John Collett '29
Date of birth: March 31, 1908
Date of death: October 26, 1942
Age: 34
Lucky Bag
From the 1929 Lucky Bag:
JOHN AUSTIN COLLETT
Omaha, Nebraska
"Jack" "Glenna"
JACK was born in Nebraska, lived a number of years in Haiti, went to school in Washington, and finally became one of us back in June '25. Being rather young, he started out to demolish all records, scholastic and otherwise; but the steam department prevented him from being a savoir, and his faculty of learning what it is all about showed him how many things there are worth doing. As a result he turned his attention to the Log, class athletics, and the fair femmes. The results speak for themselves in that he has controlled the advertising department of the Log successfully for two years, played soccer and baseball to the extent of class numerals, and appeared at every hop—with a different femme each time.
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Being naturally reserved Jack is really known by a few close friends and they have found him easy going, entertaining and ready to help anyone at any time. While he may never achieve his ambition of annexing a Spanish dancer, we would be proud and glad to have him as a shipmate on any old cruise.
Christmas Card Committee 2, 1. Class Baseball 4, 3; 1929. Gymkhana 4. Log Staff 3, 2. Log Board 1. M.P.O.
Loss
Omaha Daily Bee, January 18, 1914
John was lost on October 26, 1942 when his TBF-1 Avenger torpedo bomber was shot down at the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands. He was commanding officer of Torpedo Squadron (VT) 10, flying from USS Enterprise (CV 6); he had only taken command 10 days earlier.
He was briefly in command of Torpedo Squadron (VT) 3 in January 1942.
His mother was listed as next of kin.
Namesake
"This image is from a photo of VT-10 officers at Kaneohe Bay, Oahu"
USS Collett (DD 730) was named for John; the ship was sponsored by his mother. The commissioning commanding officer was his brother James.
Class of 1929
John is one of 29 members of the Class of 1929 in Memorial Hall.
