HAROLD A. MACFARLANE, LTJG, USN

Harold MacFarlane '29

Date of birth: September 26, 1907

Date of death: October 24, 1933

Age: 26

Lucky Bag

From the 1929 Lucky Bag:

HAROLD ARCHIBALD MACFARLANE

Haverhill, Massachusetts

"Mac" "Bob"

POISE is Mac's most noticeable characteristic. One can hardly conceive of the situation that could disturb his quiet composure. In class, his matter-of-fact attitude has often given him the high mark when any knowledge of his problem is due to his logical insight rather than to any previous study. Although dipping into most sports only a very little, Mac has devoted serious attention to the handling of the duelling swords in the fencing loft. To see him after a quiet afternoon is to be convinced that there is considerable exercise in fencing. During the summer he wields a mean tennis racquet, and at all other times a mean slide rule.

On some subjects Mac is non-communicative; you would never guess from his impersonal discussion of girls that his many "drags" have all averaged above starring. Mac likes to do things well; an argument with him is almost always settled in his favor. Unaffected by expediency, he does things because he believes in them; Mac is firmly convinced that no one could possibly know better than he what his policy ought to be. Wherever Mac is, he will lead, whether by the justified confidence of his superiors or by his own personality.

Fencing 3, 2, 1. Hop Committee 3. Jazz Band 3, 2. Assistant Leader NA Ten 3. Assistant Director Musical Clubs 2. Sub-Squad. Four Stripes.

HAROLD ARCHIBALD MACFARLANE

Haverhill, Massachusetts

"Mac" "Bob"

POISE is Mac's most noticeable characteristic. One can hardly conceive of the situation that could disturb his quiet composure. In class, his matter-of-fact attitude has often given him the high mark when any knowledge of his problem is due to his logical insight rather than to any previous study. Although dipping into most sports only a very little, Mac has devoted serious attention to the handling of the duelling swords in the fencing loft. To see him after a quiet afternoon is to be convinced that there is considerable exercise in fencing. During the summer he wields a mean tennis racquet, and at all other times a mean slide rule.

On some subjects Mac is non-communicative; you would never guess from his impersonal discussion of girls that his many "drags" have all averaged above starring. Mac likes to do things well; an argument with him is almost always settled in his favor. Unaffected by expediency, he does things because he believes in them; Mac is firmly convinced that no one could possibly know better than he what his policy ought to be. Wherever Mac is, he will lead, whether by the justified confidence of his superiors or by his own personality.

Fencing 3, 2, 1. Hop Committee 3. Jazz Band 3, 2. Assistant Leader NA Ten 3. Assistant Director Musical Clubs 2. Sub-Squad. Four Stripes.

Loss

Harold was lost on October 24, 1933, when he drowned following the collision of USS Chicago (CA 29) with a British merchant steamer off the coast of Point Sur, California. The steamer impacted near his stateroom and destroyed it.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Harold graduated from Haverhill High School in 1925. He was appointed to the Naval Academy by Congressman A. Patt Andrew.
Harold’s father David was a laster in a shoe factory. His mother was Ethel.

From The Boston Globe, February 3, 1933:

The funeral of Junior Lieut. Harold A. MacFarlane, U.S.N., son of Mrs. Ethel MacFarlane, who was killed Oct 24 off the coast of California, was held this afternoon at the Centre Congregational Church.
The services were attended by nearly 1,000 persons, including a naval detail from the Charlestown Navy Yard. Members of the City Council, legislators, Federal employees, school officials, Haverhill High School classmates, Legionnaires, members of the United States Naval Reserves and of patriotic and fraternal bodies, utility heads and business and professional men from all walks of life attended. Rev. Lester E. Evans, BD, pastor of the Centre Congregational Church, officiated. Burial was in Linwood Cemetery.

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.