ALLAN C. EDMANDS, LCDR, USN

Allan Edmands '35

Date of birth: June 10, 1911

Date of death: March 19, 1945

Age: 33

Lucky Bag

From the 1935 Lucky Bag:

ALLAN CHRISTIE EDMANDS

Andover, Massachusetts

"Deak" Deacon" "Ace"

DEAK hails from Andover, Massachusetts. Several years ago, he heard the call of the sea Andover he came to the Navy (he loves a pun!). Although he is not an athletic hero, still he is somewhat of an outdoor man, as he can always be counted upon to take part in a winter afternoon football or lacrosse game. If bad weather precludes outdoor sports, he can usually be found in Smoke Hall playing billiards. His favorite spring or summer afternoon pastime is sailing, if he can take along a book on Astronomy. Although he never starred in anything and is not exactly the kind of man over which women lose their heads, he has many friends.

Class Lacrosse 4, 2, 1. 1 P.O.

ALLAN CHRISTIE EDMANDS

Andover, Massachusetts

"Deak" Deacon" "Ace"

DEAK hails from Andover, Massachusetts. Several years ago, he heard the call of the sea Andover he came to the Navy (he loves a pun!). Although he is not an athletic hero, still he is somewhat of an outdoor man, as he can always be counted upon to take part in a winter afternoon football or lacrosse game. If bad weather precludes outdoor sports, he can usually be found in Smoke Hall playing billiards. His favorite spring or summer afternoon pastime is sailing, if he can take along a book on Astronomy. Although he never starred in anything and is not exactly the kind of man over which women lose their heads, he has many friends.

Class Lacrosse 4, 2, 1. 1 P.O.

Loss

Allan was killed in action on March 19, 1945 when USS Franklin (CV 13) was nearly destroyed by a Japanese air attack.

Other Information

From Find A Grave:

ALLAN CHRISTIE ("Ace") EDMANDS, Sr., was born 10 June 1911 in Saugus, Massachusetts. He grew up in nearby Andover, graduating from high school in 1929 and enlisting in the Navy. He soon became a candidate for officer's training and was enrolled at the Naval Academy at Annapolis, graduating in 1935 and commissioned. In 1937, he married Mary Anna Hawes; they had three children: (Mary) Christine (1938), Allan Christie, Jr. (1942), and Anna Jane ("Janna," 1944).
Allan earned his "wings" from flight school in Pensacola in 1940, making his nickname "Ace" even more appropriate. Ace was stationed at Pearl Harbor in December 1941, serving on the light cruiser Astoria. When the Japanese attacked, the Astoria was out at sea. Ace flew missions in battles at the Coral Sea, Midway, Savo Island (where he was wounded and where the Astoria was sunk), and Tarawa. In one battle report, he confided to his captain that he wasn't sure how he would react at the sight of blood and gore: "I found out before the night was over. . . . I was amazed I wasn't more scared, but things happen so fast there isn't time."
In June 1944, as a Lieutenant Commander, Ace became skipper of Torpedo Squadron 5, and began training his men on TBM Avenger torpedo bombers. In January 1945, the squadron joined the aircraft carrier Franklin, which sailed as part of a huge task force for the final assault on the Japanese home islands, an assault expected to take up to a year and cost several hundred thousand American casualties. Missions against Kyushu targets began on 18 March, when the Franklin was within 60 miles of Japan.
On the morning of 19 March, Ace and his squadron were warming up their engines, preparing for a run on the strategic port of Kobe. A single Japanese bomber emerged from the clouds and dropped two 550-pound armor-piercing bombs on the Franklin. The two explosions were only the beginning; they ignited aviation fuel lines, bombs, rockets, and other ordnance aboard the ship, killing nearly a thousand men - Ace among them.

All of Torpedo Squadron (VT) 5's planes were lost; USS Franklin (CV 13) lost over 800 men that day.

His wife was listed as next of kin

Photographs

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.