BURTON F. HAKER, LCDR, USN
Burton Haker '40
Lucky Bag
From the 1940 Lucky Bag:
Loss
According to Skyhawk Association VA-72 Blue Hawks: "August 19, 1948: Squadron commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander B. F. Haker, lost at sea." He had taken command only a few weeks earlier, on July 6.
The November 1948 issue of Shipmate adds that that the crash was in the Atlantic area but gives no other information.
From researcher Kathy Franz: "Burton's father was Frank, a dancing master from Bohemia. His mother Hazel died in 1929. Burton married Agnes S. Worley in Camden, North Carolina, on 8/10/1946."
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.
June 1940
Ensign, USS Chicago
Others at this command: LCDR Robert Bedilion '22, LT William Graham, Jr. '25, ENS Paul Benthin '38, ENS Joseph Harmon '39, and ENS Clarence Blair '40.
Others at or embarked at this command: LCDR Everett Abdill '24 (Cruiser Division 5).
November 1940
Ensign, USS Chicago
Others at this command: LCDR Robert Bedilion '22, LT William Graham, Jr. '25, ENS Herold Harveson '37, ENS Joseph Harmon '39, and ENS Clarence Blair '40.
Others at or embarked at this command: LCDR Everett Abdill '24 (Cruiser Division 4).
April 1941
Ensign, USS Chicago
Others at this command: LCDR Robert Bedilion '22, LCDR William Graham, Jr. '25, LT Ward Bronson '31, ENS Herold Harveson '37, ENS Joseph Harmon '39, ENS Clarence Blair '40, and ENS Bruce Simonds '41.
Others at or embarked at this command: LT John Armstrong, Jr. '30 (Cruiser Division 4).
Class of 1940
Burton is one of 91 members of the Class of 1940 on Virtual Memorial Hall.
