Lucky Bag Yearbook

From the 1951 Lucky Bag:

Melvin Galliner Shimer

Born and bred in St. Joseph, Missouri … as a boy Mel always dreamed of a military life . . . rising progressively from commander-in-chief of a pair of mules in ole Missouri through a two-year hitch in the Marines, he came to Navy to really top off his military career . . . when it came to dishing out sports, Mel tried them all, but could not find one he really liked so settled down with a deck of cards and a record of Semper Fidelis as extra-curricular activities . . . his favorite pastime is a blonde from Baltimore . . . had his heart set on a commission in the Gyrenes . . . the Air Force looks good. . . will probably end up there.

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He was also a member of the 17th Company staff (winter).

Loss

Mel was lost when the Beachcraft aircraft he was flying crashed off the coast of Monterey, California, on September 18, 1958. Two others aboard were also lost.

He was a student in the Postgraduate School and “was on a routine training flight.”

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Melvin attended St. Joseph, Missouri, grade schools and Lafayette High School before moving with his family to Arizona in 1940.

He graduated from Clifton High School in 1944 in Arizona. Class President 4; Honor Society 4; Football 3, 4; “C” Club 3, 4; Advisory Council 4, President 4; Play Cast 1; Aeronautics 4; Aeronautical Drawing 4. He then attended the Naval Academy Preparatory school in Camp Peary, Virginia, before receiving a congressional appointment to the Naval Academy.

He trained at Pensacola air station, received his wings in July 1953, and then trained at Corpus Christi.

In February 1955, Melvin served as best man at Lt. (j.g.) Ballard Wing Tebo’s wedding. Tebo was Melvin’s squadron leader in the Naval Reserves.

In December that year, Melvin participated in an air gunnery competition with Squadron 91 near Fallon, Nevada.

He was survived by his parents. (Information from November 1958 issue of Shipmate.) He has a memory marker in Missouri.

Photographs

From the St. Joseph News Press Gazette on September 20, 1958. The photograph is of him as a Midshipman.

Melvin, 2nd from right, in his high school's aeronautical drawing class Source

From the St, Joseph News Press Gazette on July 12, 1953