Lucky Bag Yearbook

From the 1938 Lucky Bag:

WEST ADAMS PAYNE

Ducky, Mammy

Track 4, 2; Batt. Boxing 2; Batt. Swimming 1; Boat Club 2; Mandolin Club Director; Musical Club Show 2, 1; G.P.O.

From a long line of military men this native son of old Virginia brought with him a fierce loyalty to anything of which he approves and an extreme frankness. His philosophy is “live and let live,” if anyone’s ever was. He has won his friends, not because of his many good points, but because, in spite of his weaknesses, people just can’t help liking him. Early in Plebe year his southern accent, singing, and guitar playing acquired for him the name “Mammy.” He likes to drag and prefers blondes from the sunny South. He has learned the meaning of the word “bone” and has always managed to pull through in spite of Steam and Skinny. Because he would never be happy anywhere except in the line—good luck, Ducky!

Loss

West was lost in the explosion of USS Turner (DD 648) in New York harbor on January 3, 1944.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

West graduated from Glass High School in 1933. Quill and Scroll; Athletic Association; Football; Manager of Track; Honor League; Monogram Club; Senior Council; Spanish Club, Secretary ’32; Library Council; Hi-Y; David Garrick Players, Assistant Business Manager, Business Manager, President; Business Manager of Senior Play; Senior Banquet Committee; High Times Staff, Sports Editor ’32, Assistant Managing Editor ’33. In the Hall of Fame, he was voted Most Pessimistic.

In 1930, his father Holcomb Adams Payne was a conductor on the Southern Railway. He had died by 1940. West’s mother was Annie L. who was a stenographer for a wholesale jewelry company.

His wife was listed as next of kin.

West is remembered at the East Coast Memorial in Manhattan, New York.

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.