WALTER D. LEACH, JR., LT, USN
Walter Leach, Jr. '24
Lucky Bag
From the 1924 Lucky Bag:
WALTER DENNISON LEACH, Jr.
Callaway, Minnesota
"Doc"
SEAMANSHIP exam, question— How to determine whether or not anchor is dragging? ("Doc's" answer)—"Heave up on the anchor. If it is thoroughly caked with mud, the anchor has been dragging."
(He got a 3.38 that month, and yet they say brains count). However, "Doc" doesn't answer them all that way by a long shot.
He has always had trouble getting his habits to fit the schedule in vogue at the Academy. Whenever study hour busts, he simply has to caulk—that's all. His pet trick is to sleep during the whole of the evening study period and then to set the alarm for 5 A. M. But that doesn't necessarily mean that he gets up.
"See them hair? There are three now, but there used to be four." These precious hairs are things he ever humors. With no less than five kinds of soap, eight brands of hair tonic, and crude, cocoanut and olive oils, has he labored in vain to coax others to join those lonely three.
The snakish side of his nature was slow in developing, but when it did—well, there is nothing slow about it now.
"Hey, Andy, kom het nar, mean neck."
Class Boxing (4); Boxing Team (3, 2, 1); bNt (3, 2); International Intercollegiate Welterweight Boxing Champion; Academy Welterweight Champion (2).
WALTER DENNISON LEACH, Jr.
Callaway, Minnesota
"Doc"
SEAMANSHIP exam, question— How to determine whether or not anchor is dragging? ("Doc's" answer)—"Heave up on the anchor. If it is thoroughly caked with mud, the anchor has been dragging."
(He got a 3.38 that month, and yet they say brains count). However, "Doc" doesn't answer them all that way by a long shot.
He has always had trouble getting his habits to fit the schedule in vogue at the Academy. Whenever study hour busts, he simply has to caulk—that's all. His pet trick is to sleep during the whole of the evening study period and then to set the alarm for 5 A. M. But that doesn't necessarily mean that he gets up.
"See them hair? There are three now, but there used to be four." These precious hairs are things he ever humors. With no less than five kinds of soap, eight brands of hair tonic, and crude, cocoanut and olive oils, has he labored in vain to coax others to join those lonely three.
The snakish side of his nature was slow in developing, but when it did—well, there is nothing slow about it now.
"Hey, Andy, kom het nar, mean neck."
Class Boxing (4); Boxing Team (3, 2, 1); bNt (3, 2); International Intercollegiate Welterweight Boxing Champion; Academy Welterweight Champion (2).
Loss
Walter was lost "when plane he was piloting during gunnery exercise was completely wrecked and crashed into the sea ten miles northwest of La Jolla, California. Wreckage and body sank at once and were not recovered." He was a member of Bombing Squadron (VB) 5B, stationed at NAS San Diego.
Other Information
From researcher Kathy Franz:
Walter was born in Iowa. He married Virginia Elizabeth Graham at St. Luke’s church in San Francisco on December 14, 1926. Ensign Adolph Oswald (’24) was his best man. Walter’s children were Nancy and Walter, Jr.
Walter’s father, who was born in England, was a physician. His mother was Bertha of Chicago, and his brother was Bertram.
He was survived by his wife, Virginia, who remarried.
Walter has a memory marker in California. He was survived by a son, Walter D. Leach III. (Second to last posting on the page.)
Photographs
From the San Diego Union September 12, 1935
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.
July 1924
September 1924
November 1924
October 1926
October 1927
January 1928
April 1928
July 1928
October 1928
January 1929
LT Edwin Conway '20
LT LaRue Lawbaugh '20
LT Stephen Cooke '21
LT James Carney '21
LT Francis Bridget '21
LT John Jones '21
LTjg William Davis '22
April 1929
LT LaRue Lawbaugh '20
LT James Carney '21
LT Francis Bridget '21
LT John Jones '21
LTjg William Davis '22
LT James Craig '22
LTjg Hubert Waters '25
LTjg Creighton Lankford '25
ENS Henry G'Sell '26
July 1929
LT LaRue Lawbaugh '20
LT James Carney '21
LT John Jones '21
LTjg William Davis '22
LT James Craig '22
LTjg Matthias Marple, Jr. '23
LTjg Walter Dey '24
LTjg Hubert Waters '25
ENS Henry G'Sell '26
October 1929
LTjg Charles McDonald '24 (USS Saratoga)
LTjg Creighton Lankford '25 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 1B)
January 1930
LTjg Hubert Waters '25 (Aircraft Squadrons, Battle Fleet)
LTjg Creighton Lankford '25 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 1B)
LTjg Charles Signer '26 (Torpedo and Bombing Plane Squadron (VT) 2B)
LTjg Claude Haman '26 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 2B)
ENS Loren Morris '27 (Aircraft Squadrons, Battle Fleet)
ENS John Eldridge, Jr. '27 (Aircraft Squadrons, Battle Fleet)
ENS Eugene Lindsey '27 (Aircraft Squadrons, Battle Fleet)
ENS Julian Greer '27 (Aircraft Squadrons, Battle Fleet)
ENS Henry Twohy '29 (USS Saratoga)
April 1930
LTjg Creighton Lankford '25 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 1B)
LTjg Charles Signer '26 (Torpedo and Bombing Plane Squadron (VT) 2B)
LTjg Claude Haman '26 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 2B)
ENS Henry Twohy '29 (USS Saratoga)
ENS Jacob Britt '29 (USS Saratoga)
October 1930
LT Van Moore '19 (USS Saratoga)
LT Dixie Kiefer '19 (USS Saratoga)
LT William Sample '19 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 2B)
LTjg Creighton Lankford '25 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 1B)
LTjg Claude Haman '26 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 2B)
LTjg Robert Symes '27 (Torpedo and Bombing Plane Squadron (VT) 2B)
LTjg Renwick Calderhead '27 (Torpedo and Bombing Plane Squadron (VT) 2B)
LTjg John Eldridge, Jr. '27 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 2B)
ENS Weldon Hamilton '28 (Torpedo and Bombing Plane Squadron (VT) 2B)
ENS Jacob Britt '29 (USS Saratoga)
ENS Charles Hart '30 (USS Saratoga)
ENS James Clarkson '30 (USS Saratoga)
ENS Dudley Morton '30 (USS Saratoga)
ENS John Craig '30 (USS Saratoga)
ENS James Kyes '30 (USS Saratoga)
January 1931
LT Van Moore '19 (USS Saratoga)
LT Dixie Kiefer '19 (USS Saratoga)
LT William Sample '19 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 2B)
LTjg Creighton Lankford '25 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 1B)
LTjg Claude Haman '26 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 2B)
LTjg Robert Symes '27 (Torpedo and Bombing Plane Squadron (VT) 2B)
LTjg Renwick Calderhead '27 (Torpedo and Bombing Plane Squadron (VT) 2B)
LTjg John Eldridge, Jr. '27 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 2B)
ENS Weldon Hamilton '28 (Torpedo and Bombing Plane Squadron (VT) 2B)
ENS Jacob Britt '29 (USS Saratoga)
ENS Charles Hart '30 (USS Saratoga)
ENS James Clarkson '30 (USS Saratoga)
ENS Dudley Morton '30 (USS Saratoga)
ENS John Craig '30 (USS Saratoga)
ENS James Kyes '30 (USS Saratoga)
April 1931
LT Van Moore '19 (USS Saratoga)
LT Dixie Kiefer '19 (USS Saratoga)
LT William Sample '19 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 2B)
LTjg Creighton Lankford '25 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 1B)
LTjg Claude Haman '26 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 2B)
LTjg Robert Symes '27 (Torpedo and Bombing Plane Squadron (VT) 2B)
LTjg John Eldridge, Jr. '27 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 2B)
LTjg Warren Graf '27 (USS Saratoga)
ENS Weldon Hamilton '28 (Torpedo and Bombing Plane Squadron (VT) 2B)
ENS Jacob Britt '29 (USS Saratoga)
ENS James Clarkson '30 (USS Saratoga)
ENS James Kyes '30 (USS Saratoga)
July 1931
LT Van Moore '19 (USS Saratoga)
LTjg Claude Haman '26 (USS Saratoga)
LTjg Robert Symes '27 (Torpedo and Bombing Plane Squadron (VT) 2B)
LTjg Renwick Calderhead '27 (Torpedo and Bombing Plane Squadron (VT) 2B)
LTjg John Eldridge, Jr. '27 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 2B)
ENS William Arthur '29 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 1B)
ENS Lloyd Greenamyer '29 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 1B)
ENS James Clarkson '30 (USS Saratoga)
ENS James Kyes '30 (USS Saratoga)
ENS Leo Crane '31 (USS Saratoga)
ENS George Stone '31 (USS Saratoga)
October 1931
LCDR Oscar Erickson '16 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 2B)
LT Van Moore '19 (USS Saratoga)
LT Edwin Conway '20 (Torpedo and Bombing Plane Squadron (VT) 2B)
LTjg Claude Haman '26 (USS Saratoga)
LTjg Robert Symes '27 (Torpedo and Bombing Plane Squadron (VT) 2B)
LTjg Renwick Calderhead '27 (Torpedo and Bombing Plane Squadron (VT) 2B)
ENS Weldon Hamilton '28 (Torpedo and Bombing Plane Squadron (VT) 2B)
ENS Jacob Britt '29 (USS Saratoga)
ENS Lloyd Greenamyer '29 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 1B)
ENS James Clarkson '30 (USS Saratoga)
ENS Byron Newell '30 (USS Saratoga)
ENS James Kyes '30 (USS Saratoga)
ENS Leo Crane '31 (USS Saratoga)
ENS George Stone '31 (USS Saratoga)
January 1932
LT Van Moore '19 (USS Saratoga)
LT Edwin Conway '20 (Torpedo and Bombing Plane Squadron (VT) 2B)
LTjg Claude Haman '26 (USS Saratoga)
LTjg Robert Symes '27 (Torpedo and Bombing Plane Squadron (VT) 2B)
LTjg Renwick Calderhead '27 (Torpedo and Bombing Plane Squadron (VT) 2B)
ENS Weldon Hamilton '28 (Torpedo and Bombing Plane Squadron (VT) 2B)
ENS William Arthur '29 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 1B)
ENS Lloyd Greenamyer '29 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 1B)
ENS James Clarkson '30 (USS Saratoga)
ENS Byron Newell '30 (USS Saratoga)
ENS James Kyes '30 (USS Saratoga)
ENS Leo Crane '31 (USS Saratoga)
ENS George Stone '31 (USS Saratoga)
April 1932
LT Van Moore '19 (USS Saratoga)
LT Edwin Conway '20 (Torpedo and Bombing Plane Squadron (VT) 2B)
LTjg Robert Symes '27 (Torpedo and Bombing Plane Squadron (VT) 2B)
LTjg Renwick Calderhead '27 (Torpedo and Bombing Plane Squadron (VT) 2B)
ENS Weldon Hamilton '28 (Torpedo and Bombing Plane Squadron (VT) 2B)
ENS William Arthur '29 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 1B)
ENS Mathias Wyatt '29 (Aircraft Squadrons, Battle Force)
ENS Lloyd Greenamyer '29 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 1B)
ENS James Clarkson '30 (USS Saratoga)
ENS Byron Newell '30 (USS Saratoga)
ENS James Kyes '30 (USS Saratoga)
ENS Leo Crane '31 (USS Saratoga)
ENS George Stone '31 (USS Saratoga)
October 1932
January 1933
April 1933
July 1933
October 1933
April 1934
July 1934
October 1934
January 1935
2LT Ernest Pollock '28 (Aircraft Two, Fleet Marine Force)
April 1935
1LT Ernest Pollock '28 (Aircraft Two, Fleet Marine Force)
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