Archer King, Jr. '15
Date of birth: September 14, 1893
Date of death: January 7, 1944
Age: 50
Lucky Bag
From the 1915 Lucky Bag:
Archer Emmet King, Jr.
Roanoke, Virginia
"Archie"
A QUIET chap is Arch, with a smile full of sympathy, understanding and charm. His seeming calm is only a cloak for the real man underneath—a man of courage and earnestness. When he starts in to do a thing, it's "four bells and a jingle." He gets there because he plays the game hard, his whole heart in it. Why, one night in Gib–er–ah---.
Arch has one fault: he always disagrees with Doc Watson, and the ensuing noise stops the conversation of the whole wing of the mess-hall up to the O. C.'s table. When Doc went up to the staff table himself it rather put a damper on their arguments, in which neither was ever known to have convinced the other of anything.
Second Class cruise was Archie's big summer. With Angel and Bates, of limousine fame, Archie spent a feverish summer, with engagements piling up beyond any possible number of liberties. Oh, dear!
How many times he has backed a winning combination in the stock market it would be hard to say. Considering, however, that every so often he digresses into that wonderful pipe-dream world of "cit" life, where one can have a HOME, it's safe to believe that the killings have been many.
He has a pretty definite idea about everything and exact information with which to back up his ideas. What is more to his credit, he doesn't display his knowledge unless you ask him for it, and even then he does it in a way that makes you feel pretty savvy yourself. It's a Hooray Yell for you. Arch!
Loss
Archer was lost on January 7, 1944 when USS St. Augustine (PG 54) was rammed and sunk by a merchant ship off of Cape May, New Jersey. Only 30 of 145 men aboard survived the sinking.
It is unclear why he was aboard, as the commanding officer was a Lieutenant. It's possible he was the convoy commander; St. Augustine was the flagship of the escorts.
He has a memory marker in Arlington National Cemetery.
He is listed on the retired list in the Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps of 1944.
Bronze Star
Unable to find a citation for the Bronze Star medal cited on his memorial marker.
Other
There is a that might be able to shed light onto Archer's role aboard St. Augustine. (The Navy Department Library at the Naval History and Heritage Command has a copy as of September 19, 2018.)
Memorial Hall Error
Archer is not listed with his classmates in Memorial Hall.
He was identified through the diligent efforts of Leslie Poche, a volunteer who combed through Shipmate issues to find operational losses not accounted for in Memorial Hall. From the September 1946 issue: "KING, ARCHER EMMET, Commander, USN. Declared dead 7 January 1944, USS St. Augustine."
The Register of Alumni gives his name, rank, and date of loss.
Class of 1915
Archer is one of 18 members of the Class of 1915 on Virtual Memorial Hall.
