Lucky Bag Yearbook

From the 1930 Lucky Bag:

CLAUD WILBOURNE HUGHES

White Sparky Archie

Football 4, 3, 2, 1, Numerals 4, NA 3, N 2, 1; Wrestling 4, 3, 2, 1, Numerals 4, NA 3, N 2, 1, Captain 1; Lacrosse 2, 1, NA 2, 1; Two Stripes.

ARKANSAS’ gift to the Naval Academy, Whitey is a true democratic son of the soil. A bit matured and very patient, doubtless a characteristic acquired during his long acquaintance with stubborn mules and rocky Arkansas soil, still he was able to join in our childish escapades with a quiet enthusiasm that endeared him to us. With his calm disposition and heart of gold, he surmounted the trivial troubles of our life and was always ready with a quiet smile and a word of cheer. Never boisterous, he became one of the fellows known as “still water.”

Richly endowed by nature and well developed by Arkansas, he early budded as an athlete—not of the sensational type but rather one of the pluggers who form the backbone of all teams. Football and wrestling received most of his attention, with great success.

Methodical, practical and thorough, he was rated a savior academically. Socially he was a red mike—for strange women terrorized him, though he always avowed vehemently to the contrary.

Esteemed by all his friends, and with not an enemy among his acquaintances, success is certain to one so deserving.

Loss

Claud was lost on September 9, 1937; he died of injuries sustained on September 7 when the aircraft he was aboard crashed at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Claud married Abbie Alyn Church on January 12, 1934 at the Sacred Heart church in Pensacola. Their daughter Marijene was born October 2, 1936, in Norfolk, Virginia. After his death, she married Willard Hastings, Jr., and resided in California. Abbie died in 1960.

Claud’s father was a farmer. Claud’s brother Harry was born in 1911, and his sister Susanna was born in 1927.

From The Baltimore Sun on September 9, 1937:

Was Athlete At Academy
Annapolis, Sept. 9 (AP)— Lieut Claud W. Hughes was a winner of the Thompson athletic trophy at the Naval Academy and had served as coach. He was center on the Navy football team in 1927, ‘28 and ‘29 and was captain of the Navy wrestling team in 1930. He was assistant coach in 1930 and line coach of the Navy B squad in 1935.

He was the 1930 recipient of the Naval Academy’s Thompson Trophy Cup, “Presented to the midshipman declared by the Association’s Athletic Committee to have done the most during the year for the promotion of athletics at the Naval Academy.”

He earned his wings as naval aviator #4012 on March 22, 1934.

Claud was an “instructor at Squadron 2 and the station football coach;” the student pilot aboard was injured.

He was also survived by five brothers and sisters and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

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.