of his roommates, ambitious but not a cutthroat, Smitty gives indications of being able to hold his own in the Navy or wherever he may happen to be. His ability and perseverance will make him a worthy officer; his adaptability, a fine friend.

Log 4; Spanish Club 2; 1 Stripe.

Loss

Smitty was lost in USS Arizona (BB 39) during the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Orville enlisted in the Navy on October 19, 1934. His father William was a manager of a garage, mother Beulah, sisters Virginia and Betty.

His mother was listed as next of kin.

Orville is remembered at the USS Arizona Memorial and the Courts of the Missing in Hawaii.

Photographs

From the Lucky Bag

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.