WILLIAM G. MYERS, CDR, USN

William Myers '26

Date of birth: October 8, 1904

Date of death: January 21, 1943

Age: 38

Lucky Bag

From the 1926 Lucky Bag:

William Girard Myers

Cleburne, Texas

"Bill"

BILL is one of the lads from the wide open spaces where the men are men—a true bred-in-the-bone Texan. Washington and Houston are the fathers of the country, and the battles of Lexington and the Alamo mark its birth, so far as he is concerned. He has that Texan look and air, and therein was his greatest trouble. He has one noticeable weakness, and that you have probably noticed from his well-slicked hair. It was rumored that one young maiden, upon seeing him, exclaimed, "Oh, what wonderful hair!"

He has failed to drag rarely, and then it was generally on account of the twins, Fidelity and Obedience. Not only did he make life more bearable for himself, by the company of the fairer sex, but he also helped his friends (?) by getting them a blind drag occasionally. The Academics haven't bothered him, except the slight annoyance of having to go to class when he should have been keeping up with his correspondence. For this, by the way, he held the non-stop record Second Class year.

His athletic activities were varied, but limited, as he is addicted to that malady so much in evidence below the Mason and Dixon line—love of leisure. He went out for track Plebe year, but soon decided he wasn't fast enough (on the track) and became a member of the Radiator Club.

Expert Rifleman.

William Girard Myers

Cleburne, Texas

"Bill"

BILL is one of the lads from the wide open spaces where the men are men—a true bred-in-the-bone Texan. Washington and Houston are the fathers of the country, and the battles of Lexington and the Alamo mark its birth, so far as he is concerned. He has that Texan look and air, and therein was his greatest trouble. He has one noticeable weakness, and that you have probably noticed from his well-slicked hair. It was rumored that one young maiden, upon seeing him, exclaimed, "Oh, what wonderful hair!"

He has failed to drag rarely, and then it was generally on account of the twins, Fidelity and Obedience. Not only did he make life more bearable for himself, by the company of the fairer sex, but he also helped his friends (?) by getting them a blind drag occasionally. The Academics haven't bothered him, except the slight annoyance of having to go to class when he should have been keeping up with his correspondence. For this, by the way, he held the non-stop record Second Class year.

His athletic activities were varied, but limited, as he is addicted to that malady so much in evidence below the Mason and Dixon line—love of leisure. He went out for track Plebe year, but soon decided he wasn't fast enough (on the track) and became a member of the Radiator Club.

Expert Rifleman.

Loss

William was lost on January 21, 1943, when the aircraft he was aboard crashed near Ukiah, California while enroute from Pearl Harbor to San Francisco. The flying boat, a Pan Am Clipper, was being operated by Pan Am employees but was a contracted Navy flight, and all ten passengers were Navy officers.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

He was on the football and track teams. His brother Morris had the same full hair.
In 1940 William, his wife Sue, and their son William lived in Groton, Connecticut.
His father Samuel M., a doctor, died by 1910. His mother Frances was a dressmaker. His brothers were Morris (’20) and Strickland. In 1920, Morris was on the USS New Mexico stationed in San Pedro, California. He retired from the Navy in 1925 and died in Washington, D. C., in 1933.

William is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Photographs

From his junior-year high school yearbook
From his junior-year high school yearbook

Career

From the now-broken link http://www.fleetorganization.com/subcommandersclassyear2.html:

Executive Officer USS Permit (SS-178) 1 Jan 1939

Acting Captain USS Permit (SS-178) 31 Jan 1939

Duty Supervisor of Shipbuilding Electric Boat Co Groton CT 1 Jul 1939 - 1 Nov 1940

Captain USS Gato (SS-212) 31 Dec 1941 - 2 Oct 1942

Ordered as Engineering Officer COMSUBPAC Jan 1943

Lieutenant 30 Jun 1936

Lieutenant Commander 1 Jul 1940

Silver Star

From Hall of Valor:

The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Silver Star (Posthumously) to Commander William Girard Myers (NSN: 0-60457), United States Navy, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in combat while serving as Commanding Officer of the Submarine U.S.S. GATO (SS-212) during 1942. Despite determined enemy opposition Commander Myers skillfully pressed home attacks which resulted in the sinking of an important amount of Japanese shipping; this without disabling damage to his own ship. His conduct was in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.
General Orders: Commander in Chief, Pacific: Serial 33 (April 29, 1943)
Service: Navy
Rank: Commander

Silver Lifesaving Medal

Unable to find a citation or the circumstances of the Silver Lifesaving Medal he was awarded.

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.

October 1926

Ensign, USS Florida

Others at this command:

ENS Heywood Edwards '26

January 1927

Ensign, USS Florida

Others at this command:

ENS Heywood Edwards '26

April 1927

Ensign, USS Florida

Others at this command:

ENS Heywood Edwards '26

Others at or embarked at this command:

LTjg Rogers Ransehousen '21 (Observation Plane Squadron (VO) 6)

LTjg John Lenhart '21 (Observation Plane Squadron (VO) 6)

October 1927

Ensign, Navy Department, Washington, D.C.

Others at this command:

Ensign, USS Kane

July 1929

Ensign, under instruction, Submarine Base New London, Connecticut

Others at this command:

LTjg Austin Behan '25

ENS Paul Tobelman '26

ENS Eugene Karpe '26

October 1929

Lieutenant (j.g.), under instruction, Submarine Base New London, Connecticut

Others at this command:

LTjg Austin Behan '25

LTjg Paul Tobelman '26

Lieutenant (j.g.), USS Ramsey

April 1933

Lieutenant (j.g.), USS Ramsey

October 1933

Lieutenant (j.g.), under instruction, Naval Academy

Lieutenant (j.g.), instr, University of California, Berkeley, California

Others at this command:

LT Augustus Alston, Jr. '31

November 1940

Lieutenant Commander, assistant inspector of machinery, Electric Boat Company, New London Ship and Engineering Works, Groton, Connecticut

April 1941

Lieutenant Commander, assistant inspector of machinery, Electric Boat Company, New London Ship and Engineering Works, Groton, Connecticut

Class of 1926

William is one of 36 members of the Class of 1926 on Virtual Memorial Hall.

← Hilan Ebert '26

John Crane '26 →

The "category" links below lead to lists of related Honorees; use them to explore further the service and sacrifice of alumni in Memorial Hall.

WILLIAM G. MYERS, CDR, USN

William Myers '26

Lucky Bag

William Girard Myers

William Girard Myers

Loss

Other Information

Photographs

Career

Silver Star

Silver Lifesaving Medal

Related Articles

Navy Directories & Officer Registers

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