FRANK M. L. DAVIS, LCDR, USN

Frank Davis '42

Date of birth: July 16, 1920

Date of death: September 10, 1946

Age: 26

Lucky Bag

From the 1942 Lucky Bag:

FRANK McDOWELL LEAVITT DAVIS

Annapolis, Maryland

Frank, F.M.L., Leavitt

He spouts Shakespeare, voluble French, nonsense after taps. He plays a mandolin, piano, soccer, chess. He works on sonatas, Masqueraders, Lucky Bag, Log, victims for the Book-of-the-Month Club. He has the world's sleepiest countenance at reveille, a weakness for the funnies, an appreciation of any joke!—good or bad. Summary: in the vernacular, he's a noble lad.

Soccer, aNf*, Fencing, f42t; Log 4; Lucky Bag; Chess Club 4, 3, 2, 1, President; Mandolin Club 4, 3, 2, 1; Masqueraders 4, 3, 2, 1, President; Choir 4, 3, 2, 1; Star 4; 1 Stripe.

The Class of 1942 graduated on December 19, 1941, less than two weeks after the United States entered World War II. The class had previously been scheduled to graduate in February 1942.

FRANK McDOWELL LEAVITT DAVIS

Annapolis, Maryland

Frank, F.M.L., Leavitt

He spouts Shakespeare, voluble French, nonsense after taps. He plays a mandolin, piano, soccer, chess. He works on sonatas, Masqueraders, Lucky Bag, Log, victims for the Book-of-the-Month Club. He has the world's sleepiest countenance at reveille, a weakness for the funnies, an appreciation of any joke!—good or bad. Summary: in the vernacular, he's a noble lad.

Soccer, aNf*, Fencing, f42t; Log 4; Lucky Bag; Chess Club 4, 3, 2, 1, President; Mandolin Club 4, 3, 2, 1; Masqueraders 4, 3, 2, 1, President; Choir 4, 3, 2, 1; Star 4; 1 Stripe.

The Class of 1942 graduated on December 19, 1941, less than two weeks after the United States entered World War II. The class had previously been scheduled to graduate in February 1942.

Loss

Frank was lost on September 10, 1946 when the plane he was piloting crashed into the Mediterranean Sea near Malta. He was executive officer of Torpedo Squadron (VT) 75 and operating from USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CVB 43).

Other Information

From the Annapolis Capital on September 12, 1946 (via Denise Robinson at The Legacy of Honor Project):

Comdr. Davis was born in Annapolis in 1920, the son of Rear Admiral Ralph O. Davis, USN, now stationed at Norfolk, and the late Anita Cresap Davis. He attended grammar school here and graduated from Loomis Academy at Windsor, Conn., in 1937, entering the Naval Academy in 1938. He was a member of the class of 1942 which graduated in December, 1941, after Pearl Harbor.
For several years he was fire control officer on the battleship New York and then went into naval aviation, receiving his wings a year ago. He has been with carrier aircraft groups since and joined the Franklin D. Roosevelt in June of this year, going with the ship on its current tour of European ports.
During the war Comdr. Davis participated in the North African invasion and did convoy duty in the North Atlantic.
Wrote Text Books
Later he was an instructor in the gunnery school conducted by the Navy on board the New York. In 1943, as an instructor, he collaborated in the preparation of textbooks in gunnery and training methods. The techniques evolved were later used by battleships in the bombardments of Iwo Jim, Okinawa and Japan.
Well known in Annapolis, Comdr. Davis was the grandson of Mrs. James C. Cresap, 4 Oklahoma Terrace, and the late Lt. Comdr. Cresap, USN. He is survived by his grandmother and two brothers, R. Cresap Davis, of Annapolis, and O. Benson Davis, student at Princeton University.
He was the namesake of Frank McDowell Leavitt, Mrs. Cresap's brother, a doctor of science, distinguished mechanical engineer and well known inventor. Dr. Leavitt did research work for the Navy and for industry and invented the basic torpedo used by the U.S. Navy.
Comdr. Davis was also the great-grandson of Dr. John McDowell Leavitt, president of St. John's College, 1882-1886.
Interested In Theater
At the Academy he was president of the Masqueraders, directing some of their plays in 1941. He was a pianist and active in music clubs of the Academy. His interest in the theater continued and on his last tour of shore duty in Jacksonville, Fla., he took the leading parts of the Little Theater productions during the past winter.

From researcher Kathy Franz:

In 1935, Frank lived in Windsor, Connecticut. His brothers were Ralph and Otis.

No next of kin was listed, but he was survived by his father (who retired a Vice Admiral). He was also survived by his brothers; his mother died in 1921.

Frank has a memory marker in the Naval Academy Cemetery; he is also listed in the North Africa American Cemetery and Memorial.

Frank was named in honor of Frank McDowell Leavitt, who was instrumental in the creation of the modern torpedo.