Lucky Bag Yearbook

From the 1941 Lucky Bag:

WENDELL C. THOMPSON

Battalion Baseball 4, 3; Radio Club 4.

“Have you heard this one.’” . . . and no matter if you have, Wendy will tell it in a manner which will make you enjoy it more than before. However, he seldom comes forth with an “old one.” His jolly, witty, and unselfish personality makes Tommy a most pleasant companion. He has his share of academic trouble, but his hard, relentless work has always brought him through successfully with that necessary 2.5 and a little gravy. Wendy is ever striving to please others, a thing that accounts for his long list of friends, which is a sure indication of the nobleness of his character. He is athletic and always finds time in the afternoon for a workout in the gym. When it comes to sports, Tommy shows great versatility, playing good games of baseball, tennis, football, basketball, and being well-qualified to handle a rifle. Although he drags quite frequently, Wendy is decidedly a man’s man. With his modesty and winning personality as a foundation, Tommy’s road in life will stand the incessant wear which the Navy demands.

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The Class of 1941 was the first of the wartime-accelerated classes, graduating in February 1941.

Loss

Wendell was a passenger aboard Capital Airlines Flight 20, which crashed on January 18, 1960 while en route from Washington, D.C. to Norfolk, Virginia. He was stationed in London at the time of his death.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Wendell graduated from Brookings High School where he played basketball and was a member of the Monogram Club. In 1937, he was in the second platoon of Company B at South Dakota State College.

In August 1947, as a Lieutenant Commander, he was transferred to the United States on the USS Lioba through Leghorn, Italy.

His father was James, a custodian at the U.S. post office and then at the State College, mother Vera, and brother James, Jr. His older step-brothers were Everett and Harry.

He was survived by his mother, wife, and two sons. His wife remarried a 1946 Naval Academy graduate, according to the now-defunct 1941 class website.

Wendell is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

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Harold Goranson ‘40 was also lost in this crash. They were both the final names added to their respective class’ panels in Memorial Hall.

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.