Lucky Bag Yearbook

From the 1927 Lucky Bag:

Robert Chalmers Winters

Bob

Football: Class (3, 1); Lacrosse: A Squad (3) Class (2, 1) Navy Numerals (4) Plebe Varsity; Glee Club (4, 3, 2, 1) Assistant Leader (2) Leader (1): Choir (4, 3, 2, 1) Soloist (3, 2, 1); Gymkhana (1).

SOMEONE has said that the smaller the man, the more noise he makes. Bob disproves this rule for he is an out and out exception, even though some may say he does his bit in chapel on a quiet Sunday morning. Of all those we know he is the quietest, considering, too, that he has as much right as any to proclaim himself. Never yet have we heard him boast, although he surely has ample reason to do so.

Now, so far, you would imagine my subject to be rather anemic, with an angelic smile, and hands piously crossed in front of his periodically palpitating chest. That’s where you are wrong; this little man has more activity per cubic inch than any other man in the Academy. When they took the Lucky Bag activity pictures, he sat on the terrace for one whole afternoon, while group after group arranged themselves about him. But of all his work he likes best to throttle his fellows with that lacrosse stick, and at the same time to sing rather softly the “Benedicto.” He is a combination of the student, the athlete, and the musician, and we can readily understand the thrill that girls get when they know him. That this is true is proved by the fact that he gets more mail per day than any other of the pseudo “sheiks.”

This activity of his is energized by his ambition, and we feel certain that he will make the name which he so earnestly is striving for.

Loss

Robert was lost on May 6, 1942 when a Patrol Squadron (VP) 13 plane he was a passenger aboard crashed on takeoff from Ford Island, Hawaii.

From the VP-23 War Diary (via naval aviation historian Richard Leonard email on April 8, 2018):

In early May the squadron lost its executive officer, also at the time its acting commanding officer, Lt.Cdr. Robert C. WINTERS. He with six crews was to return to the United States and fly back new PBY-5 planes. Commander WINTERS was killed when the plane in which he was a passenger crashed on take off at Ford Island.

From the VP-13 War Diary, again via Richard Leonard:

When commencing a return fight to San Diego, Cal., about 1620 May 6, 1942, 13-P-5, BuAer #1633 crashed shortly after take off in the eastern end of the dry dock channel at Pearl Harbor, T.H. due to failure of No. 3 engine. The plane sank in 20 feet of water and was subsequently recovered by the Naval Air Station, Pearl Harbor, T.H., and was transferred to the A & R department of that station pending final disposition. A crew of ten and 13 passengers were aboard. Personnel injured as follows:

• Lt.Comdr. R. C Winters, U.S. Navy - - Drowned
• Lt.Comdr. J.C. Riggs, U.S. Navy - - Drowned
• Colonel F.P. Mulchay, U.S.M.C. - - Fracture, left humerus.

Other members of crew and passengers either uninjured or received minor cuts and bruises.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Robert was born in New Jersey.

He later belonged to Boy Scout troop 108 in Brooklyn. He received badges in carpentry, firemanship, and first-class cooking. Robert was patrol leader in 1920 and won 100 points for his board exhibit on knots. He also sang in one of the Scout programs.

He graduated from Brooklyn Technical high school in 1923.

The Standard Union, Brooklyn, January, 12, 1923, posted a Kings County Supreme Court notice that Robert’s mother changed her name and that of her two sons from Winternitz to Winters.

Robert’s wife was Margaret, and at his death, their children were Anne Hyde, 11 and Christine, 7. They witnessed the Pearl Harbor bombing and were evacuated by clipper shortly thereafter. His wife died on May 12, 1978, still living in Orinda, California.

Robert was also survived by his mother Elizabeth Arcularius Winters and brother Andrew Merrill Winters of Port Washington. His father was Eugene C. Winternitz, manager of the Manhattan Arms, who deserted her and paid $10/week support. He went to Massachusetts and filed for divorce. In Boston in 1916, he was charged a poll tax.

Robert was a descendant of Gurdon Saltonstall, Colonial Governor of Connecticut, and General Nathanael Greene of the Continental Army.

Robert was designated Naval Aviator #3562 in 1929.

His wife was listed as next of kin.

Photographs

From The Brooklyn Daily Eagle on May 29, 1921

Related Articles

John Riggs, Jr. ‘28 was the other passenger lost in this crash.

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.