Lucky Bag Yearbook

From the 1938 Lucky Bag:

JOHN CASPAR HENDERSON SMITH

Smitty, Cap

Wrestling 2, 1; Golf 3, 2, 1; Track 4; Football 4; C.P.O.

A four year, running battle with the Academic and Executive Departments has resulted in a victory for our tall, handsome “Pennsylvania Wolonteer.” Gifted with a keen, practical mind, he has always had enough on the ball to foil the academic Draculas in his pursuit of the elusive 4.0. He gives vent to his overflowing supply of animal spirits by an intensive participation in several sports. A golfer of no mean ability, his latest ambition is to “rassle,” which activity takes up most of his afternoons as well as a good deal of his epidermis; and balmy, spring days find him digging up the cinder track. Snaking is another of his major sports. His active intelligence, his good judgment, and, above all, his quick sense of humor have made him an excellent shipmate.

Loss

John was lost when USS Wasp (CV 7) was sunk by a Japanese submarine on September 15, 1942. He appears to have been a part of ship’s company — he was not an aviator — though unable to find details of his service.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

At Altoona High School, John went by Caspar J. Smith “Cap.” He graduated in 1933. General studies. Golf Club 3; Secretary-Treasurer, Quill and Scroll.

His father was Lt. John Harold Smith (’10) who retired 2/26/1919 as a Commander. In 1950s he lived in Rosemont, Pennsylvania. At John’s death, he was head of naval training at the State University.

John’s mother was Virginia, sister Virginia, and brother Lawrence. In 1920 they lived in Paradise, Pennsylvania. In 1935, they lived in Altoona, and in 1940, his father was a shipping clerk at a wholesale grocery.

From the Altoona Tribune on December 10, 1942:

It was learned yesterday that Lieutenant (senior grade) John Casper Henderson Smith, 25, formerly of Altoona, reported “missing in action” aboard the U.S.S. Wasp, sunk September 15 in the battle of the Solomons. was last Seen in a section of the doomed aircraft carrier destroyed by a magazine explosion.

Another Wasp officer from Philadelphia, who knew Lieutenant Smith well, has told his parents that no one serving in Lieutenant Smith’s section of the carrier survived the explosion of the magazine which doomed the ship.

Lieutenant Smith, known as Cappy, is the son of Lieutenant and Mrs. John Harold Smith, now of State College, where the father is in command of the naVal training school, and grandson of the late Mr. and Mrs. M. H C.anan of this city.

He graduated from Altoona High school. class of 1934. and from the U. S. Naval Academy, class of 1938. He served on the U.S.S. Saratoga and was transferred to the Wasp in 1940.

His wife, Jane, was listed as next of kin; they were married in Norfolk, Virginia on July 27, 1940. (She starred in some feature films in the 1940s, and later remarried to a man who became a Major General in the Army and Secretary of Veteran’s Affairs under President Reagan.)

John is listed at the Courts of the Missing in Hawaii.

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.