FREDERIC D. FOSTER, LTJG, USN

Frederic Foster '22

Date of birth: November 4, 1899

Date of death: September 25, 1925

Age: 25

Lucky Bag

From the 1922 Lucky Bag:

FREDERIC DAVID FOSTER

Belleville, New Jersey

"Red," "Festis."

IT'S TYPICAL of "Red" that from the minute the Fleet anchored in the roads in the late summer of 1918 he was hardly able to wait until the end of Leave for the Upperclassmen to come back so he could show them a good time. When they did come back he had an eventful and interesting Plebe Year, for "Red" did more running of Midshipmen as a Plebe than he has since, which is saying something.

A certain D. O. received the surprise of his life when he called "Red" down to put in a requisition for stripes. Besides the Radiator hound he expected, a stellar Mexican athlete with a mean line stood before him. No wonder "Red" can talk them all out of seeing ashes and smelling smoke.

"Red's" tinkling mandolin has caused sleepless nights for more than one poor Mid over the band room, but when the show is given, we just naturally have to forgive him. On the cruise, a skag in the lee side of his face, he can make the wild waves homesick.

"What's the Steam? Only sixteen pages of Thermo? Fruit! Tell the D. O. I'm down in The Log office."

Mandolin Club (4, 3, 2, 1); Log (4, 3, 2, 1); Masqueraders (4, 3, 2, 1); Lucky Bag.

FREDERIC DAVID FOSTER

Belleville, New Jersey

"Red," "Festis."

IT'S TYPICAL of "Red" that from the minute the Fleet anchored in the roads in the late summer of 1918 he was hardly able to wait until the end of Leave for the Upperclassmen to come back so he could show them a good time. When they did come back he had an eventful and interesting Plebe Year, for "Red" did more running of Midshipmen as a Plebe than he has since, which is saying something.

A certain D. O. received the surprise of his life when he called "Red" down to put in a requisition for stripes. Besides the Radiator hound he expected, a stellar Mexican athlete with a mean line stood before him. No wonder "Red" can talk them all out of seeing ashes and smelling smoke.

"Red's" tinkling mandolin has caused sleepless nights for more than one poor Mid over the band room, but when the show is given, we just naturally have to forgive him. On the cruise, a skag in the lee side of his face, he can make the wild waves homesick.

"What's the Steam? Only sixteen pages of Thermo? Fruit! Tell the D. O. I'm down in The Log office."

Mandolin Club (4, 3, 2, 1); Log (4, 3, 2, 1); Masqueraders (4, 3, 2, 1); Lucky Bag.

Loss

Frederic was lost on September 25, 1925 when USS S-51 (SS 162) sank immediately following a collision with the merchant ship SS City of Rome while operating on the surface south of Newport, Rhode Island.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Frederic's father was William, a salesman, who died in 1919. His mother was Francis who died in 1957. They are both buried in Christ Church Cemetery, Belleville. Frederic's brother William Jr. became a mechanical engineer and worked in an auto factory in Flint, Michigan. His other brother was Charles, and his sister was Frances, a teacher.
Frederic graduated from Belleview High School in 1917.
He was best man at the wedding of Ensign George Dudley Cooper (’22) in May, 1924, in Ridgewood, New Jersey.
Frederic himself married in late 1924. He and his wife lived at 83 St. Mary’s Place, and at one time, at 65 Mountainview Avenue in Nutley, New Jersey.
The sunken submarine was raised and brought to the Navy Yard in Brooklyn. “The efforts to close the hatches had been demonstrated when searchers came upon the body of Lieutenant F. D. Foster of Nutley, New Jersey, who was found dead at his post – with one hand reaching for the control valves.” Per the Corpus Christi Times, July 10, 1926. By the United Press, NAVY YARD, BROOKLYN.
Frederic was buried at Arlington National Cemetery on July 14, 1926.

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.