Lucky Bag Yearbook

From the 1925 Lucky Bag:

Fremont Bruce Wright

Squads Luke

Class Track (4, 3, 2, 1); Star (4, 3, 2, 1); Black N**********

AFTER spending several years lighting the gas lamps of the Potrero, Young Lochinvar came out of the Far West with the humble ambition to become Secretary of the Navy. Now he stands one (1) in amount available, and is not far behind in Academics. An extensive study of maritime law has made him singularly proficient in writing statements containing three substantial reasons!

Although he has acquired fame, he has not forgotten the home podunk. Who can mention New York in his presence without being astounded by accounts of the skyscrapers of Everett?

In spite of the fact that “One Gun” never took the Roth Memory Course, he can give extemporaneously the initials, laundry number, amount available, etc., correct to seven decimals, of any man in the Regiment. See section one for verification.

After graduation, he may be found for the first few years selling Orchard Lands to innocent Naval officers. After that, his address will be Sec. Nav., Wash., D. C.! His favorite beverage is weak tea—Quod erat demonstrandum.

Loss

Fremont was at sea aboard USS Mississippi when he was struck and killed by the differential piston of a 5" anti-aircraft gun on October 26, 1933.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Fremont was born in Spokane and attended the Adams Primary School. He attended Everett High School where he played Mr. Mulberry in “A Bachelor’s Romance” in 1920. His family moved to San Francisco, and he graduated from Lowell High School in 1921.

Fremont’s father was Frances who was a manager of a cannery in Everett, Washington, in 1920. His maternal grandmother Mattie McCabe lived with them. Fremont’s mother was Alice who was a manager in an embroidery factory in San Francisco in 1920. Fremont was actually counted twice at both places that year. Fremont graduated from Lowell High School in San Francisco. His funeral was held at the Masonic Temple in San Francisco, and he is buried in Cypress Lawn Memorial Park, Colma, California.

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.