Lucky Bag Yearbook

From the 1942 Lucky Bag:

ALEXANDER JOHN BUTSKO

Johnny

Cross Country 4, 3, 2, c42c; Battalion Wrestling; Golf Assistant Manager 3; Log 4, 3, 2, Business Manager 1; Boat Club 4, 3, 2, 1; C.P.O.

Genial fellow, Johnny. He came down from the Hudson Valley shy and retiring but with an engaging smile. The rigors of Academy life haven’t erased that smile although they have cured his shyness. His facility with shorthand is a constant source of amazement to all his friends and his flair for business matters in general have made him invaluable in guiding the financial destinies of the Log.

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The Class of 1942 graduated on December 19, 1941, less than two weeks after the United States entered World War II. The class had previously been scheduled to graduate in February 1942.

Loss

Alexander was lost when USS Vincennes (CA 44) was sunk early in the morning of August 9, 1942 by Japanese surface forces at the Battle of Savo Island.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Alexander graduated from St. Mary’s Parochial school and the Wappingers Central school as salutatorian in 1938. He played football, was a varsity man on cross country, and managed the baseball team. In 1943, a large service flag was hung in the auditorium honoring the 353 graduates and former students who entered the armed forces.

Citizens of Wappingers Falls knew him as a happy, bustling youth who delivered their newspapers for several years and who was active and popular in the community (per the Poughkeepsie Journal, September 12, 1942.)

He was appointed to the Naval Academy by Representative Hamilton Fish. In a newspaper article in the Poughkeepsie Journal, September 28, 1942, he said, “Ensign Butsko was one of the most brilliant students to come out of the Wappingers Central school. He was last reported on the destroyer Jarvis, sunk near the Solomon Islands.

His brother Theodore Ernest Butsko, a radioman serving in the Navy, first reported Alexander’s death to his family.

Father was Stephen, a mechanic in a button factory, mother Gisiella, brothers Francis, Edward, and William; and sisters Mrs. Marian Deitchman and Anne Butsko. Alexander’s parents were both born in Hungary.

He joined the ship before the Doolittle raid and saw action at the Battles of the Coral Sea and Midway. He was unmarried but survived by his parents, two sisters, and four brothers. He is listed at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial.

Photographs

From the Lucky Bag

From the Lucky Bag