WEBSTER C. JOHNSON, LTJG, USN
Webster Johnson '36
Lucky Bag
From the 1936 Lucky Bag:
Webster Cochran Johnson
Annapolis, Maryland
"Webby"
Unlike the majority of us, Webby came to the Academy with a Naval background of several generations, so he should have known better. As the result of an easy way with academics study hours seldom find him studious, but during the Masqueraders and Musical Show seasons his activities keep him hard at work. Don't think that because he never has more than one picture on his locker door that the fair sex means little to him—there's more than one on the retired list in his cruise box. He's as much of a snake as the best (or worst) of us. Webby has won a host of friends with his humor, his wit, and his willing ness to help those in need. Here's wishing him fair skies, happy landings, and success in all his undertakings.
Company soccer: 4, 3, 2, 1; Choir 4, 3, 2, 1; Glee Club 4, 3, 2, 1 President; Musical Clubs 4, 3, 2, 1; Masqueraders 2; One Stripe.
Webster Cochran Johnson
Annapolis, Maryland
"Webby"
Unlike the majority of us, Webby came to the Academy with a Naval background of several generations, so he should have known better. As the result of an easy way with academics study hours seldom find him studious, but during the Masqueraders and Musical Show seasons his activities keep him hard at work. Don't think that because he never has more than one picture on his locker door that the fair sex means little to him—there's more than one on the retired list in his cruise box. He's as much of a snake as the best (or worst) of us. Webby has won a host of friends with his humor, his wit, and his willing ness to help those in need. Here's wishing him fair skies, happy landings, and success in all his undertakings.
Company soccer: 4, 3, 2, 1; Choir 4, 3, 2, 1; Glee Club 4, 3, 2, 1 President; Musical Clubs 4, 3, 2, 1; Masqueraders 2; One Stripe.
Loss
Webster was lost on December 19, 1940 when his F4F-3 crashed shortly after takeoff in the Norfolk, Virginia area. He was a member of Fighting Squadron (VF) 72 at NAS Norfolk, Virginia. (Aircraft and squadron details from an email from naval aviation historian Richard Leonard on December 29, 2017.)
Other Information
He is buried in the Naval Academy Cemetery.
From the Richmond Times Dispatch on December 21, 1940:
Navy Flyer Succumbs To Injuries
ANNAPOLIS, MD., AP—Lieutenant Webster C. Johnson, naval airman who died Thursday night of injuries suffered in an airplane crash Monday at Norfolk, will receive a military burial at the Naval Academy Saturday.
The body is being shipped here from Norfolk.
Captain Theodore W. Johnson, U. S. N. (retired), and Mrs. Johnson, the lieutenant’s parents, and their son and daughter, Woolsey Johnson, Nashville, Tenn., and Mrs. Henry Larom, Scarsdale, N. Y., are accompanying the body.
Chaplain William N. Thomas will conduct the funeral services at 10:30 A. M. at the academy chapel. Burial will be in the academy cemetery.
An escort commander, a platoon of Marines and bluejackets, a color guard, bugler and the academy band will form the funeral cortege.
Lieutenant Johnson's skull was fractured when his fighter plane crashed on Virginian Railway property just outside the Naval Operating Base. He was attached to Fighting Squadron VF-72 of the aircraft carrier Wasp, naval officials said.
Besides his parents and brother and sister, Lieutenant Johnson is survived by his wife, the former Miss Carrie Shand. Lieutenant Johnson’s father and grandfather both were professors of mathematics at the academy.
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 1936
LTjg Vernon Hain '31 (Bombing Plane Squadron (VB) 3B)
LTjg Philip Ashworth '31 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 3B)
LTjg Truman Carpenter '32 (Bombing Plane Squadron (VB) 3B)
LTjg George Ottinger '32 (Bombing Plane Squadron (VB) 5B)
January 1937
LTjg William Freshour '31 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 2B)
LTjg Vernon Hain '31 (Bombing Plane Squadron (VB) 3B)
LTjg Philip Ashworth '31 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 3B)
LTjg Joseph Loughlin, Jr. '32 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 3B)
LTjg George Ottinger '32 (Bombing Plane Squadron (VB) 5B)
LTjg Ludwell Pickett, Jr. '33 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 3B)
LTjg William Kane '33 (Bombing Plane Squadron (VB) 5B)
April 1937
LT Robert Winters '27 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 7B)
September 1937
LT Robert Winters '27 (Scouting Squadron (VS) 5)
LTjg James Averill '27 (Fighting Squadron (VF) 5)
LT Henry Dozier '27 (Scouting Squadron (VS) 5)
LT Lloyd Greenamyer '29 (Scouting Squadron (VS) 5)
LT Finley Hall '29 (Scouting Squadron (VS) 5)
LTjg Robert Donaldson '34 (Scouting Squadron (VS) 5)
January 1938
LT Robert Winters '27 (Scouting Squadron (VS) 5)
LTjg James Averill '27 (Fighting Squadron (VF) 5)
LT Henry Dozier '27 (Scouting Squadron (VS) 5)
LTjg Gilbert Carpenter '30 (Scouting Squadron (VS) 6)
LTjg Robert Donaldson '34 (Scouting Squadron (VS) 5)
July 1938
LT Bruce Van Voorhis '29 (Scouting Squadron (VS) 6)
LTjg Alfred Tucker, III '31 (Torpedo Squadron (VT) 6)
LTjg John Phillips, Jr. '33 (Torpedo Squadron (VT) 6)
LTjg Frank Whitaker '34 (Torpedo Squadron (VT) 6)
LTjg James Tyler '34 (Scouting Squadron (VS) 6)
LTjg Philip Torrey, Jr. '34 (Bombing Squadron (VB) 6)
January 1939
LT Bruce Van Voorhis '29 (Scouting Squadron (VS) 6)
LTjg Alfred Tucker, III '31 (Torpedo Squadron (VT) 6)
LTjg John Phillips, Jr. '33 (Torpedo Squadron (VT) 6)
LTjg Frank Whitaker '34 (Torpedo Squadron (VT) 6)
LTjg Philip Torrey, Jr. '34 (Bombing Squadron (VB) 6)
October 1939
LT Finley Hall '29
LT John Huntley '31
LTjg George Bellinger '32
LTjg Martin Koivisto '32
LTjg Daniel Gothie '32
LTjg Albert Major, Jr. '32
LTjg John McCormack, Jr. '33
LTjg Archibald Stone, Jr. '34
LTjg Wendell Froling '34
LT John Yoho '29 (Training Squadron (VN) 5D8)
CAPT Paul Moret '30 (Training Squadron (VN) 3D8)
LTjg Robert Strickler '32 (Training Squadron (VN) 5D8)
LTjg George Ottinger '32 (Training Squadron (VN) 5D8)
LTjg Dewitt Shumway '32 (Training Squadron (VN) 1D8)
LTjg William Widhelm '32 (Training Squadron (VN) 5D8)
June 1940
LT John Eldridge, Jr. '27 (Scouting Squadron (VS) 71)
LT John Burke '28 (USS Wasp)
LTjg James Fitzpatrick, Jr. '35 (Bombing Squadron (VB) 7)
LTjg Mark Eslick, Jr. '35 (Scouting Squadron (VS) 72)
LTjg Joseph Evans '36 (Scouting Squadron (VS) 72)
ENS John Smith '38 (USS Wasp)
ENS William Cook '38 (USS Wasp)
ENS Lester Wall, Jr. '39 (USS Wasp)
November 1940
LT John Eldridge, Jr. '27 (Scouting Squadron (VS) 71)
LT John Burke '28 (USS Wasp)
LTjg James Fitzpatrick, Jr. '35 (Fighting Squadron (VF) 71)
LTjg Mark Eslick, Jr. '35 (Scouting Squadron (VS) 72)
LTjg Donald Patterson '37 (Scouting Squadron (VS) 71)
ENS John Smith '38 (USS Wasp)
ENS William Cook '38 (USS Wasp)
ENS Lester Wall, Jr. '39 (USS Wasp)
April 1941
LT John Eldridge, Jr. '27 (Scouting Squadron (VS) 71)
LT John Burke '28 (USS Wasp)
LT Baylies Clark '30 (Scouting Squadron (VS) 71)
LTjg Mark Eslick, Jr. '35 (Scouting Squadron (VS) 72)
LTjg Dewitt Harrell '35 (Scouting Squadron (VS) 71)
LTjg Porter Maxwell '36 (Scouting Squadron (VS) 71)
ENS Frank Case, Jr. '38 (Scouting Squadron (VS) 71)
ENS John Smith '38 (USS Wasp)
ENS William Cook '38 (USS Wasp)
ENS Alphonse Minvielle '38 (Scouting Squadron (VS) 72)
ENS Lester Wall, Jr. '39 (USS Wasp)
ENS John Nichols, Jr. '41 (USS Wasp)
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