Cadet/Midshipmen Who Died During WW II
The following pages detail the individual stories of the Cadet/Midshipmen
who braved the seas to carry the war to the enemy and, in the process, lost their lives.
Under the training regime at the time every new Cadet/Midshipman began their training at one of three Basic Schools located at Kings Point , NY, Pass Christian, MS and San Mateo, CA. After they had attained the basic military and shipboard skills necessary for their Sea Year, they were dispatched to serve as Cadets aboard merchant ships going wherever the needs of the war took them to learn their trade and prepare for their final schooling and license examination at Kings Point. This period usually lasted about one year and provided the at sea experience required for them to take their license examination, receive their merchant marine license and be commissioned Ensign, U.S. Naval Reserve. However, some took longer than a year to get back, and over 100 never came back. The photo above shows two Cadet/Midshipmen receiving their orders to their first ship for Sea Year.
Very few of these men came from seafaring families or backgrounds. They were farm
boys and city boys, rich boys and poor boys. Some of them grew up in loving families
with a mother and father, some didn’t. Some were an only child, while others came from
large families. Many were sons of immigrant families. Each man was a neighbor, a friend,
a classmate to others.
The lives of some are remembered in the names of buildings, ships, streets, ball fields, or on a piece of stone in a cemetery, while others have no such Monument to their lives. However, in a very real sense, the men whose short lives are chronicled here were more of a cross section of America then Kings Pointers are today.
The ages of the Cadets who died were generally between eighteen and twenty-four. The hometown that is listed on their page is believed to be where they were living at the time they enrolled into the Cadet Corps. Many were born in other states, and some in other countries. They came from twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia. The majority of these young men (eighty) were from the eastern states of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. The Midwest states of Ohio, Illinois, Michigan,
and Minnesota each had four or more men who gave their lives to their country—twenty-one in total.
Of the other states, five men were from California; fewer in number came from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland,
Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.
Most of the men were victims of enemy action. Some succumbed to illness and others to violent storms. Some had witnesses to their passing. Others disappeared along with their
ships, leaving their fates unknown for months or years afterward. All were volunteers who freely accepted the hazards of their chosen profession.
Some are still remembered by friends and family they left behind. All are
remembered by the many graduates of Kings Point who followed in their
footsteps. They should also be remembered by a grateful nation that is
forever indebted to them for their sacrifice.