Lucky Bag Yearbook

From the 1923 Lucky Bag:

John Lytle Welch

Jack Pete Savvy Doc

Gym Squad (3, 2); Track Squad (4).

“WHAT only two this morning?” “Hey! Assistant! come here!” Pete’s only worry in life is the mail chart. It takes all his time, two fountain pens and his roommates’ stamps to keep sat in correspondence. One day, the rest of the room drew down more than he, and he didn’t speak for a week.

Pete hails from western Pennsylvania where the smoke hangs dark and thick. He went out for “pants hanging” as soon as he drew his gym shoes, and has developed into one of Mang’s best. Athletics and correspondence have bilged many, but Pete’s too savvy to let the Acs even get a toe hold on him. For straight dope on an exam, a good time in a port, or the best of shipmates for a cruise, Pete’s your man.

“Say, mister, come over and look at this picture. How much do you rate her?”

Loss

John was lost when the Japanese “Hell Ship” he was aboard, Enoura Maru, was bombed on January 9, 1945 while docked at Takao.

He had earlier survived the bombing of the Oryoku Maru on December 15 in Subic Bay.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

John’s father was also named John. He was a glass maker in Smethport, Pennsylvania. His mother was Mary, and his older brother was Edward. John and his wife Sally had a daughter Raye who was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1924.

In 1930, John’s family lived in Coronado, and they all sailed from Honolulu to San Francisco in November. His wife, the former Sally Fenwick, died in October, 1980, in San Diego. Their daughter Raye was now Mrs. Raye Lenson.

John was on Corregidor when that island surrendered; before then he was serving on the submarine tender USS Canopus (AS 9) before that ship was scuttled on April 10, 1942. He was mentioned in Part III of a column on Canopus in the November 1948 issue of Shipmate; he was the senior member of the “Naval Battalion” when it became part of the Fourth Marine Regiment.

It’s unclear how John was only a Lieutenant.

(Note: Some listings have his date of death in December 1944; believe it more likely that he died in January.)

His wife was listed as next of kin; he was also survived by a daughter.

Prisoner of War Medal

From Hall of Valor:

Lieutenant John L. Welch (NSN: 0-58274), United States Navy, was captured by the Japanese after the fall of Corregidor, Philippine Islands, on 6 May 1942, and was held as a Prisoner of War until his death while still in captivity.

General Orders: NARA Database: Records of World War II Prisoners of War, created, 1942 - 1947
Service: Navy
Rank: Lieutenant

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.