MELVIN L. STOLZ, LTJG, USN
Melvin Stolz '10
Lucky Bag
From the 1910 Lucky Bag:
Loss
Melvin was lost on May 8, 1915 when he fell out of the "AH-9 hydroaeroplane" he was piloting at Pensacola, Florida.
He was survived by his parents and two sisters. He is buried in New York.
Other Service
In April 1914 he was a student aviator who nonetheless deployed aboard USS Mississippi (Battleship No. 23) "to assist in operations at Vera Cruz." Some other pictures are here. He flew "many flights" over the Mexican military positions there.
Related Articles

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.
January 1913
Ensign, New Jersey
January 1914
Ensign, Naval Academy (aviation)
Others at this command:
Class of 1910
Melvin is one of 15 members of the Class of 1910 on Virtual Memorial Hall.