Lucky Bag Yearbook

From the 1926 Lucky Bag:

Hilan Ebert

Ebe

Gymkhana (2).

AFTER the Board of Physical Examiners took a chance on four years of mess-hall diet’s resulting in an increment of avoirdupois in the territory between the hair and the hoofs, this elongated specimen from the State of Presidents, Automobiles, and Floods entered upon his career as a midshipman.

If motor-sailers were equipped with automobile motors, this Ohioan would be invaluable aboard ship. At two hundred yards, he could tell the make and age of a car. The sound of its motor would be sufficient to give him the type, model, and number of cylinders.

Ebe always maintained a comfortable lead on the Ac Department but he obviously has no Spanish blood in him. At one time the Math Department secured a strangle hold which unearthed a latent store of ambition and determination, and after a month, he had topside again.

His initial appearance as a Snake was with local talent and a blind drag at that! However, on the morning after, his morale wasn’t any lower than usual, so it must not have gone the way of most blind drags. Though not a hop addict, he enjoys dragging—witness the six dates in nine nights of Second Class Christmas leave. But then, look who it was he dragged that six times!

“Say, Hungry, what’s the latest quotation on reindeer meat?”

Loss

Hilan was killed in action on November 30, 1942 when USS Northampton (CA 26) was sunk during the Battle of Tassafaronga. He was the ship’s engineering officer.

Other Information

From Navsource:

Hilan “Ebe” Ebert was born 21 March 1903 in Alliance, Ohio. Graduating from the Naval Academy in 1926, he served in various billets afloat and ashore until assigned to USS Northampton (CA 26) 29 April 1942. Lieutenant Commander Ebert was killed 30 November 1942 when his ship was torpedoed in the Battle of Tassafaronga off Guadalcanal. He was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for his courage and disregard for his own safety beyond the call of duty until his ship was lost.

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Hilan was survived by his wife Alda and two sons, Scott and David.

His father Scott, a retired railway mail clerk, died hours before news reached the family that Hilan had been killed. His mother was Blanche.

He has one memory marker in Arlington National Cemetery and another in Ohio.

Navy Cross

From Hall of Valor:

The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Navy Cross (Posthumously) to Lieutenant Commander Hilan Ebert, United States Navy, for extraordinary heroism and distinguished service in the line of his profession as Engineering Officer aboard the Heavy Cruiser U.S.S. NORTHAMPTON (CA-26), after the torpedoing of his ship in enemy-controlled waters during the Battle of Tassafaronga on the night of 30 November 1942. Stationed in the after engine room a the time the Northampton was torpedoed and set afire, Lieutenant Commander Ebert persistently carried out his duties despite the fact that his station, immediately after the explosion, became flooded with oil and water. The conduct of Lieutenant Commander Ebert throughout this action reflects great credit upon himself, and was in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.

General Orders: Bureau of Naval Personnel Information Bulletin No. 315 (June 1943)
Service: Navy
Rank: Lieutenant Commander

Photographs

From The Tampa Tribune on May 12, 1944

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 Ebert (DE 768) was named for Hilan; the ship was sponsored by his widow.