CDR ROBERT E. SEIBELS, JR., USN

Class 1938

Born February 20, 1917

Died August 30, 1947

Age 30

Hometown Montgomery, Alabama

Lucky Bag Yearbook

From the 1938 Lucky Bag:

ROBERT EMMET SEIBELS, JR.

Bob

Black N**; M.P.O.

Where did you get those funny-looking shoes, Mister?" “Sah, when I wash ’em, you’ll see those ain’t shoes—they’re my feet! Such was Junior’s introduction to Navy life. Then, he began the first of a long series of battles over the way his name was pronounced. They haven’t ended yet. We should really say that academics hold no worries for him, but that is wrong. Though habitually close to stars, the loss of a point one causes him more sleepless nights than a lazy wife can understand. Notwithstanding these cut-throat tendencies, the lad is all there. As a wife, as a classmate, as a friend, he leaves nothing to ask for. Alabama’s loss is the Navy’s gain. Carry on, Admiral Seye—pardon, Seebels!

Loss

From the November 1947 issue of Shipmate:

ROBERT EMMET SEIBELS, JR., CDR, ‘38 (Comdr. USN). Died 30 August 1947 in a plane crash near Plum Point, Maryland.

From the Baltimore Sun on August 31, 1947:

Commander Robert E. Seibels, 32, flight test engineer at the Patuxent Naval Air Station, was killed instantly yesterday when his twin-engine fighter plane crashed and burned in a tobacco field near Dares Beach, Calvert County.

On a routine flight, the ship, an F-7-F Tigercat, spun into the field, crashed on its belly and immediately burst into flames, according to air station officers.

The fuselage did not splinter in the crash, but the entire ship was consumed in flames almost instantaneously, naval officials stated. …

Notified of the crash, the air station immediately dispatched a navy surgeon in a helicopter to the scene. The helicopter landed in the tobacco field, which is on Plum Point, 1 mile from the Chesapeake Bay. However, fire already had destroyed the two-engine plane and pilot, naval officers said.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

In 1933, Robert graduated from Sidney Lanier High School in Montgomery, Alabama. He was a member of St. John’s Episcopal Church.

He attended Marion Institute for one year before he was appointed to the Naval Academy by Congressman Lister Hill. His father R. E. was a manger of the Montgomery office of the Federal Home Owners Loan Corporation. Robert’s uncle was Admiral George G. Seibels who served under the command of Admiral George Dewey during the historic battle of Manila Bay in the Spanish-American War. Mrs. Margaret Whetstone of Montgomery did a portrait plaque of Robert.

From the Montgomery Advertiser on August 31, 1947:

Robert … “saw two years’ service in the Pacific in World War II, taking part in nine battles. On one occasion his plane was shot down when he encountered a greatly superior Japanese force. He was stationed at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese made the sneak attack that ushered in the war, but was out on maneuvers when the attack came. Most of his Pacific service was aboard the cruiser Portland.

Ordered from Hawaii to Alameda, Calif., he was there six months, and was then ordered to Annapolis for an engineering course of two years. From there he was sent to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he spent a year, and received a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering. His last service was at Patuxent River Naval Station.

Surviving are his parents Mr. and Mrs. Robert Emmett Seibels, of 619 South Perry Street, Montgomery; a brother, William Temple Seibels, Jr.; his wife, the former Jule Sellers; and two children, Robert Emmett Seibels III and Jule Temple Seibels.

He is buried in Alabama; he was survived by his wife, his parents, and his brother. (Found mention of Robert Seibels III.)

Career

From naval aviation historian Richard Leonard via email on February 9, 2018:

Designated Naval Aviator # 7404, 4/3/1941

Date of rank LTJG from 1 Jul 1941 USN Register, 6/2/1941

Date of rank LT from 1 Jul 1942 USN Register, 6/15/1942

Date of rank LCDR from 1 Jul 1944 USN Register, 3/1/1944

NAS Patuxent KIFA, 8/30/47

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.