David Purdon, Jr. '40
Date of birth: September 7, 1916
Date of death: October 27, 1950
Age: 34
Lucky Bag
From the 1940 Lucky Bag:
DAVID PURDON, JR.
Larelton, Long Island, New York
Dave
There are few midshipmen who have more staunch friends than Dave. This is not without reason, since he has a facility for making and holding personal allegiances. Dave's happy attitude throughout the day, and his knack of converting worries into trivialities make him an exceptionally good roommate. He is a natural athlete and a natural student — during those last frantic moments before class we can always rely on Dave to savvy the difficult probs. Despite the fact that he persists in buying Sunday papers sans comics, we unanimously predict that Dave will be one of the best young officers in the fleet.
Boxing 40, 4; Baseball N.A., 3, 2; 2 Stripes.
Loss
David was lost in a crash of an AJ-1 Savage immediately following takeoff from USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CV 42) near Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The crash also killed another crewman. The bombardier/navigator was able to escape and was rescued.
There is a video of the incident:
Memorial Hall Error
David is listed in the Lucky Bag and other sources as a "Jr.;" this is omitted from Memorial Hall.
Class of 1940
David is one of 91 members of the Class of 1940 on Virtual Memorial Hall.
