EDMUNDO GANDIA, LTJG, USN

Edmundo Gandia '38

Date of birth: August 5, 1914

Date of death: March 2, 1942

Age: 27

Lucky Bag

From the 1938 Lucky Bag:

EDMUNDO GANDIA

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Ed, Mahatma

From out of the South comes this caballero of few words. Ed has a knack of making life pleasant for his classmates and incidentally helping those who let that demon Dago get the upper hand. The hops usually find him in attendance navigating his way through the couples in an extremely nautical manner. Here his smiling nature and gentlemanly, mature attitudes display themselves at their best. He delights in sailing when the weather is rough and the tang of the salty spray is in his nostrils. At boxing and swimming Ed can hold his own with the best. Don't let Ed's gray hair fool you. He didn't get it from worry. Academics never bothered this pride of Porto Rico. The Fleet will gain a sturdy son of the sea when Ed is graduated. Best wishes, Ed!

Boxing 4; M.P.O.

EDMUNDO GANDIA

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Ed, Mahatma

From out of the South comes this caballero of few words. Ed has a knack of making life pleasant for his classmates and incidentally helping those who let that demon Dago get the upper hand. The hops usually find him in attendance navigating his way through the couples in an extremely nautical manner. Here his smiling nature and gentlemanly, mature attitudes display themselves at their best. He delights in sailing when the weather is rough and the tang of the salty spray is in his nostrils. At boxing and swimming Ed can hold his own with the best. Don't let Ed's gray hair fool you. He didn't get it from worry. Academics never bothered this pride of Porto Rico. The Fleet will gain a sturdy son of the sea when Ed is graduated. Best wishes, Ed!

Boxing 4; M.P.O.

Loss

Edmundo was lost when USS Pillsbury (DD 227) was sunk by a superior Japanese surface force in a night action on March 2, 1942, 200 miles east of Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean.

Remembrances

On April 18, 2013:

In a brief ceremony, members of the Puerto Rico Army National Guard Honor Guard, raised the American flag at the steps of the Capitol building in San Juan to honor U.S. Navy World War II Lt. j.g. Edmundo Gandia. Gandia became missing in action after the sinking of the USS Pillsbury March 2, 1942, south of the Pacific island of Java.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz: "Edmundo graduated with an award of the United States Lines for proficiency in modern languages. His sister Mrs. Murray Paddack lived in Cincinnati, Ohio."

Edmundo is remembered at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial.

His parents were listed as next of kin.

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.