EDMUND W. EGBERT, ENS, USN
Edmund Egbert '23
Lucky Bag
From the 1923 Lucky Bag:
Edmund Webster Egbert
Staten Island, New York
"Ed" "Rosey" "Eggy" "Baldy"
ROSY'S career here commenced about the second month of Youngster year when he went out for a black N star and won a shirt full. However, missing the Army game may have it's advantages, especially when one gets Thanksgiving, Christmas and leave after the semi-anns. Not officially!
His sea service was blighted by a beautiful young crab, who brought him candy and cakes, and Wibby remained faithful ever since, developing into a snake of the highest order, yea verily, even of the variety that crawls out on Wednesdays.
Look him over, girls. His rosy cheeks, his dark, sleek hair, which by the way is getting thin in spots, and his line. It will make an English prof swear off and a circus barker turn up his toes.
New Yorkers, even those from Staten Island, can be hicks, so don't say much about the Army game of 1921 to him. Revenge came with Christmas leave, restoring him to good standing along the roaring forties.
"Hear the latest dope? I just heard it out in town"—We know where.
Crew Squad (4); Masqueraders (4); Black N*****.
Edmund Webster Egbert
Staten Island, New York
"Ed" "Rosey" "Eggy" "Baldy"
ROSY'S career here commenced about the second month of Youngster year when he went out for a black N star and won a shirt full. However, missing the Army game may have it's advantages, especially when one gets Thanksgiving, Christmas and leave after the semi-anns. Not officially!
His sea service was blighted by a beautiful young crab, who brought him candy and cakes, and Wibby remained faithful ever since, developing into a snake of the highest order, yea verily, even of the variety that crawls out on Wednesdays.
Look him over, girls. His rosy cheeks, his dark, sleek hair, which by the way is getting thin in spots, and his line. It will make an English prof swear off and a circus barker turn up his toes.
New Yorkers, even those from Staten Island, can be hicks, so don't say much about the Army game of 1921 to him. Revenge came with Christmas leave, restoring him to good standing along the roaring forties.
"Hear the latest dope? I just heard it out in town"—We know where.
Crew Squad (4); Masqueraders (4); Black N*****.
Loss
Edmund was lost on September 25, 1925 when USS S-51 (SS 162) was sunk immediately following a collision with the merchant ship SS City of Rome while operating on the surface south of Newport, Rhode Island.
He was one of 36 officers and men aboard the submarine; only three survived.
Other Information
From researcher Kathy Franz:
Edmund graduated from Public School No. 23, Port Richmond, and the Curtis High School at St. George.
Edmund fell in love while at the Naval Academy with a local high school girl, Tempa B. Russell. They were married soon after his graduation, and had a son Edmund born June 14, 1925. Tempa remarried in the late 1920s to James Ridout, and she died in 1952. Their son became a Corporal in the USMC serving in WWII and Korea. He was wounded in WWII and received the Purple Heart; he died in 2001.
Edmund was also survived by his father George, a bank clerk, his mother Arberta Merril, and his brother Thurston.
In July 1926 the submarine in which Edmund died was brought up, and the bodies removed. Edmund’s watch was found in his clothing; it had stopped at 11:30. Lieutenant Commander Richard E. Byrd, of North Pole fame, placed a wreath against the sub’s flagstaff just beneath the colors. Per the Standard Union, Brooklyn, July 10, 1926: “A few minutes later the sunset gun sounded, taps were blown and the flag hauled down.”
Someone representing his estate had a lawsuit against the US Government; the Supreme Court declined to hear it in early 1929.
Edmund is buried in the US Naval Academy Cemetery.
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.
July 1924
September 1924
November 1924
January 1925
July 1925
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