Lucky Bag Yearbook

From the 1927 Lucky Bag:

Gerald Roland Dyson

Frosty Dy Jerry Lionel Strongfort

Lacrosse: Class (2, 1); Wrestling: A Squad (3, 2, 1) Class Numerals (4) Navy Numerals (3, 2).

OLD Louisiana lost a boy and the Navy gained a man! It is not one of Jerry’s characteristics to talk much so he does a great deal of thinking. this attribute has given him success in athletics, perseverance in any undertaking, and best of all—a friend in every man who knows him. If it came from the foundation builded at his Alma Mater, Montgomery High School, then Montgomery can well be proud—just as Alexandria can claim pride in his birthplace.

Frosty has made his years with us happily successful due to his harmonious combination of congeniality, benevolence, and love of hard work. The fact that he never forgets his ideals and is contented only when he has surmounted all obstacles and looks down from a lofty height upon those who strive yet fail to gain the threshold of perfection, has not constrained his building of a character which means happier, even more successful years.

Wrestling is Gerald’s favorite sport, but to speak of this only necessitates a eulogy on his fine sportsmanship and ability. Perhaps, to summarize, it might be said of him: “A man among men.”

Loss

Gerald was lost on November 12, 1952 when the Privateer patrol bomber he was aboard crashed in Washington. All eleven aboard were lost.

He was the commanding officer of Fleet Air Wing Four; the aircraft was a part of Patrol Squadron (VP) 772.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

After graduating from the Naval Academy, Gerald was hurt in an auto accident on his way home with his brother Howell (’27). He spent several weeks in a hospital in Indianapolis.

In January, 1930, Howell and his mother were thrown through the windshield of their car when it hit another car in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. They were treated at the hospital and released. They were on their way to Pensacola with Gerald and Howell’s wife. The latter two were not injured.

Gerald stopped in Alexandria on several of his naval flights. In June, 1932, his plane was one of four that were en route from San Diego to Pensacola. In March, 1934, he was traveling from Washington, D. C., to his duty post at San Diego. In October, 1937, he was flying from San Diego to Pensacola.

From The Times, Shreveport, October 25, 1944, via researcher Kathy Franz:

New Orleans, Oct. 24 (AP).—Comdr. Gerald R. Dyson, USN, RFD 1, Dry Prong, La., has been awarded a letter of commendation by Adm. Chester W. Nimitz, USN, commander in chief, United States Pacific fleet, for the efficient manner in which he made ready for use a seaplane base in the Marianas islands.

The citation with Dyson’s letter of commendation reads:

“For meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding service as temporary officer in charge of a seaplane base in the Marianas Islands.

“By his initiative, perseverance, and outstanding ability, he placed this base in commission in a minimum of time and thereby assisted materially in maintaining the efficiency of the required seaplane operations in this area. His outstanding service was in keeping with the highest traditions of the naval service.”

Gerald was survived by his wife, daughters Penelope and Martha, parents, and two siblings. He has a memory marker in Arlington National Cemetery.

Career

He earned his wings as naval aviator #3637 in 1930 as an Ensign.

He was a 1950 graduate of the Naval War College.

He was stationed at Ft. Leavenworth until June 1952; he had been there for two years as “Chief of the Navy Section” per Leavenworth Times on November 14, 1952. Later in the article:

His World War II service included combat service in the Gilbert, Marshall, Mariana and Pileau islands. Following the war he served for two years with the Navy Department Bureau of Aeronautics and went to Guam in 1945 as Commander of the Asiatic Wing NATS. In 1948 and 1949 he was in Tokyo as deputy commander of the 1503rd Air Transport Wing.

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.