Lucky Bag Yearbook

From the 1924 Lucky Bag:

HALLSTED LUBECK HOPPING

Spike

Plebe Crew '24, Crossed Oar; Crew Squad (4, 3, 2,) NA; Wrestling Squad (2); Hustlers (4); Class Football (3); Class Boxing (3); Gymkhana (4); Buzzard (2).

AS most Lucky Bag write-ups consist of verbal camouflage with which to disguise some boneheaded roommate as an example of all that is best in young American manhood, the writer is straying from precedent in being truthful. However, it is really a relief to turn to a refreshing subject like “Spike,” for originality is the spice of refreshment and that is his character portrayed in a word. If his “Theory of Everything” were accepted it would astound the world and dash all Newton’s deductions upon the rocks. Then, if he needed salt in a chemistry experiment, all he used was radium chloride and a few grains of sodium from which reaction resulted the much sought for salt and a bit of worthless radium.

His simplicity gained for him the title of “Sagamore Flounder” in the far-famed Indian Club. A wonderful humorist whose jokes were rarely appreciated by anyone save himself.

Just a word to his hostess at any future dinner party: Hallsted became famous Plebe year by eating fourteen shredded wheat biscuits for breakfast and has since lost none of his ability.

Loss

From Find A Grave:

On February 1, 1942, LCDR Hopping led a flight of US Navy Douglas Dive Bombers from the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise on an attack of the island Roi-Mamur in the Marshall Island chain.

Silhouetted against the rising sun, Hoppings dive bomber made an easy target for the Japanese defenders of the island. During his low altitude dive, Hopping’s aircraft was immediately attacked by a Japanese Zero. His plane was shot to pieces, & he crashed into the Pacific. His remains were not recovered. Killed along with Hopping was his gunner Radioman First Class Harold Thomas.

He was commended by the Secretary of the Navy for displaying “excellent judgment, initiative, and leadership, outstanding factors in the attack which resulted in the enemy suffering serious damage.” (Per the Bureau of Naval Personnel Information Bulletin No. 303 (June 1942)).

Photographs

Photo from a portrait presented by Mrs. H.L. Hopping to the USS HOPPING (DE-155) at her commissioning, 21 May 1943. Commander Hopping was the first American naval aircraft squadron commander to lose his life in World War II. Source

From the Daily News on March 10, 1943

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Hallsted married Alice Gardner Bush in Grace Church on the Heights on December 1, 1926, in Brooklyn, New York. Two days earlier, he gave his bachelor dinner at the Columbia University Club. His best man was Harry Richter (’24.) Ushers were Lt. J. E. McWilliams, , A. W. Wheelock (‘25), F. J. Thomas (‘25), B. F. Field, and T. F. Keady, all from USS Richmond.

Hallsted’s wife drove an ambulance for the American Red Cross for several weeks in Honolulu before the attack on Pearl Harbor. After his death, she signed up to canvass Brooklyn in a house-to-house war bond campaign. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle on May 26, 1942, quoted her saying, “If the people of America could see those boys in the hospital, they would never hesitate in buying all the bonds they possibly could.” She pledged her widow’s compensation and pension toward the purchase of $3,000 in war bonds.

Their daughter Carolyn Jane was born on September 5, 1937, in Minnesota. Sadly, Carolyn’s twin died at birth.

Hallsted’s father Andrew Howard Hopping, who died in February 1926, was a manufacturer of worsted yarn; mother was Emma Louise.

His wife was listed as next of kin; she later remarried a classmate of his. (Information from December 1976 issue of Shipmate.) Hallsted’s memory marker is in Arlington National Cemetery.

Raid on the Marshall Islands

On February 1, 1942, Task Force 17, led by VADM William Halsey, Jr. (USNA '04) struck Jaluit, Mili, and Makin (Butaritari) islands. The Task Force was centered on USS Yorktown (CV 5), with USS Louisville (CA 28) among her escorts.

George Bellinger '32, Francis Maher, Jr. '35, and Jack Moore '36 were all flying from Yorktown and were all lost that day. George Bellinger's plane simply "failed to return;" he had last been seen in the vicinity of Jaluit as the leader of a bombing section. Jack Moore's plane also "failed to return;" no other information was given in the after-action report. Francis Maher may have been the pilot of the plane observed in the water approximately 20 miles astern of the carrier, presumably having crashed due to a lack of fuel. The crew were seen getting into rubber rafts, and "a destroyer was immediately sent back but failed to make contact."

A fourth graduate, Edward Worthington '34, was lost when his float plane, launched from Louisville, went missing and was possibly shot down by a Japanese patrol bomber.

Separately, Task Force 8 was raiding other islands in the group. Hallsted Hopping '24, commanding officer of Scouting Squadron (VS) 6, was flying from USS Enterprise (CV 6). His aircraft was shot down by a Japanese fighter and he and his gunner were both killed.

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.

Namesake

USS Hopping (DE 155) was named for Hallsted; the ship was sponsored by his widow. <div class=‘clearfix’></div>