JOHN A. FLETCHER, LCDR, USN

John Fletcher '11

Date of birth: November 24, 1889

Date of death: March 7, 1923

Age: 33

Lucky Bag

From the 1911 Lucky Bag:

John Asserson Fletcher

New London, Connecticut

"John" "Jack" "Johnnie"

QUIET and unassuming, John is ever ready to help a friend. He couples a natural aptitude for study with moderate savviness, the combination placing him well up in the first third of the Class. A zealous worker in the Y. M. C. A., his efforts were rewarded with the Vice-Presidency First Class year. A trifle small for an athlete, but has displayed his worth on several occasions in Class basketball games. Fusses conscientiously but never became particularly worked up over any one girl till First Class year. One of the lucky ones to be rewarded with P. O.'s Second Class year, and when the final test came, John's efficient work aboard the "Massy" brought him a battalion adjutancy. A strong minded man of good principles, liked by his superiors and his classmates, who will be a credit to the service.

Class Basketball (3, 2); Secretary Y.M.C.A. (2); Vice-Pres. Y.M.C.A.(1); Masqueraders(3)

John Asserson Fletcher was born in Brooklyn on November 24, 1889. He was educated in the public schools of Rhode Island and Connecticut. His present home address is New London, Conn.

John Asserson Fletcher

New London, Connecticut

"John" "Jack" "Johnnie"

QUIET and unassuming, John is ever ready to help a friend. He couples a natural aptitude for study with moderate savviness, the combination placing him well up in the first third of the Class. A zealous worker in the Y. M. C. A., his efforts were rewarded with the Vice-Presidency First Class year. A trifle small for an athlete, but has displayed his worth on several occasions in Class basketball games. Fusses conscientiously but never became particularly worked up over any one girl till First Class year. One of the lucky ones to be rewarded with P. O.'s Second Class year, and when the final test came, John's efficient work aboard the "Massy" brought him a battalion adjutancy. A strong minded man of good principles, liked by his superiors and his classmates, who will be a credit to the service.

Class Basketball (3, 2); Secretary Y.M.C.A. (2); Vice-Pres. Y.M.C.A.(1); Masqueraders(3)

John Asserson Fletcher was born in Brooklyn on November 24, 1889. He was educated in the public schools of Rhode Island and Connecticut. His present home address is New London, Conn.

Loss

John was lost on March 7, 1923 when he fell through an open hatchway of the collier Orion. He was the ship's executive officer; the ship was in Port au Prince, Haiti.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Born in Brooklyn, New York, John lived in Lynn, Massachusetts, in 1900. He attended schools in Lynn, Newport and New London.
John was listed as single with his family in the March 1915 census of Newport, Rhode Island.
In February 1918, the United Congregational Church of Newport, Rhode Island, was preparing a service flag which would include the names of John and his brothers Paul and William, Jr.
After the Nevada, John served on the Welles, and after the Ohio, he served on the Orion.
The St. Albans Weekly Messenger of March 29, 1923, in Vermont stated: “He was a lovable character, a devoted husband, son and friend, an efficient officer.”
John married Faith (Sanford) around 1920-1921. Their daughter Malene Asserson Fletcher (Mrs. Robert Dodds) was born in 1922 in New Rochelle, New York. She died on November 25, 1997, in Port Washington, New York. Malene was named after John’s mother, Malene (Asserson.)
John’s wife Faith was previously married to Reginald Spear on April 17, 1913. Their daughter Antoinette H. had her last name changed to Fletcher. She was born in 1915 at Great Lakes Naval Training Center in Illinois and died in 1994 in Maine. Faith’s other daughter by Reginald was Faith S. (Mrs. Linscott) who was born in 1916 in Pennsylvania.
In 1920, Faith and the two girls lived in Baltimore with her parents; in 1930 they and Malene were in Annapolis. One week after Daniel Platt’s divorce from his wife Edna (Chedsey,) Faith married him on August 7, 1937, in Washington, D. C. In 1940, Faith, Daniel and Malene Fletcher lived in the Marine Barracks, in Rockaway, New Jersey. Faith was Louise Platt’s stepmother; Louise’s mother was Edna (Chedsey.)

John's father, William B. Fletcher, Sr., was a 1882 graduate and commanded U.S. Naval forces in Brest, France, during World War I.

One of John's brothers, Paul '14, died in a non-operational loss in 1940 while serving as a Commander. His other brother, William B. Fletcher, Jr. '21, retired as a rear admiral.

Paul's son — John's nephew — John Asserson Fletcher, III '48 was lost in a plane crash in 1953.

John is buried in the Naval Academy Cemetery.

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.