THOMAS D. SHRIVER, LT, USN

Thomas Shriver '35

Date of birth: September 28, 1912

Date of death: October 15, 1942

Age: 30

Lucky Bag

From the 1935 Lucky Bag:

THOMAS DONALD SHRIVER

Cincinnati, Ohio

"Whitey" "Axel" "Tom"

VAS you effer in Zinzinnati?" To Whitey, the home town and paradise are one and the same. How he ever managed to tear himself from this wonder city is a mystery as yet unsolved. He prefers blondes, is a heart-breaker on leave, a smooth dancer, and occasionally (alas!) a crooner. Football invokes an active participation on his part. There may be others who spend more of their time asleep, but there are none who take more delight in this sport than he does. Tom is a good wife, not even complaining when his last towel disappears.

Football 4, 3, 2, 1, Numeral. Crew 4, 3, 2, 1, Numeral. Press Gang 3, 2, 1. 2 Stripes.

THOMAS DONALD SHRIVER

Cincinnati, Ohio

"Whitey" "Axel" "Tom"

VAS you effer in Zinzinnati?" To Whitey, the home town and paradise are one and the same. How he ever managed to tear himself from this wonder city is a mystery as yet unsolved. He prefers blondes, is a heart-breaker on leave, a smooth dancer, and occasionally (alas!) a crooner. Football invokes an active participation on his part. There may be others who spend more of their time asleep, but there are none who take more delight in this sport than he does. Tom is a good wife, not even complaining when his last towel disappears.

Football 4, 3, 2, 1, Numeral. Crew 4, 3, 2, 1, Numeral. Press Gang 3, 2, 1. 2 Stripes.

Loss

Thomas was lost when USS Meredith (DD 434) was sunk by Japanese air attack on October 15, 1942.

Other Information

From Find A Grave:

The husband of Julia Blanca Arjona, and he the son of Edward Augustus Shriver and Mary Margaret Ripple.
Child: Margaret Isabel Shriver, died as a child.
Lieutenant Thomas Donald Shriver, graduated from the United States Naval Academy with the Class of 1935. While stationed at Carracus, Venezuela, he met Julia Blanca, daughter of Dr. Julio Arjona, the governor of Panama, whom he later married. During the Second World War served as gunnery officer aboard the U.S.S. Meredith. He was buried at sea, but a cenotaph was erected to his memory on the Shriver-Ripple plot on Burns Hill.

His wife was listed as next of kin.

From The Cincinnati Enquirer on November 26, 1942:

Relatives Are Notified Of Death Of Lieutenant Thomas D. Shriver, Third In Command Aboard Recently Constructed Destroyer.
THOMAS D. SHRIVER. Relatives of Lieutenant Thomas Donald Shriver, third in command a recently constructed destroyer, have been informed of his death in action by a telegram from the Navy Department. Lieutenant Shriver, 30 years old, graduate of Hughes High School and the Annapolis Naval Academy 1935, helped equip the destroyer after its launching. He was in charge of all gunnery abroad the craft. Lieutenant Shriver previously had been stationed on the Memphis, the Dallas, and the Bushnell, later rechristened the Sumner. His widow, formerly Julia Arjona Arias, is a daughter of Dr. Julio Arjorna, one-time Mayor, Governor and Secretary of the Government at Panama City. Mrs. Shriver and her fifteen-month-old daughter, Margaret Isabel, are living with Lieutenant Shriver's parents, Mr. and Mrs. E. A. Shriver, 3400 Bishop Street, Clifton.
A memorial requiem high mass will be sung at 9 o'clock tomorrow morning at the Church of the An… Besides his widow and daughter and his parents Lieutenant Shriver is survived by two brothers, James Shriver, now stationed with the Air Forces at Walnut Ridge, Ark., and John E. Shriver. Fort Mitchell, Ky.; brother-in-law. Lieutenant (J. G.) Paul Fischer, stationed at a naval base in California, and three sisters. Mrs. Elizabeth Ritterhoff, Mrs. Jane Fischer, and Mrs. Margaretta Forbes, Washington.

Photographs

The Edward Augustus Shriver Family-1931. Prepared for New Year's Eve festivities at The Netherlands Plaza, Cincinnati, Ohio. Photo from Antietam Ancestors, Volume VII, Numbers 2 and 4, Courtesy, Mrs. P.J. Fischer. Left To Right- Miss Margaret Shriver (Mrs. James D. Forbes) Thomas Donald Shriver, Edward A. Shriver, Miss Jane Shriver (Mrs. P. J. Fischer, Mrs. E.A. Shriver (NEE Mary Margaret Ripple), Miss Elizabeth Shriver (Mrs. Robert Ritterhoff, Robert James Shriver, and John E. Shriver.

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.