LT JOHN T. LAWLER, USN
Lucky Bag Yearbook
From the 1959 Lucky Bag:
JOHN T. LAWLER
Twenty-third Company
John attended Oregon State College for one year before entering the Naval Academy and continued his high academic standing by wearing his stars proudly. During the football season, he was one of the hard-running backs on the Sixth Battalion football team. He was a member of the varsity track squad during the winter and spring months and was one of Navy’s top sprinters. Extracurricular-wise, John was a member of the Russian Club, Trident Magazine Staff and was the Sixth Battalion representative to the Class Crest and Ring Committee. Naval aviation gains John’s nod for the future.
Loss
John was lost on August 13, 1964 when the fighter he was piloting crashed into the Pacific Ocean near San Clemente Island, California.
Other Information
From Redlands Daily Facts on August 19, 1964:
SAN DIEGO (UPI) - Coast Guard authorities late Tuesday called off a search for a Navy pilot whose plane crashed 21 miles south of San Clemente Island. The Navy said Lt. John T. Lawler, 27, of Fighter Squadron 162 at Miramar Naval Air Station, apparently suffered fatal head injuries on impact. Lawler leaves his widow, Sylvia, of San Diego, and his mother, Mrs. Alice Wright Wakeford, Kelso, Wash.
From the November 1964 issue of Shipmate:
All of the 23rd Co. and others who knew him well know we have lost a top-notch classmate and an outstanding officer. Our sympathy goes out to Sylvia and the baby.
From researcher Kathy Franz:
John graduated from Rainier Union High School in 1955 where he received a science award. At Oregon State, he was on the rifle team.
He received a primary appointment to the Naval Academy in April 1955.
John married Sylvia Carole Rodgers on September 5, 1955, at the Naval Academy chapel.
He received his wings at the Chase Field Naval Auxiliary Air Station in Beeville, Texas, in April 1961. He next reported to the Naval Air Station at Key West.
John’s Find A Grave page is here.
Related Articles
Ronald Obenland ‘59 was also in 23rd Company.
John is one of 32 members of the Class of 1959 on Virtual Memorial Hall.
