WILBUR J. MASON, LCDR, USN

Wilbur Mason '39

Date of birth: January 3, 1916

Date of death: June 1, 1944

Age: 28

Lucky Bag

From the 1939 Lucky Bag:

WILBUR JEROME MASON

Iron River, Michigan

Bud, Rosy

When Bud left Iron River on Michigan's Upper Peninsula to come to the Naval Academy, he was the first man who had done so since 1899. He spent three years at Michigan Tech before a long sought-for appointment brought him to the Severn. Here Bud has become one of those fellows whom everybody knows, his rosy cheeks and mild disposition making him popular with all classes. He misses all the hops, as he is a redmike by choice. In his spare time, Bud is a Hill an' Daler of much ability, but in the offseason he can usually be found on the bowling alleys. His favorite indoor sport is cribbage. His scarcity of faults makes him an ideal friend and roommate.

Cross Country 4, 3, 2; Battalion Track 2; Indoor Track 4, 3; M.P.O.

WILBUR JEROME MASON

Iron River, Michigan

Bud, Rosy

When Bud left Iron River on Michigan's Upper Peninsula to come to the Naval Academy, he was the first man who had done so since 1899. He spent three years at Michigan Tech before a long sought-for appointment brought him to the Severn. Here Bud has become one of those fellows whom everybody knows, his rosy cheeks and mild disposition making him popular with all classes. He misses all the hops, as he is a redmike by choice. In his spare time, Bud is a Hill an' Daler of much ability, but in the offseason he can usually be found on the bowling alleys. His favorite indoor sport is cribbage. His scarcity of faults makes him an ideal friend and roommate.

Cross Country 4, 3, 2; Battalion Track 2; Indoor Track 4, 3; M.P.O.

Loss

Wilbur was lost when USS Herring (SS 233) was sunk by a Japanese shore battery on June 1, 1944. He was executive officer of the boat.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Before receiving his appointment to the Naval Academy by U. S. Senator James Couzens, Wilbur studied civil engineering at the Michigan College of Mines and Technology at Houghton. Wilbur was a member of the college band and belonged to Kappa Delta Psi fraternity.
Wilbur’s mother Flossie and baby brother Harry died in 1920. His father died in 1923 in a veteran’s sanitarium in San Diego.
Since he was four years old, Wilbur lived with Sam and Anna Morcombe and their children in Iron River. Sam was a mechanic at the iron mines. Wilbur’s older brother Leslie lived with them as well. Leslie married Martha Kumkoski, and they had a son Leslie (1935-2009). He was a Lt. Colonel in the Air Force.

His brother was listed as next of kin.

He has a memory marker in Michigan; he is also listed at the Courts of the Missing in Hawaii.

Photographs

From the Lucky Bag

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.