ROGER H. MULLINS, LCDR, USN
Roger Mullins '45
Lucky Bag
From the 1945 Lucky Bag:
Roger Hugh Mullins
Decatur, Illinois
"Moon," one of the few shellbacks, came in as a fire controlman and spent most of his sea duty on the West Coast and in Honolulu. His favorite pastimes were reviewing Bull and taking a ketch to Cambridge. "Rog" doesn't say much, but those who broke under his cover of dignity found a big heart and a real pal. It was on a cross-country date that Rog met the girl he had been looking for ever since he realized that half the world is feminine. Those who met Dottie can see why "Rog" canceled his reservations for bachelor's quarters.
Boat Club 4, 3, 1; Foreign Language Club 4, 3
The Class of 1945 was graduated in June 1944 due to World War II. The entirety of 2nd class (junior) year was removed from the curriculum.
Roger Hugh Mullins
Decatur, Illinois
"Moon," one of the few shellbacks, came in as a fire controlman and spent most of his sea duty on the West Coast and in Honolulu. His favorite pastimes were reviewing Bull and taking a ketch to Cambridge. "Rog" doesn't say much, but those who broke under his cover of dignity found a big heart and a real pal. It was on a cross-country date that Rog met the girl he had been looking for ever since he realized that half the world is feminine. Those who met Dottie can see why "Rog" canceled his reservations for bachelor's quarters.
Boat Club 4, 3, 1; Foreign Language Club 4, 3
The Class of 1945 was graduated in June 1944 due to World War II. The entirety of 2nd class (junior) year was removed from the curriculum.
Loss
From Wall of Faces:
On Wednesday, February 17, 1960, a Douglas R4D-5 (DC-3) from Naval Advisory Group, Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) was on a flight from Saigon to Hue when it crashed into Hon Chay Mountain, a 2,752 foot (839m) mountain peak near Da Nang, Quang Nam Province, South Vietnam. All three crew members were killed. They included LCDR George W. Alexander, LCDR Roger H. Mullins, and ATC William M. Newton. [Taken from aviation-safety.net and other web sources]
Other Information
From researcher Kathy Franz:
As a junior at Effingham High School in 1936, Roger was in the comedy play “Oh! Susan.” He played the bass in the school orchestra and graduated in 1937.
After the Naval Academy, Roger served in the Pacific fleet and on the U. S. S. Missouri.
In April 1947, he completed instruction at Pensacola and was then stationed with a training unit at Banana River, Florida.
In March 1951, Roger was an instructor at Annapolis. He represented his mother during an exhibit of her oil painting titled “Renascent” at the 22d Biennial Exhibit of Contemporary American Oil Paintings at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D. C.
In April 1953, he was an officer in the radar division on the U. S. S. Bennington when a boiler exploded killing 11 men off the coast of Cuba.
In May 1954, Roger was serving with Fleet Aircraft service Squadron 200 at the Hendon Royal Air Force Station in Middlesex, England. He was promoted to lieutenant commander in October 1955.
His parents were Beth and Vern, a grocer who later was a traveling salesman for machinery; sisters Virginia, Rita and Joan; and brother Sidney.
Roger was appointed a professor of naval science at the Alabama Polytechnic Institute in August 1956. He previously served with a NATO logistics unit.
He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery and is listed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.
The Decatur Daily Review reported on February 26, 1960 that he was survived by "his wife, the former Dorothy Brooks, to whom he was married soon after his graduation from Annapolis; two children, Eileen and Stephen; his parents and two sisters, Mrs. Arthur Bridgman … and Mrs. Alan Poole…" He had graduated from Effingham High School and attended the University of Illinois.
Photographs
From an article in 1941 stating that he was enrolling in the Naval Academy.
Related Articles
Eugene Captain '45, Foster Simonsen '45, and Milton Turner '45 were also in 9th Company.
The "category" links below lead to lists of related Honorees; use them to explore further the service and sacrifice of alumni in Memorial Hall.