Lucky Bag Yearbook

From the 1924 Lucky Bag:

WILLIAM COOK FRANCE

Charlie

Mandolin Club (4, 3, 2, 1); Leader Mandolin Club (1).

WILLIAM COOK FRANCE at a song or a dance, is the peer of all men to behold, with his hot navy line and his glances sublime, he charms all the maidens so bold. But ’tis not of this thing that we wish most to sing—though there’s more we could easily tell—’tis his habits so rare that we wish most to air and proclaim e’en to you, New Rochelle. His most prevalent vice—no, never touches the dice—is the wearing of shirts all in ribbons; from the front to the back a most evident lack shows the pelt of his royal “his nibbons.” Though we rant and we rave and slip nearer the grave, ’tis all to the vainest of uses, a needle and thread seem to fill him with dread and he balks with the weakest excuses.

We’d forgive him for that if he’d only grow tar and furnish some real competition. “Eat and grow thin”, will he ever give in and give up this pernicious ambition? The rest of us brood and give up our food, resort to all kinds of privations, though our efforts he’ll conn he just scoffs and scoffs on without fear of a large corporation. So we’ll close with a hope that some day he’ll elope with a damsel of potent right arm, who will mend all his shirts and drive away flirts and thus keep our “Charley” from harm.

Loss

William was lost on April 2, 1945 when USS Henrico (APA 45) was struck by a kamikaze during the invasion of Okinawa.

He had only taken command of Henrico two weeks earlier, on March 18.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

William graduated from New Rochelle high school. In the 1946 yearbook he was listed in the In Memoriam, Golden Star List.

In July 1927, William married Harriette Rittenhouse Nixon in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. He later married Mildred Redfield on March 12, 1936, in Los Angeles.

In May 1941, William was sent to the Bureau of Ordnance, Navy department in Washington, D. C. He was still there in January 1944.

His father Albert was a photographer for a  publishing company, mother Mary. His brother Lt. Albert Finley (’17) served on convoy duty during World War I. Albert then completed submarine training and was stationed at Coco Solo, Panama. In 1944 Albert was commander of USS San Francisco. Brother Ewing attended West Point and in 1944, he was a colonel at the New Cumberland Army Service Forces Depot.

His wife was listed as next of kin; he was also survived by his daughter, Martha. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Bronze Star

William was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star.

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.