ROBERT E. VANDLING, LCDR, USN

Robert Vandling '32

Date of birth: August 11, 1909

Date of death: August 9, 1942

Age: 32

Lucky Bag

From the 1932 Lucky Bag:

ROBERT EDWARD VANDLING

Clearfield, Pennsylvania

"Bob" "Van"

Bobby was born in Clearfield way back when '09 was quite the thing. In case you don't see Clearfield on the map it's at the intersection of a couple of meridians. In his parlance it is much more —the only town in the United States having a nickel mill, facing south, with a red tile roof.

Early in life he evidenced his natural bent toward things military, for one day when his mother wasn't home he shaved for the first time and found he had grown up, so he ups and joins the Cavalry—the over, under, and through brigade, mostly over. Then he heard the call, saw the light and found himself in the Navy.

Versatile and volatile—red heads, brunettes, blondes, Blake-Knowles and juice profs, they're all alike to him and he treats them all with the same warm affection. Good natured, energetic, ambitious, enthusiastic, savvy, square-shooting, by the way, he was on the rifle team four years, he is always welcome at anything from the loudest bull session to the roughest tea fight.

Rifle; 1 P. O.; Plebe Crew

Bob was a member of the Rifle Squad.

ROBERT EDWARD VANDLING

Clearfield, Pennsylvania

"Bob" "Van"

Bobby was born in Clearfield way back when '09 was quite the thing. In case you don't see Clearfield on the map it's at the intersection of a couple of meridians. In his parlance it is much more —the only town in the United States having a nickel mill, facing south, with a red tile roof.

Early in life he evidenced his natural bent toward things military, for one day when his mother wasn't home he shaved for the first time and found he had grown up, so he ups and joins the Cavalry—the over, under, and through brigade, mostly over. Then he heard the call, saw the light and found himself in the Navy.

Versatile and volatile—red heads, brunettes, blondes, Blake-Knowles and juice profs, they're all alike to him and he treats them all with the same warm affection. Good natured, energetic, ambitious, enthusiastic, savvy, square-shooting, by the way, he was on the rifle team four years, he is always welcome at anything from the loudest bull session to the roughest tea fight.

Rifle; 1 P. O.; Plebe Crew

Bob was a member of the Rifle Squad.

Loss

Robert was lost on August 9, 1942, when USS Jarvis (DD 393) was sunk by Japanese aircraft near Guadalcanal.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Robert graduated in 1927 from Clearfield high school. “Bob.” “Haste not, rest not.” Scientific. Dramatics 2. La Societe francaise 3, 4. Glee Club 1, 2, 4. Hand-book Staff 4. Scholarship 3. Highest Ambition: To be a forester. Favorite Song: “Lonesome and Sorry.” The class poem included this stanza: “Bob Vandling comes next on our list, Who studies the whole day through, He gets nineties in Solid Geometry, I think he deserves them, don’t you?” As a sophomore, he played Deacon Wiggin in the class play, “Agatha’s Aunt.”
At the February, 1928, banquet of troop A, 104th calvary, Private Robert qualified as marksman with pistol, dismounted, and he qualified as sharpshooter with machine rifle.
Robert received a fractured leg and injuries in an auto accident in July, 1928. His car was forced off the road into a culvert. He was laid up for 42 days and was awarded $60 by the court.
Besides the Naval Academy, Robert was also accepted to enter Pennsylvania State College in the fall of 1928.
His father Edward, who was a railroad locomotive engineer, died in 1928. His mother was Mary, sister Kathryn, and brother Harry.

His wife was listed as next of kin; he was also survived by at least one child, a son. Robert has a memory marker in Pennsylvania.

Photographs

From his high school yearbook

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.