WILLIAM F. GREENE, LTJG, USN

William Greene '40

Date of birth: September 8, 1916

Date of death: August 9, 1942

Age: 25

Lucky Bag

From the 1940 Lucky Bag:

WILLIAM FRANK GREENE

Whitestone, New York

Bill

Bill, an old salt water sailor, came to the Severn determined to earn his epaulets, an ambition which he has never forgotten. Occasionally, the Academic Departments seem to have questioned that ambition but each time he has convinced them all by taking a reef and weathering those squalls safely. Confining academic woes to study hours he has found time to engage in lively campaigns in the boxing loft and on the soccer field. Sailing has also accounted for a large part of his spare time and we're sure that Bill will be one of our answers to the Navy's demand for more "blue water" sailors.

Boxing B40T; Soccer A40F; Baseball N.A.; Press Detail 3, 2, 1; Hop Committee 1; Boat Club; 2 Stripes.

WILLIAM FRANK GREENE

Whitestone, New York

Bill

Bill, an old salt water sailor, came to the Severn determined to earn his epaulets, an ambition which he has never forgotten. Occasionally, the Academic Departments seem to have questioned that ambition but each time he has convinced them all by taking a reef and weathering those squalls safely. Confining academic woes to study hours he has found time to engage in lively campaigns in the boxing loft and on the soccer field. Sailing has also accounted for a large part of his spare time and we're sure that Bill will be one of our answers to the Navy's demand for more "blue water" sailors.

Boxing B40T; Soccer A40F; Baseball N.A.; Press Detail 3, 2, 1; Hop Committee 1; Boat Club; 2 Stripes.

Loss

Bill was lost on August 9, 1942, when USS Jarvis (DD 393) was sunk by Japanese aircraft near Guadalcanal.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

William was married in April 1942 to Nancy Hammond of White Plains. His parents were Frank, a taxi and truck driver, and Winnie who was born in Austria.

He is listed at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial. His wife was listed as next of kin.

Photographs

From the Lucky Bag
From Daily News on October 15, 1942

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.