Admiral Willis Lee - Decades before he rose to fame in the Pacific War, the young Willis Lee was a popular midshipman at the US Naval Academy at the turn of the century; A middle friend noted Lee's "capacity for a strong mind."
In this exclusive excerpt from Paul Stillwell's Battleship Commander: The Life of Vice Admiral Willis A. Lee Jr., the future World War II naval hero is revealed to be an unstoppable gunner. to Annapolis—myopia despite its depth.
Admiral Willis Lee
Willis A. Lee's civil rights were terminated on July 9, 1904. Until then, he and Oscar Smith, a young man from Pennsylvania, had lived in Annapolis. They stayed at Miss Emma Atwell's house on Prince George Street, opposite the Carvel Hall Hotel. (For many years the hotel served as a meeting place for ship dealers when they came to town for dances and other events.) Smith and Lee promised in kind were shippers on that July day.
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Son of Judge Willis Augustus Lee Sr. and Susan Arnold Lee, Willis Jr. born and bred in Kentucky - with his early heritage, a perfect fit for a puzzler. Photos by the author
When Lee arrived at the University, most of the brokers lived in New Quarters. "New" is a relative term in this case, as construction was completed in 1869. It is a four-story red brick building with a lighted cylindrical clock tower rising to the top. In 1901, construction began on a new gray brick building, Bancroft Hall, in the famous Beaux Arts style. The architect identified the architect Ernest Flagg, who created a building with dormitories, a mansard roof, a central section with a rotunda, and two wings of central rooms. The first residents, including Lee's plebe class, moved into one wing of Bancroft in 1904. That original building, completed in 1906, was planned for an eight-wing expansion later this year. time. When Lee was there, the number of students was less than 1,000. Now there are more than 4,000.
One thing Oscar Smith appreciated about his relationship with the Kentuckian was the Christmas presents Lee brought to his room as a popular place to visit. Years later, Smith wrote: “I still enjoy the delicious taste of country hams that are always among the offerings. . . . In those days there was no Christmas vacation for Midshipmen and Christmas boxes were expensive. . . by the many children who are well-liked at Bancroft Hall.
Marc A. Mitscher of Oklahoma was a midshipman who entered the school as a plebe in 1904. Another "midshipman" from that state, Peter Cassius Marcellus Cade Jr., was punished for failing to school the year before. The upperclassmen began rooting for Mitscher as Cade's replacement. Mitscher had to repeat the name of the departed midfielder every time he was asked. As a result, Mitscher earned the nickname "Pete". Mitscher struggled at school, and was found guilty in a violent scandal. In November 1905, James R. Branch was killed in a fight between classmates. The investigation revealed that 200 midshipmen were involved in hazmat. Mitscher was forced to resign, because of his part in the hazrat and because of the many disadvantages he had accumulated. However, the young man was allowed to return to Annapolis and graduated in 1910, two years after Lee. 40 years after their passage in the Pacific.
He Is Honestly One Of The Most Deserving Captains Of All. He Deserved To See The End Of The War...
Another plebe classmate was Lloyd C. Stark of Missouri. He graduated in 1908 and served in the Navy until his discharge in 1911. He returned home to join the family business. apple and later served as an army major in World War I. He entered politics in 1928 and served as governor of his home state from 1937 to 1941. In 1940 he ran for the US Senate and lost to Harry S. Truman. After his governorship, he returned to work at the family nursery.
Stark's time as a plebe is interesting because he submitted a report for September and October of 1904. There is no doubt that he was involved in the same activities as Lee. These include sail training, steam training and time aboard the USS
In 1905. According to Stark, the plebeians drove racing cutters and carried out infantry drills and bayonets at arms. Of course, there is a little manual work involved. Other exercises include boxing, gymnastics, fencing and swimming. All of this is a prelude to schoolwork in the fall. Stark once listed his weight at 137 pounds.
In school for many years, and the Kentucky native soon became "Wah Lee," based on his initials, W. A. He also acquired another nickname that stuck with him in the rest of his life. John Earle, a fellow plebe, explained, “Lee was given the nickname 'Chink' by his classmates at the beginning of Plebe summer because, inexplicably, he looked like Chinese. She is small in size, has a round face, slightly slanted eyes, and yellow skin.
Original U.s. Wwii Navy Admiral Arthur Radford White Peaked Visor Cap
Over the years, the name changed to the diminutive "Ching", although most of its peers stuck to the original version.
(BM-8), which he joined on June 3. It was a low-class cruiser with a main armament of two 12-inch guns. On July 15, he was transferred to
. She was an old sailing ship, a warship. She was Admiral David G. Farragut's flagship during the Civil War in Mobile Bay in 1864. During summer vacation, Earle Buckingham and Lee vacationed together in Rockland, Maine, and went to a laundry with a sign that reads, "Wah. Lee." Buckingham and a middleman persuaded Lee to ask the washerman how to translate the name into a Chinese character. Lee used the style as a new signature.
During three and a half of his four years at the Naval Academy, Lee became close to Edmund Randall Norton. The roommate was surprised that Lee could learn so little. Norton worked hard and ranked second in the 201-person graduating class of 1908. Although he had a good mind, Lee attached himself to things that mattered most to him. Norton noted that the two main areas that appealed to Lee were rifle shooting and free-hand drawing.
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Lee (right) with members of his Naval Academy squadron. Despite being visually impaired, Lee had an almost "amazing" shooting talent. He won the national championships in the rifle and the pistol - on the same day. Photos by the author
John Earle admired Lee's ability to think critically. He remembered that Lee could read a lesson in one sitting and retain all the important points. Earle wrote of Lee: "He was not burdened with our studies, as many of us were. When we entered Chink's room, we found him among his book. . . He was very good at math, our most difficult subject, and spent many hours testing his classmates to see how easy math was." Earle knew that Lee had little. He didn't remember seeing Lee at the dances, adding: "I'm sure he was more interested in guns than girls."
Another classmate, Worrall Carter, was expected to play a key role in logistical support for the fleet during World War II. Years later, Carter remembered Lee's photos. Although Lee and his wife do not have children of their own in the near future, Lee loves children and draws pictures to entertain them. As Carter recalls, "My kids loved it."
Shortly after the class of 1907 graduated, Lee began his last summer of teaching. During the flight, Lee and Walter Heiberg were assigned to the observer
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(C-6). It was the ship Commodore George Dewey during the Battle of Manila Bay nine years earlier. The army was in Hampton Roads, Virginia, for ten days in June to visit the Jamestown Exposition. The exhibition lasted a year. The international celebration commemorated the 300th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown as a permanent British settlement in what became the United States.
While visiting their ship, Lee and Heiberg were in the middle of the show. The shooting galleries hanging the coins from the wires were closed. At a price of ten cents a shot, shooters earned money every time their bullets clipped the strings. They were so successful that, according to schoolmate John E. Meredith, "It was a long time topic of conversation in the cabins." As Meredith pointed out, the work was mentioned in Heiberg's 1908 Naval Academy yearbook.
Classmate John E. Iseman wrote: “When I was playing with [classmate Andrew Denney], we were watching the shooting at Midway. Every time we stop, the owner asks 'Ching' to help himself to one of the offerings, but refuses to shoot the place. "
At the end of the 1906–7 school year, the school awarded prizes for "great excellence in expected work". Those who have
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