EGBERT A. ROTH, CDR, USN

Egbert Roth '29

Date of birth: December 10,1905

Date of death: October 24, 1944

Age: 38

Lucky Bag

From the 1929 Lucky Bag:

EGBERT ADOLPH ROTH

Hebron, North Dakota

ONE sultry day in June, just from the Bad Lands of Old North Dakota, Adolph relinquished his right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, drew his waste basket from the store, and embarked on his naval career. As he is a marvel at always having a little velvet, the Academics have never worried him very much. To be sure the first month of Plebe year aroused him from a lethargy of dreams formed beneath a cloud of smoke, issuing from a trusty pipe; but is that unusual?

Lacrosse has seemed to hold the interest of this lad from the plains; perhaps it is because it is played on the grassy expanses of Worden Field. At any rate he has been one of that band which meets out there every afternoon during the spring to play a real he-man's game.

Quiet, unassuming, but with a clear eye and a cheerful smile, he makes one believe that here is a person for whom one could almost drag blind. Speaking of drags—he may have missed a hop now and then, but when he didn't—"Oh, I say, Priscilla, did you meet the little brown-eyed boy with the curly hair? I think he's the most adorable person; I mean he ACTually is."

Class Lacrosse 4, 3, Numerals. Class Soccer 3, 2, 1. Lacrosse 2, 1, N. Two Stripes.

EGBERT ADOLPH ROTH

Hebron, North Dakota

ONE sultry day in June, just from the Bad Lands of Old North Dakota, Adolph relinquished his right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, drew his waste basket from the store, and embarked on his naval career. As he is a marvel at always having a little velvet, the Academics have never worried him very much. To be sure the first month of Plebe year aroused him from a lethargy of dreams formed beneath a cloud of smoke, issuing from a trusty pipe; but is that unusual?

Lacrosse has seemed to hold the interest of this lad from the plains; perhaps it is because it is played on the grassy expanses of Worden Field. At any rate he has been one of that band which meets out there every afternoon during the spring to play a real he-man's game.

Quiet, unassuming, but with a clear eye and a cheerful smile, he makes one believe that here is a person for whom one could almost drag blind. Speaking of drags—he may have missed a hop now and then, but when he didn't—"Oh, I say, Priscilla, did you meet the little brown-eyed boy with the curly hair? I think he's the most adorable person; I mean he ACTually is."

Class Lacrosse 4, 3, Numerals. Class Soccer 3, 2, 1. Lacrosse 2, 1, N. Two Stripes.

Loss

Egbert was lost when the Japanese "Hell Ship" he was aboard, Arisan Maru, was sunk by an American submarine on October 24, 1944.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Egbert was appointed by Congressman J. H. Sinclair to the Naval Academy in 1925.
On July 18, 1931, Egbert married Virginia Davis Linholm in Pensacola. They had one daughter Patricia who was born in California in 1934.
In May, 1934, Egbert served with the Civilian Conservation Corps in Redding, California.
He was transferred to the USS Childs in March, 1939. In the April 1940 census in Honolulu, he was listed as a lineman for the U. S. Navy.
He was promoted to lieutenant commander in November, 1941.
His father Henry was a butcher.

Egbert took command of USS Tanager (AM 5) on June 14, 1939. The minesweeper had only been stationed in the Philippines since the summer of 1941. Following the outbreak of war, the ship operated in support of forces on Bataan and Corregidor until she was sunk by shore batteries two days before surrender on May 4, 1942.

His wife was listed as next of kin.

Navy Cross

From Hall of Valor:

The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Navy Cross (Posthumously) to Lieutenant Commander Egbert Adolph Roth (NSN: 0-62523), United States Navy, for extraordinary heroism and distinguished service in the line of his profession as Commanding Officer of the Minesweeper U.S.S. TANAGER (AM-5), in action against the enemy during the period from 7 December 1941 to 18 March 1942. Although his command was straddled by enemy Japanese bombs during the air attack on the Navy Yard, Cavite, Philippine Islands, on 10 December 1941, and despite extensive splinter damage to his ship, Lieutenant Commander Roth displayed excellent seamanship and leadership in fighting and maneuvering his ship. His conduct on this occasion enabled him, later, to conduct further missions of strategic importance of a hazardous nature, despite frequent aggressive enemy horizontal and dive bombing attacks, bringing great credit to his command and the United States Naval Service.
General Orders: Commandant 16th Naval District, Desp 281200 NCR 7859 (April 29, 1942)
Service: Navy
Rank: Lieutenant Commander

Prisoner of War Medal

From Hall of Valor:

Lieutenant Commander Egbert Adolph Roth (NSN: 0-62523), United States Navy, was captured by the Japanese after the fall of Corregidor, Philippine Islands, on 6 May 1942, and was held as a Prisoner of War until his death while in captivity.
General Orders: NARA Database: Records of World War II Prisoners of War, created, 1942 - 1947
Service: Navy
Rank: Lieutenant Commander

Navy Directories & Officer Registers

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.