Lucky Bag Yearbook

From the 1931 Lucky Bag:

William McKee Freshour

Mac Fresh

Football 3, 2, 1 '31; NA Basketball 4, 3, 2, 1; N Captain 1 Track 4, 3, 2, 1; NA 2 P. O.

STRAIGHT from the heart of old Ohio, more specifically the Miami Valley, Mac came to us in the summer of ‘27. Rosy cheeks and a winning smile soon crumbled all barriers of strangeness, and Mac won a place in our hearts Plebe Summer which each succeeding year has only served to make more secure.

Blessed with a superb physique, this boy has taken full advantage of natures endowments by his activities on the athletic field.

How well we remember the struggles of Plebe Year, when things looked black, who was it made us see the light? Was he ever down? Perhaps, but never out!

A sincere fun-loving chum, Mac has naturally a large following among the fair sex. His most familiar phrase is “Another little girl made happy!”

The Naval Service has found in Mac a man possessing a magnetic personality combining all the qualities of real leadership. Coolness under fire? His grit on the football field is merely an indication of wonderful “staying power” in all phases of life!

Loss

William was lost on August 23, 1937 when the plane he was aboard crashed in San Diego. He was a member of Fighting Squadron (VF) 2B.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

William, who was known as Mac, graduated from Piqua high school in 1927. He played the horn in band, and in track, he did the 120 yard hurdles, the 250 low hurdles and the high jump (best 5’ 6 1/4”.) As sports editor, he wrote his own description for Letter Men who Graduate: “Mac is another of Piqua’s all around athletes. He acquitted himself very well in football, playing end and sometimes fullback. Mac was one of the mainstays in basketball this season and on the track he has won many a point for Piqua by his high jumping ability. Mac has not only been Jack of all sports but also master of them and has been a big factor in winning victories for his high school.

The Class Prophecy was titled Tablets Unearthed: “To be a salesman you must have the gift of gab”, was the title for the next picture. It showed Skipper Mac Freshour, who, I believe, was now the Secretary of the Navy. I could not understand all of this tablet, but I did make out that Mac was supposed to be signing a bill of sale for a large piece of land in New Mexico.

His mother was Eva, and his sisters were Martha and Marion (Mrs. Arthur Jessop.) His father William was an attorney and an executive at the Piqua Cap company. He died in July, 1931.

He earned his wings as naval aviator #4064 on October 24, 1934.

He is buried in Ohio.

Obituary

From Find A Grave:

Piqua Daily Call August 20, 1937

FINAL TRIBUTE PAID TO LIEUT. FRESHOUR

Approximately 1,000 Persons Gather at Forest Hill Cemetery to Witness Touching Burial

Lasting tribute was paid late yesterday afternoon to Junior Lieutenant William McKee Freshour, one of six naval men killed in a plane crash at San Diego last Monday night, when approximately 1,000 friends, acquaintances and others who had followed his rising career with pride, gathered in Forest Hill cemetery for the impressive military burial services.

The cemetery rites followed funeral services at the home of the grief-stricken mother, Mrs William McD Freshour, 333 West High street in charge of Rev Raymond G Clark.

At the cemetery the flag-draped casket was borne to the grave in the family plot amid a veritable sea of beautiful floral pieces by six reserve naval officers from Tippecanoe City, Dayton and surrounding territory, who volunteered their services with a seventh ex-enlisted man who followed immediately to the rear.

Honorary pallbearers were Richard Seifried, Samuel Heitzman, Britton Wood, George Rundle, Daniel Stickler and Dr Hugh Wellmeier.

An American Legion detail of color guard and firing squad was under command of Major John Reymiller with JM Patton, Paul Schnell post chaplain speaking the military service lines following a prayer by Rev Clark.

A wall of humanity stood at respectful attention around the edges of the burial area as the sharp echoes of the firing squad’s three rounds in “salute to the dead” gave way to the clarion call of “taps” in turn followed by the plaintive notes of the “echo” as the casket was lowered into its final resting place.

Photographs

From his high school yearbook

From his high school yearbook

From the Dayton Daily News on February 17, 1927

Related Articles

Ford Wallace ‘31 and Walter Dey ‘34 were also lost in this crash.

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.