Lucky Bag Yearbook

From the 1925 Lucky Bag:

Edwin Van Brant

Bimbo Eva

Class Football (4, 3); Varsity (3, 2); Class Lacrosse (4, 2, 1).

HIS only weakness is his roommate, who is entranced by this “long rangy tackle.”

“Nothin’ ever bothers me,” says “Eva,” in his native tongue when referring to his lowest “unsat” mark or the (————) of his equator.

He kept immune from the chains of the stronger sex until his second class year, when he brought upon us many bricks and ye verily one “four O.” “Bim” struts the floor wonderfully and then she asks sweetly, “Have you been dancing on it?” He doesn’t shine in the Armory, but afterwards———–!!!!!!!

In spite of his numerous faults, we could not live without him because he thinks nothing of taking ten suits to the tailor shop. And he is very apt at cleaning out the room owing to his past experience on the farm.

Of his doings in foreign ports, we blush; little may be said (in public). However, we know his good sense of humor and continual smile will get him with the best of fellows. The best of luck “Bim,” whether it be farm or sea.

Loss

Edwin was lost on October 22, 1929 from USS Marblehead (CL 12) during a storm off Cape Hatteras.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Edwin enlisted in the Navy on June 1, 1920.

His father Frank was a manager of an automobile company in Philadelphia in 1910. He also had been a teacher, a circulation manager for a Philadelphia newspaper, and president of Chadwick Engineering Company in Pottstown.

Edwin’s other two siblings were sister Elmira and brother Irwin. In 1920, their mother was manager of a farm in Lower Providence, Pennsylvania. His two oldest sisters were working: one as a teacher, the other as a stenographer.

He has a memory marker in Pennsylvania:

In Memoriam
Edwin Van Brant
Lieutenant, Junior Grade, United States Navy

Born Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, February 15, 1901

Lost at sea October 22, 1929 from the U.S.S. Marblehead during a storm off Cape Hatteras while performing an act of heroism beyond the call of duty

His last words were “Is everybody all right?”

A gallant officer – A beloved shipmate

This tablet is placed by the officers and crew of the U.S.S. Marblehead 1930

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.