Alexander McCormick, Jr.

Alexander Agnew McCormick, Jr.[1] (15 December 1897 – 24 September 1918) was an officer in the United States Navy during World War I.

Biography

Alexander Agnew McCormick, Jr. was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Chicago Evening Post editor and Chicago city alderman Alexander Agnew "A. A." McCormick, Sr. and Maude Warner.[2][3] He attended the University of Chicago High School, and entered Yale University with the Class of 1919. He enlisted as a Seaman (2nd Class) in the U.S. Naval Aviation Forces on 16 April 1917 and trained at Buffalo, New York with the Aerial Coast Patrol Unit No. 2, which had been organized at Yale shortly after the United States declared war on Germany. He was commissioned in the U.S. Naval Reserve Force as an ensign on 2 November 1917 and was stationed at the Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Florida, until 28 May 1918. He was assigned to Squadron 214 of the Royal Air Force and served in France. On 24 September 1918, Lieutenant (Junior Grade) McCormick received fatal injuries in battle while an aerial gunner with the Northern Bombing Group in a mission near Calais.[3][4]

Buried in the military cemetery at Calais, he was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross. He received the degree of B.A., post obitum, honoris causa, from Yale University in June 1919.[3] He had been selected for membership in Skull and Bones.[5] His remains now lie at the Somme American Cemetery in Aisne, France.

His sister Katherine (Kit) (1900–1971) was the mother of businessman Alexander McCormick Sturm (1923–1951), who co-founded of firearms manufacturer Sturm, Ruger in 1949.[6]

Namesake

The destroyer USS McCormick (DD-223) was named for him.

References

  1. ↑ He was a Junior. See: "A. A. McCormick, Ex-Editor and Alderman, Dies," Chicago Daily Tribune, November 27, 1925.
  2. ↑ "A. A. McCormick, Ex-Editor and Alderman, Dies," Chicago Daily Tribune, November 27, 1925.
  3. 1 2 3 Obituary Record of Yale Graduates 1918-1919. New Haven: Yale University. August 1919. pp. 1123–4.
  4. ↑ "Chicago Flier Dies in Battle, Another in Fall," Chicago Daily Tribune, October 1, 1918.
  5. ↑ Millegan, Kris (2003). Fleshing Out Skull & Bones. Waterville, Oregon: TrineDay. p. 634. ISBN 0-9720207-2-1.
  6. ↑ "Miss McCormick and Justin Sturm Will Be Wed on June 24," Chicago Daily Tribune, June 14, 1922.
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.


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