Lucky Bag Yearbook

From the 1938 Lucky Bag:

JOHN EDWARD BLACK

Blacky, Black-John

Radio Club 4; Ensign.

John is the perfect roommate and friend. His only vices are reading Esquire and living in Ohio during leaves. Johnny is the white sheep of the Black family and is undoubtedly the most vermillion of Red Mikes. However, he never gets blue; it’s his indefinable attitude towards life that makes him look cheerfully on the system he is always trying to undermine. John follows amateur radio avidly and handles a fast transmitting key. He appreciates good music both classical and swing. The “Iron Man” is capable of horrible puns and grotesque cartoons. He is a strong football fan and sports prophet and spends his spare time proving Navy can beat Army by hundreds of points. John’s perseverance will drive him to success. A real specimen—that man!!

Loss

John was lost when USS Utah (AG 16) was sunk on December 7, 1941 during the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor.

Other Information

His mother was listed as next of kin. There is a memorial plaque at the Utah State Capitol building as well as the USS Utah Memorial in Pearl Harbor, HI honoring the 54 men who died on December 7, 1941. He is also listed at the Courts of the Missing in Hawaii.

Career

John was commissioned an Ensign on June 2, 1938 and assigned to the USS Saratoga (CV-3). In 1940 he was transferred to an Aircraft Battle Force assignment. On June 2, 1941 he was promoted to Lieutenant Junior Grade, and by the end of 1941 was aboard the USS Utah (BB-31).

On January 25, 1943 the Navy posthumously awarded John a letter of commendation “for exceptional courage, coolness and devotion to duty while serving aboard the U.S.S. Utah, during the Japanese attack on the United States Pacific fleet in Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.”

Photographs

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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.