Lucky Bag Yearbook

From the 1937 Lucky Bag:

LEWIS OLCOTT DAVIS

Lew L.O.

One Stripe.

The hills of Connecticut are well represented by this dashing young Beau Brummel of the fourth deck who keeps us posted on all the whys and wherefores of fashion. This trait was picked up, no doubt, from the cosmopolitan corners of Middletown, where men are men and the floods run high. Few men can combine the sports of track and crew, but if you think it can’t be done, just ask Lew. He is an excellent helpmate, possessing the quality of being amenable to doing most of the work and not griping about it. An all around good mixer, Lew is a hard worker, hard player, and true friend.

Loss

Lewis was lost when USS Pecos (AO 6) was sunk by Japanese carrier-based aircraft on March 1, 1942.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Lewis graduated in 1932 from Woodrow Wilson High School and attended Severn School before the naval academy.

He married Marcia Elizabeth Ellis on August 19, 1939. His father Frank was a partner in an insurance company and chairman of the Middlesex County Chapter of the American Red Cross. His mother was Marian, and his brother was Donald.

His wife was listed as next of kin.

Lewis is remembered at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial.

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.