Lucky Bag Yearbook

From the 1923 Lucky Bag:

William James McCord

Bill Stud Mac Silent

Soccer Squad (2); Class Soccer (3); Class Football (2).

THE Navy appealed to Mac in 1917, and soon he was a regular on the other side hunting submarines on convoy duty. Before long he was trying for the Academy. It was one beautiful day in June when he said “good bye” to cit life, but not so to Mac. He thought it was December. The Upper Classmen, try as they would by the olive oil cure, could not make him stop his laughing—he would laugh in spite of all they could do. Youngster year we found him somewhat changed, a man free to “drag”. Cynical, always that way with the so-called femmes. A snake he was, is now, and ever shall be. Vernon Castle could not show this Irishman one new thing—but he is very serious at times especially when a Nav P-work is scheduled dead ahead—that is, if he isn’t thinking about the miniature.

Loss

William was lost on October 28, 1927 when his single-seat Curtiss Hawk plane collided with another near Pensacola, Florida. One crashed through a “negro house” on North Davis street, and the other came to rest in the rear of a home on Sixth avenue. Hundreds of persons witnessed the crash.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

William quit St. Theresa’s School in eight grade to enlist in the Navy on May 5, 1917,

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch of June 14, 1923, William was on USS Castine (PG 6) in 1917 and 1918. She was fitted out to aid the British plant mines in the North Sea. His commander, Capt. Randolph Ridgely Jr., wrote St. Louis Congressman William L. Igoe recommending William for the Naval Academy. He had his aide, an Annapolis graduate, coach the boy. William was discharged from the Navy on April 28, 1919, and then he attended Congressman Hall’s Annapolis coaching school at Columbia, Missouri.

William married Elizabeth Dillon. Their daughter was Constance.

William’s father was James, a stationary engineer, mother Annie, and sisters Mary Mamie, Catharine, and Viola. William’s mother was a seamstress in her own home for many years. His father died in June, 1919, in Fairmont, West Virginia. He was working as a stationary engineer at a by-products plant and lived with his daughter Mrs. Ray Griffie in Norwood.

From Find A Grave:

The body of Lieut. William J. McCord, Naval aviator who was killed in an airplane accident Friday at Pensacola, Fla., was brought here Sunday for burial Thursday in Calvary Cemetery. Interment will follow services at 9 a. m. at an undertaking establishment at 3545 Lindell Boulevard and immediately afterwards at the Church of St. Philip Neri, Queens and Thelka Avenues. Lieut. McCord, who was 25 years old, lost his life when his scout plane collided with another plane piloted by Lieut. Edward P. Frawley at an altitude of 5000 feet. Lieut. Frawley also was killed.

A graduate of St. Teresa’s parochial school, Lieut. McCord accomplished the unusual feat of passing the Naval Academy entrance examination in 1919 without having spent a day in high school. He had enlisted in the navy when 16 years old and after he had been detailed to duty with a mine sweeper in the North Sea. He wrote to Congressman Igoe, then representing the Eleventh District, and got an appointment to Annapolis, from which, he was graduated in 1923. His first station was San Diego. CA, where he was engineer officer of the U. S. S. Stoddert. Later he made a cruise in the South Pacific and 11 months ago was transferred to the air service of the Navy at his own request. He got his wings as a Naval Aviator last August. His body was accompanied to St. Louis by his widow and 3-year-old daughter. His mother. Mrs. Anna McCord. lives at 720 Bremen avenue.

Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch (St. Louis, Missouri), Monday, October 31, 1927, page 4

He is buried in Missouri.

Photographs

From the St, Louis Post Dispatch on June 5, 1919

From The St, Louis Star and Times on June 4, 1919

Related Articles

Edward Frawley ‘22 was piloting the other aircraft.

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.