JOHN M. ENNIS, LCDR, USN

John Ennis '35

Date of birth: January 23, 1913

Date of death: July 15, 1943

Age: 30

Lucky Bag

From the 1935 Lucky Bag:

JOHN MATTHEW ENNIS

Lewistown, Montana

"John" "Radical"

THERE are almost six feet more of this Westerner that the photo doesn't show, and which his opponents on the football field have had a hard time seeing until after the accident. In John, the profession of arms acclaims a member who is also adept with the pen; a pleasantly impedantic student in whose intellectual world academics occupy only the smallest part. Time, carrying away with it all superficialities, has shown to us a man to whom the shortness of this sketch does an injustice, whose animated interest in the world as he finds it is a constant source of delight, and whose kindly patience, thoughtful encouragement, and downright loyalty have made him an indispensable support to a blundering roommate.

Football 4, 3, 2, 1. 1 P. O.

JOHN MATTHEW ENNIS

Lewistown, Montana

"John" "Radical"

THERE are almost six feet more of this Westerner that the photo doesn't show, and which his opponents on the football field have had a hard time seeing until after the accident. In John, the profession of arms acclaims a member who is also adept with the pen; a pleasantly impedantic student in whose intellectual world academics occupy only the smallest part. Time, carrying away with it all superficialities, has shown to us a man to whom the shortness of this sketch does an injustice, whose animated interest in the world as he finds it is a constant source of delight, and whose kindly patience, thoughtful encouragement, and downright loyalty have made him an indispensable support to a blundering roommate.

Football 4, 3, 2, 1. 1 P. O.

Life & Loss

John was lost on July 15, 1943 when his plane crashed "thirteen miles from NAS, Hollister, California." (Information from September 1946 issue of Shipmate.)

John was born in Washington and entered the Naval Academy from Iowa. John is listed in the 1937 Register of Commissioned Officers as serving on USS Gilmer. He was promoted to LTjg June 6, 1938. In the April 1, 1941 Navy Directory he's listed as a LTjg under instruction at NAS Pensacola. He was promoted to Lieutenant January 1, 1942 and LCDR on May 1, 1943.

He is buried in Washington.

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.