FRANK M. ROBINSON, LTJG, USN

Frank Robinson '36

Date of birth: September 8, 1914

Date of death: March 17, 1941

Age: 26

Lucky Bag

From the 1936 Lucky Bag:

Frank Mason Robinson

Springfield, Massachusetts

"Punchie"

Meet Frank—he's different! He is a voracious reader of P.G. Wodehouse, an ardent movie fan, and a devotee of hill billy music but his specialty is chow. The call of the sea is deeply rooted in Punchie and he spends most of his Sept. leave cruising and knocking about on the water. Aside from his love of things nautical, Frank also has a decided bent toward athletics. He puts his whole heart into any undertaken sport and this combined with an inherent sense of sportsmanship make him hard to beat. Punchie is ambitious and conscientious but at the same time cheerful and easy going, so the struggles of academies have not weighed heavy on him. '36 gives to the Navy a fine man and an excellent officer.

Class Football 3, 1; Boxing 3, 2, 1. N.A.; Tennis 4; Two Stripes

Loss

From Find A Grave:

Frank Mason Robinson, eldest child of Cmdr. Hugh Burton Robinson (USN Ret.) and Marion Willett Mason, b. of record Sept. 8, 1914 at Springfield, Mass. He was named after his maternal grandfather, Frank B. Mason.
Like his two-year younger brother Hugh Marston Robinson, Frank graduated from the Severn School, class of 1932, a Naval Academy preparatory school in Severna Park, Maryland. Frank was subsequently a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Class of 1936, with the rank of Ensign. In 1940 he was designated Naval Aviator #6463 and rank of Lieut. J.G. stationed at a Naval Air facility near Warrington, Florida.
By April 1940 at age 25, Frank had married an unidentified 22 year old Eleanor from Berkeley, CA. Unfortunately, on Mar. 17, 1941 during a flight near the Hawaiian Islands, he as the pilot of one aircraft was killed in a mid-air collision with another aircraft. From military researcher Mike Weeks:

On 17 March 1941, two TBD-1's (carrier-based torpedo planes) operating from the aircraft carrier USS YORKTOWN (CV-5) collided near Hawaii. Six servicemen perished, with only two bodies being recovered, that of the pilots, LTJG F. M. Robinson, USN, and ENS K. L. Berry, USNR.

Frank Mason Robinson was an 11th generation descendant of Rev. John Robinson (1576-1625) and Bridget White, the former the pastor at Leiden, Holland of the core 1620 Mayflower pilgrims who founded the Plymouth Colony in present-day Massachusetts. Frank was also a 12th generation descendant of 1620 Mayflower passenger Edward Fuller. Whether at his death Frank left children is presently unknown.

He was flying with Torpedo Squadron (VT) 5. Frank is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Class of 1936

Frank is one of 38 members of the Class of 1936 in Memorial Hall.