ALFRED FORÉE, LT, USN
Alfred Forée '67
Alfred Forée was admitted to the Naval Academy from Kentucky on April 17, 1862 at age 15 years 8 months.
Loss
From Find A Grave:
While serving the United States on the U.S.S. Kansas, Forée lost his life at sea in a shipping accident while trying to save the life of his commanding officer, Commander Alexander Foster Crosman, who was thrown overboard by a raging sea near Nicatagua on April 12, 1872. Forée was a member of the Nicaragua Canal Surveying Expedition and drowned along with Crosman and four others. Six of his fellow sailors were awarded the Medal of Honor by preventing the loss of life of several of their shipmates. Forée's body was never recovered. His family erected a monument at Cave Hill Cemetery in his honor. His last words were: "Goodbye men, leave me, save yourselves."
Career
From the Naval History and Heritage Command:
Acting Midshipman, 17 April, 1862. Ensign, 18 December, 1868. Master, 21 March, 1870. Drowned 12 April, 1872.
Memorial
Alfred's "admiring and bereaved brother officers" erected a plaque in his honor in Memorial Hall.
Rank
It's not clear when Alfred was promoted to Lieutenant, but it is the rank he is listed with both on the operational loss panels and on the memorial tablet in Memorial Hall.
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.
January 1864
Third Class Midshipman, Naval Academy
Others at this command: LCDR Marshall Campbell '56, MIDN 2/c Benjamin Edes '65, MIDN 1/c Charles Kennedy '65, MIDN 2/c George DeLong '65, MIDN 3/c George Totten '66, MIDN 2/c Hugh McKee '66, MIDN 3/c John Talbot '66, MIDN 3/c John Phelan '66, MIDN 3/c Lyman Spalding '66, MIDN 4/c Charles Brown '67, MIDN 4/c James Cowie '67, MIDN 4/c Jonathan Wainwright '67, MIDN 4/c Sydney Simons '67, and MIDN 1/c James Wight '71.
January 1871
Master, "Present duty, station, or residence", Louisville, Kentucky
January 1872
Master, Kansas
Class of 1867
Alfred is one of 5 members of the Class of 1867 on Virtual Memorial Hall.
