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Pensacola's Military/Naval Aviation at St. John's Historic Cemetery
Noel Davis
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A case of "it might have been". Noel Davis, a Naval Aviator who is buried in the John Merritt Family plot in St. John's Historic Cemetery, was killed on his final test flight while attempting to be the first to fly non-stop across the Atlantic Ocean in April 1927. He was married to Mary Elizabeth Merritt, oldest daughter of John A. and Mary Turner Merritt, both members of prominent Pensacola families.
Born in Salt Lake City on Christmas Day in 1891, Davis kiddingly told friends in later years that he thought he was going to school in Indianapolis where he could look forward to some good auto racing but learned the Navy had Annapolis in mind instead.
Noel Davis graduated third in his class from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1914. As aide to Admiral Joseph Strauss, commander of U.S. mine-laying forces, he was assigned to Inverness, Scotland to supervise laying an estimated 56,000 mines between Scotland and Norway. At the end of World War I, he was ordered to duty removing the mines and after some difficulty, developed a plan using a suggestion by a radio operator to disarm the mines before attempting to remove them from the sea. He then authored several books for the Navy Department related to the laying and recovery of mines.
Applying for aviation training, Davis arrived in Pensacola in the early 1920's, and was designated Naval Aviator No. 2944 on August 11, 1921. While still a flight student he became Officer-in Charge of the Ground School at Pensacola in June 1921 and authored the first manual for that school. Resigning his regular commission in July 1922 to attend Harvard Law School he accepted a commission in the Naval Reserve and became commanding officer of the first station for Naval Aviation Reserves in Squantum, Massachusetts, later writing textbooks for training reserve pilots. While in Boston, he was co-inventor of the first aerial sextant used in flight navigation.
On April 25, 1927, the Pensacola Journal's banner headline proclaimed "Pensacola to Paris Flight Planned". His wife, dubbed by her father as "Kitten", was scheduled to make the flight as radio operator onboard the plane named "The American Legion" but decided the risk was too great when thinking about their young son. As fate would have it, she was not in the plane when it lost speed on takeoff with a full load of fuel needed to cross the Atlantic Ocean. The plane landed in a marsh near Langley Field, Virginia but nosed into the swamp, trapping both Davis and his co-pilot, Stanton Wooster, in the cockpit.
Less than a month after Noel Davis was buried in St. John's Cemetery, Charles Lindbergh made his successful crossing in the "Spirit of St. Louis". Admiral Richard E. Byrd, who had become the first man to fly over the North Pole a year earlier, said he was "shocked beyond expression" at the loss of the two pilots who "have given their lives to the progress of aviation".
In recognition of his considerable contributions to Naval Aviation, the Schools Command Building (633) at NAS Pensacola has been dedicated to his memory and the annual trophy awarded to the outstanding Naval Air Reserve Squadron is named in his honor. Noel Davis was buried in St. John's Cemetery 1 North Section 5.
This
article was prepared by Mary Merritt Dawkins, prominent Pensacola historian and
prolific writer. One of the earliest Naval aviators to earn his wings in
Pensacola returned after his retirement to help lead the city during a major
growth period.
Vice Admiral Charles P. Mason began his second career when he became Pensacola’s mayor in 1947, a job he held for 10 years. At first he was a mayor selected from outside the council, but wanting to have a real say in government, Mason ran for the City Council and was elected. He resigned in 1957 because of his failing eyesight. His sight repaired, he was again appointed mayor in 1963 and held the job for two more years.
Mason was born on January 12, 1891, in Harrisburg, PA, and graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1912. He came to Pensacola and entered flight training in May 1916, graduating in 1917 as Naval aviator No. 52.
As was often the case when new Naval aviators graduated and left Pensacola, along with their new gold wings was a new wife. Young Mason had married Pensacolian Ralphine Fisher, the daughter of Will Fisher Jr. By this time, the United States was in World War I and Mason was ordered to Europe. When he returned to Pensacola it was to meet his new son, Charles Jr.
At the end of World War I, America placed an emphasis on the airplane, believing that future wars would be fought in the air. With Mason’s knowledge of aviation, he was given assignments to several stations, including Pensacola in 1920-21. On this tour of duty, he was superintendent of aviation training. At one time he was in charge of the first aircraft carrier, the old USS Langley. He conducted a number of experiments that led to changes in the design of carriers.
In 1940, Mason was ordered to Jacksonville, where he became the first commanding officer of the new Jacksonville Naval Air Station. He was there when Pearl Harbor was attacked in December 1941. He then took over the helm of the USS Hornet, which was destroyed in the Battle of Santa Cruz. “For his heroic defense of the ship he was promoted to rear admiral,” according to one report. He received the Navy Cross for this event.
While Mason was fighting the Pacific War, his only son was killed in an airplane crash in Nevada. Five years later, his son’s young widow was killed in a car crash. The admiral and his wife were to raise their grandson C. P. Mason III. His son and grandson followed him by graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy. Thus, three generations of Charles Masons were academy graduates.
In April 1946, the Admiral requested retirement after 38 years of active duty. He settled first in Jacksonville and then returned to his wife’s hometown. He had always maintained his voting residence in Pensacola, so when the City Council failed to agree on a mayoral candidate, they asked Mason if he would fill the position.
It was under Mason that Oliver J. Semmes Jr., the city engineer, became city manager. Much growth took place with Mason and Semmes running the government. The gas company was bought from Gulf Power Co. and areas outside the city were annexed, including East Pensacola Heights. The city increased size from less than 10 square miles to more than 17 square miles. A new public library was built and the library moved from Old Christ Church. Plans for a municipal auditorium were completed and an old Frisco engine was given to the city and placed in the Garden Street plaza. Mason was an avid baseball fan and the baseball park, now Veterans Park, was named Admiral Mason Park.
In addition to the Navy Cross, Mason also received the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star and honors from the governments of Mexico, Chile, Peru and Brazil. He was a Rotarian, a Mason and a member of the Boy Scouts of America. A number of admirals were honorary pallbearers for his Christ Episcopal Church funeral. Admiral Mason died August 13, 1971 and was buried at St. John’s Cemetery 5 North, Section 67.
One of the more notable memorials in St. John's is a simple marker for Adelaide Wentworth Waldron, wife of Lt. Comdr. John C. Waldron. Adelaide Wentworth was a daughter of George Wentworth and a cousin of T. T. Wentworth, Jr. for whom the State Museum in old City Hall is named. While the marker was placed at the grave of Adelaide in the Wentworth plot, it also bears the inscription :
"In Memorium LCDR John C. Waldron - Killed Battle of Midway June 4, 1942"
John Waldron was commanding officer of Torpedo Squadron 8 which the lost the entire squadron of 15 TBD's at the Battle of Midway on June 4, 1942. Although his body was not recovered, the family chose this spot to honor his memory.
As reported in Captain M. A. Mitscher's report to the Commander in Chief, U. S. Pacific Fleet on June 13, 1942: "Torpedo 8 led by Lieutenant Commander John C. Waldron was lost in its entirety. This squadron flew at 100 knots below the clouds while the remainder of the group flew at 110 knots, climbing to 19,000 feet. Lieutenant Commander Waldron, a highly aggressive officer, leading a well trained squadron, found his target and attacked.... This squadron is deserving of the highest honors for finding the enemy, pressing home the attack, without fighter protection and without diverting dive bomber attacks to draw the enemy fire. Ensign G. H. Gay, A-V (N), U. S. N. R. is worthy of additional praise for making a torpedo hit and for the presence of mind he showed in hiding under his seat cushion, after being shot down, for several hours, thereby probably saving his own life and giving us an excellent eye-witness picture of the damage caused by the attack on the enemy carriers".
Captain Mitscher later added in his report the following , making reference to recommended awards: "In particular, the Commanding Officer feels that the conduct of Torpedo Squadron Eight, led by an indomitable Squadron Commander, is one of the most outstanding exhibitions of personal bravery and gallantry that has ever come to his attention in the records of the past or present".
Commander Waldron was awarded the Navy Cross for heroism posthumously. The Battle of Midway has been termed the turning point in the Pacific Theatre in WW II and was the subject of an epic motion picture film. Lt. Comdr. John C. Waldron, USN was buried in St. John's Cemetery 4 North Section 49.
Submitted by J. Earle Bowden, editor emeritus of the Pensacola News-Journal and Pensacola author. Used with permission of the Pensacola News-Journal.
The antique front page of the March 5, 1889 Daily News framed in the News Journal's lobby echoes through time as the newspaper than silenced the "poison pen" words of gun-toting, former Union Army captain and lawyer J. Dennis Wolfe. Progressive editor of Pensacola's Daily Commercial, Wolfe battled a regiment of Pensacola enemies in the post-Reconstruction 1880s, chief among them railroad builder, mayor and state senator William Dudley Chipley, whose Plaza Ferdinand VII obelisk shadows the ground where Wolfe's great hero, Andrew Jackson, exchanged Spanish colors for the American flag in 1821. Wolfe now rests in St. Johns Cemetery, his only monument the long-forgotten toxic editorial barrage against Chipley that spawned the birth to the newspaper you're reading.Wolfe who led Maine Regiment company of African-American troops during Pensacola's Federal occupation, was branded a "carpetbagger." Yet he greatly admired Jackson, saying some of Pensacola's ex-Confederates were too dumb to know that Old Hickory is now dead.
Yet Wolfe, emulating Jackson, fought duels, engaged in a street shootout and in fisticuffs on Pensacola streets. He was shot at more than once, and carried a loaded, easy-trigger Navy Colt by his side while traveling by buggy on Pensacola streets. Shying away from Carpetbaggers and registering as a Democrat, Wolfe is admitted to the Florida bar.
Wolfe counted among his enemies, Florida Gov. Edward A. Perry, a Massachusetts native, Pensacola lawyer and former Confederate brigadier general; Stephen Russell Mallory, Confederate Navy secretary; and Chipley, former Confederate lieutenant colonel who built the Pensacola & Atlantic Railroad.
After the Civil War, Wolfe and several of his army friends, among them Mayor Sewell C. Cobb, stayed in Pensacola. Wolfe pushed for imprisoning Geronimo at Fort Pickens as the city's first tourist attraction. When the Apache and his fellow captives arrived in 1886, Wolfe's Commercial began a bonanza of headlines and stories in hot competition with the Pensacolian. The editor of Milton's Santa Rosa Press suggested that Geronimo be kept in Wolfe's office so he would be the first scalped.
Lawyer Wolfe found himself engaged in and 1869 gun battle with Escambia County Judge William Kirk at the corner of Palafox and Intendencia streets. Kirk had forbid Wolfe from practicing in his court. Crossing paths on Palafox in front of a store operated by Jasper and Viola Gonzalez, the angry Kirk who had no love for Northerners drew his pistol and fired at Wolfe; both men emptied their revolvers. Wolfe scrambled inside the Gonzalez store; Kirk kept firing and Wolfe retreated on Palafox Street. Kirk's friend, Raymond Knowles, handed the judge his own pistol, and the jurist continued firing at the fleeting lawyer. None of the gunshots hit either man, but Kirk and Wolfe met again—in the courtroom, where the county judge was charged with intent to commit murder. Trial witnesses vented anger at Wolfe, dubbing his a "liar" and "carpetbagger." The jury found Kirk innocent.
Yet it was Commercial Editor Wolfe's poisonous editorial vendetta against Chipley and railroad power, coupled with Chipley's political ambitions to become a U. S. senator, that led John O'Connor, founder of the rival Pensacolian, and John C. Witt and a group of Pensacola businessmen in January 1889 to organize the News Publishing Company. Pensacolians read the first Daily News on the morning of March 5, 1889, a four-page, $5-a-year newspaper produced by a 10-person staff in the Armory Hall at the corner of Palafox and Intendencia Street.
The Daily News, blessed with a high percentage of advertising, led to Wolfe's welcomed retirement. Then, by 1898, the News had its own competitor, Frank L, Mayes' Pensacola Journal. By then Wolfe was mellowing into old age, his many Jackson-emulated exploits and poisonous pen that had drew enemies by the hundreds have gone into the hellbox of frontier newspaper history; yet he was reading what would become in the 1920s the News Journal.
He is buried in St. John's Historic Cemetery 1 North, Section 5