VINCENT M. SIM, LCDR, USN
Vincent Sim '38
Lucky Bag
From the 1938 Lucky Bag:
Loss
Vincent was lost on May 6, 1946 when his plane crashed in the vicinity of Smith Island in the Chesapeake Bay. (Information from September 1946 issue of Shipmate.)
He is buried in California.
Family
From researcher Kathy Franz: "He married Dorothy Willette Pell on 2/17/1942 in Honolulu. They returned to California on the USS Wharton on 2/21/42. She had a son born 11/16/1946 in California, 6 months after Vincent died."
Career
From naval aviation historian Richard Leonard via email on February 9, 2018:
- Date of rank LTJG from 1 Jul 1941 USN Register, 6/2/1941
- NAS Pensacola attached for HTA flight training, 3/19/1942
- Date of rank LT from 1 Jul 1942 USN Register, 6/15/1942
- NAS Pensacola designated NA # 15841, 7/24/1942
- Date of rank LCDR unknown, probably 10/17/45
- TacTest NAS Patuxent KIFA near Smith Island in Chesapeake Bay 5/6/1946
Vincent served as a LT aboard USS Hoggatt Bay (CVE 75) at some point during the war.
Post-War Service
He is listed as the 83rd Naval Aviator to pilot a jet aircraft, doing so on February 21, 1946 at Patuxent Naval Air Station in a P-59B.
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.
July 1938
Ensign, USS Saratoga
Others at this command:
Others at or embarked at this command:
LT William Pye, Jr. '28 (Fighting Squadron (VF) 3)
LT John Yoho '29 (Bombing Squadron (VB) 3)
LTjg John Spiers '32 (Fighting Squadron (VF) 3)
LTjg James Reilly '32 (Bombing Squadron (VB) 3)
LTjg George Nicol '34 (Scouting Squadron (VS) 3)
ENS David Taylor, Jr. '35 (Bombing Squadron (VB) 3)
ENS William Hulson '36 (Aircraft, Battle Force)
January 1939
Ensign, USS Saratoga
Others at this command:
Others at or embarked at this command:
LT John Waldron '24 (Scouting Squadron (VS) 3)
LT John Yoho '29 (Bombing Squadron (VB) 3)
LTjg John Spiers '32 (Fighting Squadron (VF) 3)
LTjg George Nicol '34 (Scouting Squadron (VS) 3)
LTjg David Taylor, Jr. '35 (Bombing Squadron (VB) 3)
ENS William Hulson '36 (Aircraft, Battle Force)
June 1940
Ensign, USS Mahan
November 1940
Ensign, USS Mahan
April 1941
Ensign, USS Mahan
Class of 1938
Vincent is one of 72 members of the Class of 1938 on Virtual Memorial Hall.