Lucky Bag Yearbook

From the 1939 Lucky Bag:

RUSSELL CLARK DELL

Rud, Bot, Boxcar, Russ

Football 4; Golf 3, 2, 1; 1 P.O.

Russ enjoys life, there being nothing of nervousness or hurry about him. He lives to get around and meet new personalities. He has an easy going manner, yet possesses the ability to produce results when necessity beckons. Golf, Russ upholds as the greatest outdoor game, and he excels at it. He finds boxing, football and basketball also to his liking. Intensely interested, as he is, in the nation’s financial and economic conditions, it is a safe bet to say that Russ would make his way in the business world if the Navy doesn’t accept his talents. Always maintaining that “there’s a solution for every problem” he often causes annoyed shifting of feet as he screams “Hand me my ‘slipstick’!”

Loss

Russell was lost when USS Edsall (DD 219) was sunk on on March 1, 1942 by Japanese surface and air forces. He was the ship’s assistant engineering officer.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Russell graduated in 1932 from University High School. “That tall, heavy-set, good looking fellow seen so frequently in the hall and the Correlator office, answers to the name of Russ. He entered school last year and immediately entered into all school activities; a Midway reporter, he soon became known for his column “Team Tattle” which afforded everyone much amusement. This year he wrote sports news for the Correlator and was frequently seen leaping wildly around the basketball floor, where he became quite expert. However, these are all minor assets, for Russ is principally known for his humor and contagious laugh.” Russell and Norman Howard had their names engraved on The George Lott Trophy being the two basketball lettermen who won a free-throwing contest.

Russell’s father Collis was a commercial salesman, mother Verna, and brother Charles.

His parents were listed as next of kin.

Russell is remembered at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial.

Photographs

From the Lucky Bag

From Chicago Tribune on April 2, 1934

From his high school yearbook

"Dell dead eye." From his high school yearbook.

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.