ROBERT H. HURST, LT, USNR

Robert Hurst '40

Date of birth: August 30, 1917

Date of death: July 30, 1945

Age: 27

Lucky Bag

From the 1940 Lucky Bag:

ROBERT HUNTLEY HURST

Stanford, Montana

Bob

Bob, with an uncanny ability of finding out what makes the wheels go around, has kept us off the bush many a time. Always ready for a good bull session, Bob somehow invariably works the conversation around to the "Good Old West." Although a confirmed believer in the radiator squad, he has done some excellent work on the Log staff. A good mixer, a fine dancer with plenty of charm, Bob is a snake from "way back." Even with volumes of unanswered correspondence, there is scarcely a day goes by without some reward in the mail for Bob. A great one for helping us over the humps, Bob has been an excellent roommate.

Track 4; Log 3, 2, Business Manager 1; C.P.O.

ROBERT HUNTLEY HURST

Stanford, Montana

Bob

Bob, with an uncanny ability of finding out what makes the wheels go around, has kept us off the bush many a time. Always ready for a good bull session, Bob somehow invariably works the conversation around to the "Good Old West." Although a confirmed believer in the radiator squad, he has done some excellent work on the Log staff. A good mixer, a fine dancer with plenty of charm, Bob is a snake from "way back." Even with volumes of unanswered correspondence, there is scarcely a day goes by without some reward in the mail for Bob. A great one for helping us over the humps, Bob has been an excellent roommate.

Track 4; Log 3, 2, Business Manager 1; C.P.O.

Loss

Bob was lost in USS Indianapolis (CA 35) when she was sunk by a Japanese submarine on July 30, 1945.

From the now-defunct website of the History of Class of 1940:

A short Note about our classmate, Robert Huntley Hurst, of Stanford, Montana. Paraphrasing from page 62 of Abandon Ship - Death of the USS INDIANAPOLIS (by Richard F. Newcomb, Henry Holt and Co., 1958, LC Card No. 58-11218), Bob was the assistant damage control officer, standing watch in Damage Control of the INDIANAPOLIS from 1945 until 2345 on the night of July 29, 1945. The INDIANAPOLIS was about one third of the way to Leyte Gulf from Guam, making an SOA of 15.7 knots. When relieved, Bob went to his room and John Woolston, his partner on watch, went to the wardroom for a cup of coffee. At two minutes after midnight the first torpedo from the Japanese submarine I- 58 struck. In less than 16 minutes; the INDIANAPOLIS, in Condition Yoke Modified, sank. Woolston was a survivor, but Bob Hurst was one of the 880 lost out of a crew of 1196 -- he was the last classmate lost during World War II. Phil Echert

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Robert reported to the naval reserve in Seattle in July 1941. He was made a lieutenant in July 1942 when he was an instructor teaching navigation at the reserve officers training school at Bremerton, Washington. In the spring of 1945, he was transferred to the Indianapolis.
His parents were Robert, a farmer, and Lora. His sister Ruth died at age 9.

Robert graduated with his class on June 6, 1940, but was discharged from the regular Navy that day; it seems that he was commissioned directly into the reserves for some reason. (His date of rank in the July 1941 "Commissioned Officers, Cadets, Midshipmen, and Warrant Officers of the United States Naval Reserve" is June 6, 1940.)

His parents were listed as next of kin. Bob has a memory marker in Montana.