Lucky Bag Yearbook

From the 1957 Lucky Bag:

WALLACE BRUCE MECHLING

Since Bruce was a Navy Junior, he decided to keep the Navy in the family and follow his father into the Fleet. While at Navy, he was able to keep well ahead of the academics, and devoted a lot of time to the lacrosse stick. A few years after graduation he hoped to replace the lacrosse stick with the control stick of an airplane. His only worries while at the Academy were about which girl was his “true love” that week. He would go along with any kind of a gag, and had a good time his four years by the Bay.

Loss

Bruce was lost when the A-3 Skywarrior he was piloting¹ crashed on a mountain in central Luzon, Philippines, on January 13, 1962. He was flying from USS Coral Sea (CVA 43) and is buried in California. The copilot and crewman aboard were also lost.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Wallace graduated from Severn School and attended the Naval Academy on a presidential appointment.

After graduation from the Academy, Wallace underwent five weeks of training at the Navy pre-flight school at Pensacola.

He married Nancy Ann Brown on August 30, 1958, in the Fort Hood Catholic Chapel in Texas.

He was survived by his parents, an older brother, and a younger sister. His father was a member of the Class of 1927 and was commanding officer of the NROTC unit at the University of Oklahoma in 1955; he retired as a captain in 1957.

Photographs

From The Norman Transcript on July 17, 1956

From The Norman Transcript on June 5, 1957

Related Articles

Kurt Gareiss ‘57, William Weaver ‘57, and Richard Hartman ‘57 were also members of 6th Company.

References