ELMER C. BUERKLE, CDR, USN

Elmer Buerkle '25

Date of birth: March 2, 1902

Date of death: July 6, 1943

Age: 41

Lucky Bag

From the 1925 Lucky Bag:

Elmer Charles Buerkle

San Diego, California

"Dutch" "Fat" "Chermany"

"There's a girl in San Diego,
She's a wop and she's a dago——"

And with this prelude in bounces this modest gift of the Gods to lovesick maidens.

The hardware business has been booming since Dutch became a gentleman gob. Never a Sep. leave passes but what he returns minus at least one miniature and two class crests. Practice has made him so perfect that we have here the constant lover himself.

"Chermany" has attained the unique distinction of being the highest paid snake in the Academy. Plebe Year's Gymkhana was the "coup d' etat" which caused all other competition to retire.

But the one that knocked them all cold was during an interclass football game when he intercepted a pass and ran sixty yards for a touchdown—only he stopped running on the wrong side of the goal line.

He still clings tenaciously to Chicago as his native podunk and after strenuous argument to the contrary will admit that Chicago is the place where the traffic cop blows one whistle for the Germans to go North and two for them to go East.

"Oh, the miners came in forty-nine."

Rifle (4); Class Football (4, 3, 2); Numerals (3).

Elmer Charles Buerkle

San Diego, California

"Dutch" "Fat" "Chermany"

"There's a girl in San Diego,
She's a wop and she's a dago——"

And with this prelude in bounces this modest gift of the Gods to lovesick maidens.

The hardware business has been booming since Dutch became a gentleman gob. Never a Sep. leave passes but what he returns minus at least one miniature and two class crests. Practice has made him so perfect that we have here the constant lover himself.

"Chermany" has attained the unique distinction of being the highest paid snake in the Academy. Plebe Year's Gymkhana was the "coup d' etat" which caused all other competition to retire.

But the one that knocked them all cold was during an interclass football game when he intercepted a pass and ran sixty yards for a touchdown—only he stopped running on the wrong side of the goal line.

He still clings tenaciously to Chicago as his native podunk and after strenuous argument to the contrary will admit that Chicago is the place where the traffic cop blows one whistle for the Germans to go North and two for them to go East.

"Oh, the miners came in forty-nine."

Rifle (4); Class Football (4, 3, 2); Numerals (3).

Loss

Elmer was lost when USS Helena (CL 50) was sunk on July 6, 1943 by multiple torpedoes in the Battle of Kula Gulf.

From "Promise Kept" in the April 2018 issue of Naval History Magazine:

During the start-and-stop fighting, some men were left clinging to the destroyers’ rope nets when the ships’ engine rooms went to full power. While some of them had climbed high enough to escape the rush of bow-wave water and eventually were able to clamber aboard, others were washed back into the sea. One of the latter was popular Commander Elmer Charles Buerkle, the Helena ’s executive officer. Buerkle, one of the few commissioning officers who had remained on board the cruiser, had fleeted up from assistant engineering officer, and was known for the fairness, even temperament, and hardy laugh that brought him respect from all. When he fell back into the sea he was without a life jacket; the dedicated officer then drifted into oblivion.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Elmer was born in Chicago. He attended Brooklyn Elementary school and graduated from San Diego high school in 1920. He was track manager at the high school and also a major in the cadet corps. At 17, he was considered the best rapid-fire rifle shot of his age in California.
He next attended Schadman’s Columbian Preparatory school in Washington, D. C. He was appointed to the Naval Academy by Congressman William Kettner.
Elmer married Lillian Roan in 1928. Their daughter Joan was born in 1929, but she died in 1939.
Elmer was one of nine graduates of the Naval Academy who graduated in May, 1933, with a master of science degree at the University of California, Berkeley. (Another was Harold Larson '31.) This was the first class to be graduated as such from a Pacific Coast College. The group studied mechanical and communication engineering.
Elmer's hobby was painting marine views, and he exhibited several pictures in San Diego in 1934.
Born in Germany, Elmer’s father John was a pioneer in the fish cannery business in San Diego. He was also past president of the San Diego County Baseball Association. Elmer’s mother was Louise, and brother was Arthur.

He is listed at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial; Elmer's wife was listed as next of kin.

Photographs

From the San Diego Union on April 5, 1944
From the San Diego Union on July 8, 1943

Silver Star

From Hall of Valor:

The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Silver Star (Posthumously) to Commander Elmer Charles Buerkle (NSN: 0-59576), United States Navy, for conspicuous gallantry and meritorious service in the line of his profession as Executive Officer of the U.S.S. HELENA (CL-50), which as a unit of a Task Force successfully engaged Japanese land and naval forces twice within a period of twenty-four hours on 5 and 6 July 1943, in the vicinity of Kula Gulf, British Solomon Islands. Commander Buerkle by his skill and cool and determined conduct under enemy fire contributed material assistance to his Commanding Officer in directing the extremely heavy and accurate gunfire of his vessel. During the second of these engagements his vessel was struck by three Japanese torpedoes and sank within the space of a few minutes. Commander Buerkle directed the abandon-ship operations so successfully that the total personnel loss of the officers and crew of his vessel was only fifteen percent of her total complement. Commander Buerkle in complete disregard for his own safety assisted many members of his crew on board rescuing destroyers and was instrumental in saving the lives of a great number of his men. Due to this heroic conduct he was not rescued and is considered missing in action. His conduct and heroism throughout were an inspiration to his officers and men and were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.
General Orders: Commander South Pacific: Serial 001979 (September 28, 1943)
Service: Navy
Rank: Commander
Division: U.S.S. Helena (CL-50)

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.