ERIC R. YOUNG, ENS, USN

Eric Young '40

Date of birth: September 16, 1916

Date of death: December 7, 1941

Age: 25

Lucky Bag

From the 1940 Lucky Bag:

ERIC REED YOUNG

Reno, Nevada

Sam

An unfailing sense of humor coupled with an above-the-average mentality have enabled Eric to remain himself in spite of a rigorous academic training. At heart he is still a lad of the "Wild West." He can be recognized from afar (you'll hear him before you see him) by his characteristic laugh, which more than once has sent whole theaters into hysterics. Never too busy to refuse help to anyone, Sandy has pulled many a plebe through the intricacies of steam and math. Though he has had a hand in lacrosse and football, crew is his sport. Who knows, you might have to row a battleship home someday, eh, Eric?

Crew 40, 4, 3, 2, 1; Excellence in Great Guns; 2 Stripes.

ERIC REED YOUNG

Reno, Nevada

Sam

An unfailing sense of humor coupled with an above-the-average mentality have enabled Eric to remain himself in spite of a rigorous academic training. At heart he is still a lad of the "Wild West." He can be recognized from afar (you'll hear him before you see him) by his characteristic laugh, which more than once has sent whole theaters into hysterics. Never too busy to refuse help to anyone, Sandy has pulled many a plebe through the intricacies of steam and math. Though he has had a hand in lacrosse and football, crew is his sport. Who knows, you might have to row a battleship home someday, eh, Eric?

Crew 40, 4, 3, 2, 1; Excellence in Great Guns; 2 Stripes.

Loss

Eric was lost in USS Arizona (BB 39) during the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Born in San Diego, Eric graduated in 1934 from Reno high school as a member of the Honor Society receiving a gold “R.” He then attended the University of Nevada for two years, played freshman football and was a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity.
Eric received a medal as a first-class gun pointer in short range battle practice on the 1937 midshipmen’s practice cruise.
In June 1942, a new chancel of the Federated Congregational-Presbyterian Church was dedicated. The central panel was designated as a Second World War Memorial with Eric’s name being the first inscribed on it.
His father was Dr. James Reed Young, a professor and head of the psychology department at the University of Nevada. He had also taught previously at San Diego Normal School. Eric’s mother Anna Myrtle (Allen) was a teacher in a private school, brother James Allen, and sister Elizabeth.

His father was listed as next of kin.

Eric is remembered at the Courts of the Missing and the USS Arizona Memorial in Hawaii.

Photograph

From the 1936 yearbook of the University of Nevada
From the Lucky Bag

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.