CDR WILLIAM H. POTTS, USN
Lucky Bag Yearbook
From the 1927 Lucky Bag:
William Hutton Potts
Water Polo: A Squad (3, 2) B Squad (1) Class (4) Navy Numerals (3, 2) Class Numerals (4).
BILL comes to us from out of the West. He has received his education from various schools in England, France, and China; but he came back to his homeland to graduate from the Denver High School in 1920.
He is one more advocate of the five-year course; but it was not Math nor Juice that won the fight. In an argument on the football field he broke a leg and it failed to mend in time for him to continue with his former classmates. This was a loss for the class of twenty-six, and a gain for the class of twenty-seven as he re-entered the Academy the following year.
Believing that the West is still the home of he-men, Bill has been striving to prove to us in water polo that the belief is a fact. He did not succeed as much as he wished for he was usually on the wrong side of the much-needed 2.5.
With his good nature and ready wit Bill is always the life of any party. The ship that gets him will be mighty lucky, for he will be a credit to it always. Although we will be scattered far and wide at graduation, here’s hoping that Bill will meet the bunch of us once again for one of the old-time parties.
Loss
William was lost when USS Houston (CL 81) was torpedoed by Japanese aircraft on October 14, 1944. He was the ship’s engineering officer.
Other Information
From researcher Kathy Franz:
Born in Colorado, William graduated from North High school in Denver in 1921. Scientific Society, 2, 3, 4; Hi-Y, 4; Boys’ Glee Club, 4; Operetta, 4. Straymericks: “W. P. A mirthful youth is William Potts, His mind in inactivity rots. Not much, for bright, and witty is quite the picture we have of William Potts.”
His wife was Evalyn Franklin Potts. Evalyn was told that her husband was buried on an island in the Pacific with full military honors. When William died, their son William, Jr., was attending Southern California Military Academy. He died in 1996.
William was also survived by his three sisters, Mrs. Ethel Bowdey (1886-1954), Mrs. G. H. Kent of Surrey, England and Mrs. Hilton Wright of Sussex, England. Ethel’s husband was George Bowdey (’07,) a commander in the U.S. Navy. She lived in Hong Kong and England (1889-1912) and in the Philippines and China (1914-1917.)
His wife was listed as next of kin; he was also survived by his son.
(Note: Unclear why his headstone has November 11, 1944 for his loss date. All other records, and this book, say he was killed instantly when the torpedo struck midships.)
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.
January 1928
April 1928
July 1928
October 1928
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October 1929
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January 1931
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October 1931
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April 1934
October 1935
January 1936
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July 1936
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September 1937
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July 1938
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June 1940
November 1940
April 1941
William is one of 41 members of the Class of 1927 on Virtual Memorial Hall.
