HUBERT T. WATERS, LT, USN

From USNA Virtual Memorial Hall
Hubert Waters '25

Date of birth: September 6, 1902

Date of death: January 15, 1930

Age: 27

Lucky Bag

From the 1925 Lucky Bag:

1925 Waters LB.jpg

Hubert Temple Waters

Grandview, Texas

"Hal" "Cowboy" "Hank"

LOCHINVAR came out of the West. So did Cowboy. The only prime difference is that the former came earlier. Otherwise, they are practically identical. Of course our Cowboy has not carried off any any fair damsel—that is, not on horseback. Yet in soaring spirits and fancy free he is the husband of a hundred wives!

Youngster cruise served to dismount Hal from his pony and, after a fashion, to convert him into a deep-sea sheik. Every hop found Hank with one of two well-known lines—receiving or stag. With his genial smile, characteristic of the great open spaces, he assured each little girl that her star was on the meridian.

In the classroom, Cowboy resembles the virile pioneer. A smoke-screen of chalk dust, the gnashing of teeth, a brief interval, and—Hank emerges, P-rade rest, with a "Read-'em-and-weep" look as on the blue print above. Savvy?

On leave, the Puncher cuts loose. All the pent-up energy of 'steen ac months bursts forth in a wild orgy of feverish dissipation. He often spends hours upon hours in the public library!

Class Football (4, 3); Class Track (3); Sub-Squad.

1925 Waters LB.jpg

Hubert Temple Waters

Grandview, Texas

"Hal" "Cowboy" "Hank"

LOCHINVAR came out of the West. So did Cowboy. The only prime difference is that the former came earlier. Otherwise, they are practically identical. Of course our Cowboy has not carried off any any fair damsel—that is, not on horseback. Yet in soaring spirits and fancy free he is the husband of a hundred wives!

Youngster cruise served to dismount Hal from his pony and, after a fashion, to convert him into a deep-sea sheik. Every hop found Hank with one of two well-known lines—receiving or stag. With his genial smile, characteristic of the great open spaces, he assured each little girl that her star was on the meridian.

In the classroom, Cowboy resembles the virile pioneer. A smoke-screen of chalk dust, the gnashing of teeth, a brief interval, and—Hank emerges, P-rade rest, with a "Read-'em-and-weep" look as on the blue print above. Savvy?

On leave, the Puncher cuts loose. All the pent-up energy of 'steen ac months bursts forth in a wild orgy of feverish dissipation. He often spends hours upon hours in the public library!

Class Football (4, 3); Class Track (3); Sub-Squad.

Loss

Hubert was lost on January 15, 1930 when the plane he was aboard "missed the landing deck" of USS Saratoga (CV 2) near San Diego, California. Another officer, identified as the pilot, survived.

Other Information

He was a member of Torpedo Squadron (VT) 2.

He earned his wings as naval aviator #3535 on October 11, 1929.

The Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps of 1931 lists Hubert as a LT(jg); posthumous promotion?

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Hubert had just married Gussie Sims in November 1929 in Pensacola. He was a member of Flight Class No. 36 at Pensacola and finished his training in December. He was then assigned to the Saratoga. His plane sank in 235 fathoms of water, and he and the plane were not recovered. On January 20, the airplane carrier Saratoga held his funeral service while planes dropping wreaths circled the spot where he died. His wife was the only member of the family to be on the Saratoga.

In 1910 Hubert’s father was William, a schoolteacher, and his mother was Mamie. They also ran a farm in Grandview, Texas with his older brothers C. Lamone and E. Mershom helping out. He also had a brother Waldo, and a sister Gladys.

Hubert was one of the pallbearers for Ensign Henry G'sell's (’26) funeral in October 1929.

Hubert's Find A Grave page is here.

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.

July 1925
Ensign, USS Trenton

Others at this command:
October 1925
Ensign, USS Trenton

Others at this command:
January 1926
Ensign, USS Trenton

Others at this command:
October 1926
Ensign, USS Trenton

Others at this command:
January 1927
Ensign, USS Trenton

Others at this command:
April 1927
Ensign, USS Trenton

Others at this command:
October 1927
Ensign, USS John D. Edwards
January 1928
Ensign, USS John D. Edwards
April 1928
Ensign, USS John D. Edwards
July 1928
Ensign, USS John D. Edwards
October 1928
Ensign, USS John D. Edwards
January 1930
Lieutenant (j.g.), for assignment, Aircraft Squadrons, Battle Fleet, USS Saratoga


Others at or embarked at USS Saratoga:
LCDR Henry Mullinnix '16 (Light Bombing Plane Squadron (VB) 2B)
LT Thomas Fisher '18 (Light Bombing Plane Squadron (VB) 2B)
LTjg Walter Leach, Jr. '24 (Light Bombing Plane Squadron (VB) 2B)
LTjg Charles McDonald '24 (USS Saratoga)
LTjg Creighton Lankford '25 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 1B)
LTjg Charles Signer '26 (Torpedo and Bombing Plane Squadron (VT) 2B)
LTjg Claude Haman '26 (Scouting Plane Squadron (VS) 2B)
ENS Henry Twohy '29 (USS Saratoga)


Class of 1925

Hubert is one of 30 members of the Class of 1925 on Virtual Memorial Hall.

QR code

The "category" links below lead to lists of related Honorees; use them to explore further the service and sacrifice of alumni in Memorial Hall.