Lucky Bag Yearbook

From the 1938 Lucky Bag:

RICHARD DARLTON SAMPSON

Dick, Spot 1

Football 4, 3, 2, 1, N; Swimming 4, 3, 2, 1, sNAt; Water Polo 4; Crew 4; Boat Club 2, 1; Stamp Club 1; Lieutenant (j.g.).

From a land of tall pines and gleaming lakes came Dick with a frame that did not belie his name, and four years of football and swimming haven’t tended to shrink him. Without tiring that fine cranium, he manages to be respectable in academics. His hobby is tinkering. He takes fiendish delight in pouncing on poor, unsuspecting radios. To facilitate the practice of his black art, he acquired a tool kit, the fame of which has spread throughout the halls of Bancroft. Dick is a master of persuasion. Even the testiest D. O. succumbs when Dick waves that injured wrist before him for the fiftieth time and explains that X-rays are more important than Nav P-works. His infectious good humor and happy smile, which mirrors the sunniest of dispositions, make him, neglecting a few diabolical

Loss

Richard was lost on April 4, 1945 when the F6F-5 he was piloting crashed during a strafing attack on trucks in southern Okinawa.

He was Commander of Air Group 40, aboard USS Suwannee (CVE 27).

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Richard was born in New York. In 1933, he graduated from Evanston Township High School in Illinois and was on the swim team.

Richard was nominated to the Naval Academy by Sen. Duffy (D-Wis.) He was a third alternate.

He was survived by his wife and son, Richard D. Sampson, Jr., who resided at Rancho Santa Fe, California. His mother was Mrs. Ross D. (Maude) Sampson of Evanston. His brother was Willard. In 1930, his father was a salesman for a bronze manufacturing company. He died in April 1937. Richard was also survived by his aunt and uncle Mr. and Mrs. Robert S. Buddy of Glens Falls, New York.

His wife was listed as next of kin. He has a memory marker in Arlington National Cemetery.

Career

From naval aviation historian Richard Leonard via email on February 9, 2018:

• Date of rank LTJG from 1 Jul 1941 USN Register, 6/2/1941
• NAS Pensacola attached for HTA flight training, 7/24/1941
• NAS Pensacola designated NA # 11009, 2/16/1942
• Date of rank LT from 1 Jul 1942 USN Register, 6/15/1942
• Date of rank LCDR from 1 Jul 1944 USN Register, 3/1/1944
• CVEG-40 (1st CAG) /VF-40 (CO) NAS San Diego, 6/1/1944
• CVEG-40 (1st CAG) /VF-40 (CO) USS Suwannee (CVE-27) DFC PH KIA BNR, 4/5/1945

Other

From Naval Historical Center:

Ensign Richard D. Sampson was an officer on USS Helena in 1940. Born on 23 March 1915, he had graduated from the U.S. Naval Class in 1938. Following his Helena service, he trained as a Naval Aviator and reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander.

He took a picture of the wreck of Admiral Graf Spee in February 1940 “for an intelligence report prepared by USS Helena (CL 50) during her shakedown cruise to South America.”

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.