JOHN K. BOAL, LT, USN
John Boal '37
Lucky Bag
From the 1937 Lucky Bag:
JOHN KISKADDEN BOAL
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
"Slugger" "Jake"
"I RATED a 4.0, and what did I get? A 3.2." This is John's complaint about the academic departments, for he is a man who knows, but alas, the profs know not that he knows. When it comes to letter writing, he does star—can and does write three while we write one. After four years, reveille is still his greatest trial; he firmly believes in the merits of sleeping. In his tastes and ideas, John is a conservative. He is set in his views, and is always willing to enter into an argument, for he likes nothing better than a good bull session.
Boat Club. Lucky Bag Staff. Hop Committee 1. Reception Committee 3, 2, 1. Ring Committee. Star 4. One Stripe.
JOHN KISKADDEN BOAL
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
"Slugger" "Jake"
"I RATED a 4.0, and what did I get? A 3.2." This is John's complaint about the academic departments, for he is a man who knows, but alas, the profs know not that he knows. When it comes to letter writing, he does star—can and does write three while we write one. After four years, reveille is still his greatest trial; he firmly believes in the merits of sleeping. In his tastes and ideas, John is a conservative. He is set in his views, and is always willing to enter into an argument, for he likes nothing better than a good bull session.
Boat Club. Lucky Bag Staff. Hop Committee 1. Reception Committee 3, 2, 1. Ring Committee. Star 4. One Stripe.
Loss
John was lost on August 5, 1942, when his scout aircraft crashed near Japan. He was a member of Cruiser Scouting Squadron (VCS) 9, flying from USS Boise (CL 47). Boise was performing a raid to divert Japanese attention from the operations around Guadalcanal.
From Boise's War Diary on August 5, 1942:
Reached initial point 750 miles due east of TOKYO, three hours before sunset. In view of the fact that the ship could not search farther westward than about 550 miles east of TOKYO and retire to a safe position by dawn of August 6, and the fact that the width of search at night would be limited, it was decided to search the area with aircraft in the late afternoon of August 5. Three (3) aircraft were in operating condition, one of which was required for inner air patrol. Therefore a two plane search was selected. In view of the above the decision was reached to catapult two (2) planes for reconnaissance flight: Pilots Lieut. (jg) F. R. Wollenberg, USNR., and Lieutenant J. K. Boal, U.S. Navy. Both planes failed to rendezvous with the ship at the end of the scouting flight. Attempted lost plane procedure without success.
Other Information
From researcher Kathy Franz:
Shortly before the attack on Pearl Harbor, he nearly lost his life when his plane crashed at sea. He was rescued by a motor torpedo boat. He had left Pearl Harbor two weeks before the attack. His wife was living in a house on the beach near the harbor. She returned through San Francisco to Pittsburgh on May 24, 1942.
His wife was the former Anne Louise Burden. His father was Archibald Gill Boal, vice president and cashier of the Hazelwood Bank. Mother Martha, sister Eleanor, and brothers Donald, Edwin, Robert and Thomas.
“Johnnie” graduated from Peabody High School in June 1931. Civic Association ’28, President ’31, French Club ’29, Chemistry Club ’30, Traffic Squad ’30, ’31, Clionian Club ’30, ’31, Tech Club ’31, Physics Satellite ’31, The Peabody ’31. Enter Penn State. “A man around town.” Pastime: Getting Hooked. Favorite Expression: “I say ol’ dear.” Ambition: To be a millionaire. Song: “He’s so unusual.” Theatrical: “Skippy”
His wife was listed as next of kin. John is remembered at the Courts of the Missing in Hawaii.
Photographs
From The Pittsburgh Press on September 9, 1942
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.
September 1937
January 1938
July 1938
January 1939
June 1940
LT Finley Hall '29
LT Lance Massey '30
LT Charles Ostrom '30
LTjg George Bellinger '32
LTjg Martin Koivisto '32
LTjg Daniel Gothie '32
1LT Floyd Parks '34
LTjg Charles Ware '34
LTjg Jack Ferguson '35
LTjg Joel Davis, Jr. '35
LTjg Francis Maher, Jr. '35
LTjg John Powers '35
LTjg Robert Strickler '32 (Training Squadron (VN) 5D8)
LT William Townsend '32 (Training Squadron (VN) 5D8)
LTjg Dewitt Shumway '32 (Training Squadron (VN) 1D8)
LTjg William Widhelm '32 (Training Squadron (VN) 5D8)
November 1940
CDR William Sample '19
LT William Pennewill '29
LT Finley Hall '29
LT John Yoho '29
LT Lance Massey '30
LT George Bellinger '32
LT Martin Koivisto '32
LT John Spiers '32
LT Daniel Gothie '32
LT Dewitt Shumway '32
LT Albert Major, Jr. '32
LTjg John Phillips, Jr. '33
ENS Frank Peterson '33
LTjg Charles Brewer '34
LTjg Walker Ethridge '34
CAPT Floyd Parks '34
LTjg Charles Ware '34
LTjg Frank Whitaker '34
LTjg Philip Torrey, Jr. '34
LTjg George Nicol '34
LTjg Victor Gadrow '35
LTjg Richard Stephenson '35
LTjg Allan Edmands '35
LTjg Roy Krogh '36
LTjg Porter Maxwell '36
LTjg Richard Hughes '37
LTjg Frank Henderson, Jr. '37
LTjg John Thomas '37
ENS Harry Howell '38
ENS Eric Allen, Jr. '38
ENS James Ginn '38
ENS Oswald Zink '38
ENS Frank Case, Jr. '38
ENS Howard Fischer '38
ENS Edmundo Gandia '38
ENS Charles Reimann '38
ENS Howard Clark '38
ENS Roy Hale, Jr. '38
ENS Leonard Thornhill '38
ENS Osborne Wiseman '38
ENS John Eversole '38
ENS Jep Jonson '38
ENS Roy Green, Jr. '38
ENS Marion Dufilho '38
2LT James Owens '38
ENS William Brady '38
ENS Charles Anderson '38
ENS Carl Holmstrom '38
ENS Charles King '38
2LT John Maclaughlin, Jr. '38
ENS William Tate, Jr. '38
2LT Douglas Keeler '38
ENS Harry Bass '38
ENS John Kelley '38
ENS John Erickson '38
ENS William Lamberson '38
ENS Donald Smith '38
ENS Frank Quady '38
ENS Richard Crommelin '38
ENS Robert Seibels, Jr. '38
ENS Alphonse Minvielle '38
April 1941
ENS Burton Hanson '40 (USS Brooklyn)
ENS Donald Bried '40 (USS Brooklyn)
Memorial Hall Error
John is one of three men from the Class of 1937 who are recorded in Memorial Hall as being killed in action during World War II, but who are not listed with their classmates.
John is listed on the killed in action panel in the front of Memorial Hall. While not an obvious error, inclusion on the panel for crashes like this—which appears to be incidental to a combat flight—has been inconsistent across WWII, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War.
The "category" links below lead to lists of related Honorees; use them to explore further the service and sacrifice of alumni in Memorial Hall.
