Lucky Bag Yearbook

From the 1933 Lucky Bag:

EARLE CAFFREY SCHNEIDER

Penrod Snitz

2 P. O.

When Penrod took his first bath he decided that he liked the water, and he came to the Naval Academy to be one of Uncle Sam’s middies. Everything was going along fine until one winter day during Second Class Year he tried to stop a fifty foot motor launch with a boat hook and took an impromptu swim. Since then his love for water, especially cold water, has been gradually diminishing.

Snitz is one of those fellows who believes that there is nothing so sufficiently important to lose sleep over, and yet nothing too trivial to give due attention when necessary. His carefree nature and congeniality have given him a good standing with all who know him. A sunny disposition and a sense of humor make him the perpetual gloomkiller. The day has to be mighty rough and the night exceptionally stormy to make Penrod lose his cheery smile. An ideal roommate, especially when the going is tough.

North Carolina is his home state, and he is proud of it. When questioned as to the particular merits which make this State so outstanding, he says, “Well, look what it sent to the Naval Academy.” That’s not conceit, gentle reader, just self respect.

Anyhow—good luck!

Loss

Earle was lost when USS Dorado (SS 248) was sunk, possibly by a mine laid by a German submarine near the Panama Canal, on or about October 14, 1943. He was the boat’s commanding officer.

Other Information

From the 1953 edition of the book “Double Three Roundup,” published by the class of 1933:

Penrod started out his commissioned career on board the PENNSYLVANIA. A one year tour in this battleship was followed by 3 years in the RANGER. Shortly before leaving the RANGER, and after having cut a broad swath thru Rio, Buenos Aires, Montevideo and on both coasts, Penrod managed to get a few days leave so that he and the former Stella (Sammy) Heath of El Paso, Texas could be married. The wedding took place in Yuma, Arizona on 20 March 1937.

June of 1937 found the newlyweds in New London where Penrod began the submarine course. Upon completion of instruction he reported to the POMPANO and remained on board until November 1941 with most of this time spent in Vallejo, California and a short tour in Honolulu. Penrod commissioned the famous TRIGGER in November 1941 as her Executive Officer and served on board until March of 1943, participating in three war patrols in Japanese controlled waters. He was then ordered to the East Coast to fit out the DORADO as the Commanding Officer. Following the commissioning of DORADO Penrod sailed for Panama on 6 October 1943 enroute to the Pacific. The DORADO did not arrive in Panama nor was she heard from at any time after sailing. A court of Inquiry was unable to establish firmly the reason for the DORADO’s disappearance. It concluded that the loss could be attributed to an operational casualty, an enemy submarine, or a friendly plane. Penrod was awarded the Silver Star Medal while aboard the TRIGGER and the Purple Heart posthumously. In addition to his wife, Sammy, and his parents, he is survived by one son, Earle (1938). Sammy and the family reside at 10552 Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles, California.

His wife was listed as next of kin. Earle has a memory marker in North Carolina.

Though his memorial marker has his year of birth as 1911, every other official record (including the North Carolina Index of Births, 1920 census, 1930 census at the Naval Academy, 1940 census with wife Stella and son Earle, and several Registers of Commissioned Officers of the Navy) has 1912.

Career

From the now-broken link http://www.fleetorganization.com/subcommandersclassyear3.html:

• Duty USS Pompano (SS-181) 1 Jul 1939 - 1 Nov 1940
• Executive Officer USS Pompano (SS-181)
• Executive Officer USS Trigger (SS-237) Mar 1942 - Jan 1943
• Acting Captain USS Trigger (SS-237) 31 Jan 1943
• Captain USS Dorado (SS-248) 28 Aug 1943 - Oct 1943

• Lieutenant (j.g.) 1 Jun 1936
• Lieutenant 1 Feb 1941
• Lieutenant Commander (T) 1 Oct 1942

Silver Star

From Hall of Valor:

SYNOPSIS: Commander Earle Caffrey Schneider (NSN: 0-72580), United States Navy, was awarded the Silver Star for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action against the enemy during World War II.

Service: Navy
Rank: Commander
Division: U.S.S. Dorado (SS-248)

Photographs

Future commander of Dorado Earle C. Schneider at the launching ceremony with his son Earle V. 'Butch' Schneider (far left), his father Earle G. Schneider (second from left), and his mother (far right), Groton, Connecticut, United States, 23 May 1943 ww2dbase Source

Source

From The Los Angeles Times on October 26, 1943

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.