RAY A. SNODGRASS, LTJG, USN

Ray Snodgrass '37

Date of birth: November 4, 1914

Date of death: March 1, 1942

Age: 27

Lucky Bag

From the 1937 Lucky Bag:

RAY ARVEL SNODGRASS

New Martinsville, West Virginia

"Snod" "Red"

Entering one's room to find his roommate reading a voluminous letter and one's own desk blotter empty is a complete sensation in itself. One stoically consoles himself, however, returns his texts to the shelf, and turns around. Behold! Three letters on that previously bare blotter. More inclined to be quiescent than loquacious, Ray delights in original reasoning. Many times, we have heard him propose a new idea for some gadget. So far, however, someone else has "beaten him to the draw." That the future may prove different is a foregone conclusion of all who know him.

Cross Country 3. Radio Club 2, 1. Company C.P.O.

RAY ARVEL SNODGRASS

New Martinsville, West Virginia

"Snod" "Red"

Entering one's room to find his roommate reading a voluminous letter and one's own desk blotter empty is a complete sensation in itself. One stoically consoles himself, however, returns his texts to the shelf, and turns around. Behold! Three letters on that previously bare blotter. More inclined to be quiescent than loquacious, Ray delights in original reasoning. Many times, we have heard him propose a new idea for some gadget. So far, however, someone else has "beaten him to the draw." That the future may prove different is a foregone conclusion of all who know him.

Cross Country 3. Radio Club 2, 1. Company C.P.O.

Loss

Ray was lost when USS Edsall (DD 219) was sunk on on March 1, 1942 by Japanese surface and air forces. He was the ship's torpedo officer.

His wife was listed as next of kin.

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.