CDR WENDELL H. FROLING, USN

Class 1934

Born November 15, 1911

Died November 23, 1948

Age 37

Hometown Arlington, New Jersey

Lucky Bag Yearbook

From the 1934 Lucky Bag:

WENDELL HILDING FROLING

Wen Fro Kid

Track 4, 3. Cross Country 3. Soccer 4, 2, 1. Bugle Corps 4, 3. N Club. 1 P.O.

WHY’D ya join the Navy?"—“Oh, I just saw a notice, so I took the exams.” Just like that! June saw Wen in White Works two sizes too big for him out there with a rifle learning the manual. As this looked too strenuous for him he joined the Bugle Corps. Two years of that and he was back with the Regiment. “What ya back for?” “Who wants only two stripes?” But, by this time he has begun to realize that the 2. PO’s are the “backbone of the Regiment.”

Having been addicted to soccer during Grade and High School, Wen tried out for Soccer Plebe Year. After two trips to the Hospital, he decided to “bone” awhile and recuperate. However, Second Class Year saw him out on Lawrence Field, this time to stay. After every game he’d clip out the write-ups and send them home. His Dad’s last words were: “Please study and don’t be athletic.” Studies have given him his share of trouble, but he seems to pull through at the end of each term.

Wen’s chief joy is ships, with a capital S. A member of a yachting family, he has always loved the sea. It’s a good sign. Once started on a salty conversation he has been known to forget even the “fair ones.” May we see you on the bridge of your own some day, Wen.

He came to us a gentleman—our Academy has added “Officer.” May we always say “He was a friend.”

Loss

Wendell was lost on November 23, 1948 when the navy transport plane he was a passenger aboard crashed in the mountains enroute from Gibraltar to Port Lyautey, Morocco. Also killed were the two aircrew, his wife, and his daughter (age 9). All three are buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Since March 1946, Wendell was associate professor in the Department of Naval Science and Tactics and Executive Officer of the University of Rochester NROTC unit. He was detached from his position on August 24, 1948. His daughter attended Sacred Heart Academy in Rochester.

Wendell was next assigned to Port Lyautey, French Morocco, as executive officer and chief staff officer for air activities in U. S. Naval forces Fleet Air Detachment, Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean area.

Wendell was born in Lowell, Massachusetts. His father was born in Sweden and was a public school teacher.

Photographs

From University of Rochester yearbook, 1948. (Note his initials are wrong.)

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.