CDR GEORGE B. NICOL, USN
Lucky Bag Yearbook
From the 1934 Lucky Bag:
GEORGE BEATON NICOL
Track 4, 3, 2, 1. N 2, 1. 2 P.O.
FROM a land where the sea is only a legend comes this cheery fellow to Annapolis and the Navy, thereby fulfilling an ambition and decision of his that neither he nor any of his many friends at the Academy have since regretted. The first three years of George’s academics might well be titled, “The Eternal Struggle”—with the Dago Department. Frequently the element of suspense was evident, but, nevertheless, the end of each term has always found him among those present. A famous run-in with the Nav Department after a P-Work and a natural abhorrence of anything connected with Ordnance about completes Nick’s academic history.
“Life, liberty, and the pursuit of a good time” seems to be George’s philosophy of life, and he follows it amazingly well. His life is a good time, and liberty is his one incessant desire. He never goes at anything half-heartedly and one would usually say that he either goes too far or not far enough.
His Second Class Year found him peerless in the 440 at the Academy, and the proud possessor of an “N” as ample proof of his track ability.
But all his endeavors are not academic and athletic, as his popularity with the fair sex will substantiate. A confirmed Red Mike during Plebe Year, he now has the enviable reputation of being always able to drag in both quantity and quality.
Happy-go-lucky, good natured, humorous, slightly non-reg, and, above all, a true friend; this is the picture of Nick.
Loss
George was lost when his FG-1D Corsair crashed near Cuba on June 7, 1945. He was a member of — and likely the commanding officer of, given his rank — Bombing Fighting Squadron (VBF) 93, embarked in USS Boxer (CV 21).
Other Information
From researcher Kathy Franz:
George graduated from Lima Central High School in 1930. College Prep. Athletic Ass’n 3, 2, 1; Class Basketball 3, 2, 1; Varsity Track 2, 3; Troubadours 4, 3, 2, 1; Junior play “Vanity” 3; Follies 3; Senate 2; Hi-Y 4, 3, 2, 1. Ohio Northern. “I believe women prefer blondes.”
He married Adele Virginia Watkins on December 27, 1939, in the Amanda chapel in Los Angeles. She died in 1956.
His father William, a pattern maker in a steel factory, died in 1933. George’s brother Andrew died on December 5, 1944, just hours before George arrived in a Navy fighter plane from Norfolk to see him. His mother died on May 31, 1945, one week before George.
His wife was listed as next of kin. He has a memory marker in Arlington National Cemetery.
Photographs
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 1935
January 1936
April 1936
July 1936
January 1937
April 1937
September 1937
January 1938
July 1938
January 1939
October 1939
June 1940
November 1940
April 1941
George is one of 40 members of the Class of 1934 on Virtual Memorial Hall.
