Lucky Bag Yearbook

From the 1923 Lucky Bag:

Joseph John Rooney

Jake Joe Pat Jerry Irish

Football Squad (4, 3, 2); NA (4, 3, 2); Boxing Squad (2); Water-Polo Squad (4, 3); Class Baseball (4, 3); Class Soccer (2); Class Lacrosse (2); Class Water-Polo (2).

AND in the next cage, ladies and gentlemen we have “Jo-Jo” the wild Irish rose who walks, talks, eats and sleeps like any other human being. When excited his bark is savage and sounds like a siren in a fog. He has a very likable personality, though, as is proven by his host of friends here in the Hall.

The gentle, manly sports are his specialties, he spoons all over football and takes a boxing glove to bed with him. Plebe year he made his debut in the sport of “legalized murder,” water-polo, and took to it like a duck to water.

The lure of the footlights has proven too much for him, and Pat occasionally devotes his energies to assisting the Masqueraders, and now and then takes a spare part himself.

As for his prowess on the ball-room floor—just take a look at those big, manly shoulders and add the grace of a prize fighter and you have him—social success.

“Hey, what’s the lesson about?”

Loss

Joseph was lost on May 10, 1928 when the plane he was piloting crashed off the coast of Oceanside, California. He was a member of Fighting Squadron (VF) 3S.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Joseph graduated from Frankford high school where he played in all major sports.

He was appointed to the Naval Academy by Congressman Peter E. Costello.

Joseph was an usher at classmate Frederic Cutler Stevens’ wedding in June, 1923. Other ushers from the 1923 class were Blackwell Newhall and Robert P. Robert.

Joseph’s father also named Joseph was a merchant in Philadelphia. His mother was Elizabeth. His five brothers were Charles, William, Henry, Paul and John. His four sisters were Elizabeth, Margaret, Mary and Elinor. The family lived at 532 Solly Avenue.

Joseph was engaged in training tests off the airplane carrier Lexington. He was attempting a short turn on his approach to the Lexington when he crashed into water 330 fathoms deep.

He earned his wings as naval aviator #3285 in 1926.

He has a memory marker in Pennsylvania.

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.

Memorial Hall Error

Memorial Hall lists him as “John J. Rooney;” his name was Joseph John Rooney. (There was no other “Rooney” in Class of ‘23, and no “John J. Rooney” in any Navy Directories or Officer Registers from the period.)