Lucky Bag Yearbook

From the 1929 Lucky Bag:

JOHN AUSTIN COLLETT

Jack Glenna

Christmas Card Committee 2, 1. Class Baseball 4, 3; 1929. Gymkhana 4. Log Staff 3, 2. Log Board 1. M.P.O.

JACK was born in Nebraska, lived a number of years in Haiti, went to school in Washington, and finally became one of us back in June ‘25. Being rather young, he started out to demolish all records, scholastic and otherwise; but the steam department prevented him from being a savoir, and his faculty of learning what it is all about showed him how many things there are worth doing. As a result he turned his attention to the Log, class athletics, and the fair femmes. The results speak for themselves in that he has controlled the advertising department of the Log successfully for two years, played soccer and baseball to the extent of class numerals, and appeared at every hop—with a different femme each time.

Being naturally reserved Jack is really known by a few close friends and they have found him easy going, entertaining and ready to help anyone at any time. While he may never achieve his ambition of annexing a Spanish dancer, we would be proud and glad to have him as a shipmate on any old cruise.

Loss

John was lost on October 26, 1942 when his TBF-1 Avenger torpedo bomber was shot down at the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands. He was commanding officer of Torpedo Squadron (VT) 10, flying from USS Enterprise (CV 6); he had only taken command 10 days earlier.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

John graduated from Western High School in Washington, D. C. He also attended John Eaton School and the Swavely School in Manassas, Virginia.

On September 5, 1936, John flew a Navy plane from San Diego to Fort Crook field in Omaha to visit with relatives and friends.

He married Jane Gray on December 28, 1939, in St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Honolulu.

John wrote three articles on naval affairs for the United States Naval Institute Proceedings: “The Flying Deck Cruiser,” November, 1934; “Naval Aerial Menace No. 1,” August, 1942; and “The Aircraft Carrier,” December, 1942.

In the 1910 Omaha census, John was listed as Austin J. Collett, Jr. His father Austin died in April, 1934. He was the first designated electrical engineer of the Union Pacific railroad. He served as manager for the Texas Oil company in Cuba, and previous to that, he was director general of public works in Santa Domingo. John’s mother was Ruth, and his brother was James Dahlman Collett (’32). His stepfather was Captain C. C. Baughman, director of special activities of the Bureau of Naval Personnel. His grandmother, Mrs. J. C. Dahlman of Omaha, was the widow of the former mayor there.

He was briefly in command of Torpedo Squadron (VT) 3 in January 1942.

His mother was listed as next of kin.

Photographs

Omaha Daily Bee, January 18, 1914 Source

"This image is from a photo of VT-10 officers at Kaneohe Bay, Oahu"

From the Washington DC Evening Star on December 30, 1942

Namesake

USS Collett (DD 730) was named for John; the ship was sponsored by his mother. The commissioning commanding officer was his brother James.

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.