EVERETT W. ABDILL, CAPT, USN

Everett Abdill '24

Date of birth: April 18, 1902

Date of death: December 13, 1944

Age: 42

Lucky Bag

From the 1924 Lucky Bag:

EVERETT WOOLMAN ABDILL

Palmyra, New Jersey

"Ev"

AFTER treating the Philadelphia portion of our Navy to an inspection each year on Navy Day, "Ev" decided that when he reached the eligible age he would improve the outfit by giving his all.

He pulled a "veni-vidi-vici" stunt upon his arrival at Crabtown and has continued to do so with all officers, instructors, classmates, friends and femmes. Femmes? Yes, indeed, for he has dragged many four O's and fair ones, but never once has he been unsat.

"Ev" is one hundred per cent a Navy man. His first love for the Service was kindled in the Junior Naval Reserve. Now "Our Navy" rates higher with him than "Life", so stand clear all you who would disparage our dear Service or even suggest the Marine Corps.

At "Ev's" home, near Philly, many of his classmates have been privileged to enjoy such genuine hospitality, during our short leaves or after the big games, that they are unanimous in their decision that Palmyra is the best little Podunk in the East.

"Hey, 'Ev', let's go to Heaven."

Class Baseball (4, 3, 2, 1); Numerals (2); Class Football (3, 2); Class Wrestling (3, 2); Manager Wrestling (1); Buzzard (2); Musical Clubs (3, 2).

EVERETT WOOLMAN ABDILL

Palmyra, New Jersey

"Ev"

AFTER treating the Philadelphia portion of our Navy to an inspection each year on Navy Day, "Ev" decided that when he reached the eligible age he would improve the outfit by giving his all.

He pulled a "veni-vidi-vici" stunt upon his arrival at Crabtown and has continued to do so with all officers, instructors, classmates, friends and femmes. Femmes? Yes, indeed, for he has dragged many four O's and fair ones, but never once has he been unsat.

"Ev" is one hundred per cent a Navy man. His first love for the Service was kindled in the Junior Naval Reserve. Now "Our Navy" rates higher with him than "Life", so stand clear all you who would disparage our dear Service or even suggest the Marine Corps.

At "Ev's" home, near Philly, many of his classmates have been privileged to enjoy such genuine hospitality, during our short leaves or after the big games, that they are unanimous in their decision that Palmyra is the best little Podunk in the East.

"Hey, 'Ev', let's go to Heaven."

Class Baseball (4, 3, 2, 1); Numerals (2); Class Football (3, 2); Class Wrestling (3, 2); Manager Wrestling (1); Buzzard (2); Musical Clubs (3, 2).

Loss

Everett was lost on December 13, 1944 when USS Nashville (CL 43) was struck by a Japanese kamikaze during the invasion of Mindoro. He was the Chief of Staff for Rear Admiral Arthur Struble, Attack Group Commander.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Everett graduated from a local high school in 1920.
He married Dorothy Fairbairn on June 18, 1927, in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. Their three daughters were Mary J., Evelyn, and Charlotte.
His father Joseph was a telephone tester, mother Julia, and sister Ruth Elizabeth (Mrs. John Heubel.)

His wife was listed as next of kin. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

From Find A Grave:

Article about the death of his widow -
CHAPEL HILL, North Carolina -- Dorothy F. Miller died at Carolina Meadows retirement community, where she had resided since 1989, on February 12, 2000.
She was born Dorothy Marie Fairbairn in Chicago, Illinois, on May 27, 1905, the daughter of Frederick and Mame Ophelia Lovgren Fairbairn. Educated at Sweet Briar College in Virginia and at Western Reserve University in Cleveland Ohio, where her parents had later made their home, she was married in the Episcopal Cathedral in Cleveland in 1927 to Everett Woolman Abdill, a young naval officer who had been an outstanding midshipman in the Class of 1924 at the United States Naval Academy and a classmate there of her brother Donald Fairbairn.
She and her husband with their growing family-three daughters born variously in Manila, P.I., Washington, D.C., and Long Beach, California, served their country at Naval duty posts around the world. Everett Abdill, who had become a submariner, was posted to Manila; Tsingtao, China; Washington, D.C., the Panama Canal Zone, New London, Connecticut, Newport, Rhode Island; Long Beach, California, and Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, before the Second World War. In Tsingtao, faced with a squad of Japanese soldiers determined to bivouac on her lawn, while her Chinese house boy beat on pots and pans in the kitchen , Dorothy drove the Japanese off her lawn with a Flit Spray.
In 1944, Captain Abdill was chief of staff to the Admiral commanding the task force that carried General McArthur's forces back into the Philippines. The Captain was killed at Leyte Gulf in December, 1944, on the deck of the task force flagship by a Japanese Kamikaze bomber. Dorothy Abdill, left with a widow's pitiful pension, moved her three daughters from San Francisco back to Alexandra, Virginia, found work in the Department of State and then in the Department of the Navy, nurtured and brought up her daughters and sent them all to college. When she had done that, she sold the home she had bought in Falls Church, Virginia, and bought a cottage at Virginia Beach. There she offered her children and grandchildren a haven by the sea. There the whole family repaired to be with her and enjoy the warm hospitality she provided them and all her friends.

Legion of Merit

From Hall of Valor:

The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Legion of Merit with Combat "V" (Posthumously) to Captain Everett Woolman Abdill (NSN: 0-58736), United States Navy, for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services to the Government of the United States in the planning and successful execution of the amphibious landings behind the center of the Japanese lines at Ormoc Bay on 7 December 1944 and at Mindoro on 15 December 1944. By his outstanding accomplishments as Chief of Staff, in the planning and in the execution of the Ormoc plan, in the face of heavy enemy opposition, he performed outstanding accomplishments. During the Mindoro operation Captain Abdill, in his capacity as Chief of Staff, was on the bridge of the flagship at the time of the determined enemy attack on that vessel, and died at his post of duty, carrying on to the last. His conduct and leadership were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service. (Captain Abdill is authorized the Combat "V".)
Service: Navy
General Orders: Commander Task Group 78.3: Serial 003 (January 1, 1945)

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.

July 1924

Ensign, under instruction, Navy Yard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Others at this command:

LT Jack Richardson '19

September 1924

Ensign, USS New York

Others at this command:

ENS William Reddington '23

November 1924

Ensign, USS New York

Others at this command:

ENS William Reddington '23

January 1925

Ensign, USS New York

March 1925

Ensign, USS New York

May 1925

Ensign, USS New York

July 1925

Ensign, USS New York

October 1925

Ensign, USS New York

January 1926

Ensign, USS Barker

October 1926

Ensign, USS Arkansas

Others at this command:

ENS Charles Miller '25

ENS Irving Howell '26

ENS William Watson '26

January 1927

Ensign, USS Arkansas

Others at this command:

ENS Charles Miller '25

ENS Irving Howell '26

ENS William Watson '26

April 1927

Ensign, USS Arkansas

Others at this command:

ENS Charles Miller '25

ENS Irving Howell '26

ENS William Watson '26

October 1927

Lieutenant (j.g.), under instruction, Submarine Base New London, Connecticut

Others at this command:

LT Robert Smith '20

LTjg John Hollowell, Jr. '22

ENS Elmer Buerkle '25

January 1928

Lieutenant (j.g.), 16th Naval District

Others at this command:

LT Mark Crouter '20

LTjg Richard Moss '24

April 1928

Lieutenant (j.g.), USS S-34

July 1928

Lieutenant (j.g.), USS S-34

October 1928

Lieutenant (j.g.), USS S-34

January 1929

Lieutenant (j.g.), USS S-34

April 1929

Lieutenant (j.g.), USS S-34

Others at this command:

LTjg Harry Hubbard '25

July 1929

Lieutenant (j.g.), USS S-34

Others at this command:

LTjg Harry Hubbard '25

October 1929

Lieutenant (j.g.), USS S-34

Others at this command:

LTjg Harry Hubbard '25

January 1930

Lieutenant (j.g.), USS S-34

Others at this command:

LTjg Harry Hubbard '25

April 1930

Lieutenant (j.g.), USS S-34

Others at this command:

LTjg Harry Hubbard '25

October 1930

Lieutenant (j.g.), ordered to United States

January 1931

Lieutenant (j.g.), for assignment, Submarine Division 2