ROBERT L. SETTLE, LT, USN
Robert Settle '41
Lucky Bag
From the 1941 Lucky Bag:
ROBERT LUNSFORD SETTLE
Norfolk, Virginia
He hails from Norfolk and friends call him Doc. He certainly didn't acquire that nickname for his heart-healing abilities —he breaks them. Even the Norfolk girls can't resist him!
Bob started to stand out early. An Eagle Scout with the Silver Palm, he learned seamanship first hand as a sea scout in a motor boat of his own building. He was national secretary of the high school fraternity Tau Delta Tau and quarterbacked two teams, the Terrible Winona Condors and the Fighting Ghent Wildcats.
Then Doc came to the Academy. With his chin stuck forward and with his usual grim, determined walk, he stepped into our lives. Too light for varsity football, he starred in battalion football, track, and yawl racing. Bob has made many friends here, but he isn't leaving them behind upon graduation; for once you have won his friendship he treasures it above all else.
Battalion Football 4, 3, 2, 1; Wrestling 4; Track 4; Battalion Track 3, 2; Boat Club 2, 1; Yawl Crew 2 and 1.
The Class of 1941 was the first of the wartime-accelerated classes, graduating in February 1941.
ROBERT LUNSFORD SETTLE
Norfolk, Virginia
He hails from Norfolk and friends call him Doc. He certainly didn't acquire that nickname for his heart-healing abilities —he breaks them. Even the Norfolk girls can't resist him!
Bob started to stand out early. An Eagle Scout with the Silver Palm, he learned seamanship first hand as a sea scout in a motor boat of his own building. He was national secretary of the high school fraternity Tau Delta Tau and quarterbacked two teams, the Terrible Winona Condors and the Fighting Ghent Wildcats.
Then Doc came to the Academy. With his chin stuck forward and with his usual grim, determined walk, he stepped into our lives. Too light for varsity football, he starred in battalion football, track, and yawl racing. Bob has made many friends here, but he isn't leaving them behind upon graduation; for once you have won his friendship he treasures it above all else.
Battalion Football 4, 3, 2, 1; Wrestling 4; Track 4; Battalion Track 3, 2; Boat Club 2, 1; Yawl Crew 2 and 1.
The Class of 1941 was the first of the wartime-accelerated classes, graduating in February 1941.
Loss
Robert was lost on September 20, 1944 when his aircraft collided with another approximately 2 miles west of Bunnell, Florida. (Information from November 1944 issue of Shipmate).
Other Information
Rob was an Eagle Scout, earning the distinction in August 1934.
He is buried in Virginia and has a memory marker in the Winona neighborhood of Norfolk, Virginia.
Career
Soon after graduating Robert served aboard USS California, whose home port was Pearl Harbor. An account of the action aboard California on December 7, 1941 cites several ensigns, including Robert, among the brave men who assisted others when the ship came under attack: "Ensigns Edgar M. Fain, R.B. Canfield, Charles W. Gunnels Jr., Cary H. Hall, Stanley C. Hall, Robert D. Kirkpatrick Jr., Charles J. Lyden, Thomas P. McGrath '40, Archibald T. Nicholson Jr., Thomas J. Rudden Jr., Robert L. Settle, and William W. Walker 'displayed outstanding qualities of leadership, bravery, and coolness' while fighting fires and rescuing men."
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.
April 1941
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