JOHN F. MOONEY, JR., LT, USNR

John Mooney, Jr. '35

Date of birth: February 21, 1913

Date of death: July 6, 1943

Age: 30

Lucky Bag

From the 1935 Lucky Bag:

JOHN FREDERICK MOONEY, JR.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

"Jack" "Freddy"

PITTSBURGH lost a prospective business man when Jack came to Annapolis. From the beginning the academics have been tough for him. Whenever the going got too rough, he buckled down and his hard working and patient nature always carried him through. Jack is a versatile athlete. His real love is basketball, but he is equally at home on the football field where he backs the line as center. He is good natured and always smiling—a good asset any time; quiet, but that's all right, because who likes a noisy person?; reserved, but where would one be if all one's resources went at once? These combine to make him a swell roommate and, above all, a gentleman and a true sport.

Basketball 4, 3, 2, 1, NA. Class Football 4, 3, 2, 1. Tennis 4. M.P.O.

JOHN FREDERICK MOONEY, JR.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

"Jack" "Freddy"

PITTSBURGH lost a prospective business man when Jack came to Annapolis. From the beginning the academics have been tough for him. Whenever the going got too rough, he buckled down and his hard working and patient nature always carried him through. Jack is a versatile athlete. His real love is basketball, but he is equally at home on the football field where he backs the line as center. He is good natured and always smiling—a good asset any time; quiet, but that's all right, because who likes a noisy person?; reserved, but where would one be if all one's resources went at once? These combine to make him a swell roommate and, above all, a gentleman and a true sport.

Basketball 4, 3, 2, 1, NA. Class Football 4, 3, 2, 1. Tennis 4. M.P.O.

Loss

John was lost when USS Helena (CL 50) was sunk on July 6, 1943 by multiple torpedoes in the Battle of Kula Gulf.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz: "His father was a traveling salesman for a cement company in 1920. He died suddenly on September 13, 1936, and was buried in Danbury, Conn. John’s mother was Margaret Elizabeth (Costello), and his brother was William R."

His mother was listed as next of kin.

(Note his Find A Grave entry for the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial lists an incorrect date of birth and wrong location; he was born in Lima, Ohio.)

Career

John left the naval service in 1937. In 1940 he was living in Portland, Oregon and working in "gas and coke sales." He was appointed a LTjg in the Naval Reserve in late March or early April 1942.

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.