WALTER B. BAYLESS, LCDR, USN

Walter Bayless '36

Date of birth: November 10, 1914

Date of death: May 4, 1943

Age: 28

Lucky Bag

From the 1936 Lucky Bag:

Walter Burkhart Bayless

Knoxville, Tennessee

"Dub"

When Tennessee sent Dub to Annapolis she gave us no small sample of her population. Six feet two—you've heard of the "tall, dark, and handsome" type? As you might expect leaves have a bad effect on his weak heart. They never fail to put that far-away look in his eyes, and another picture in his locker of some "lil' ol' gal" back home. And if you ever hear him yell, "Who hid my mail?"—clear out! However, he finds better occupation than that for himself here. It takes a good man to make his way in three sports. Just ask the boys on the football squad who has the most determination to win his way to the top. It will be a long time till "at last he hails the moment flying," but when he does he'll be head and shoulders above them all.

Football 4, 3, 2, 1. N; Basketball 4, 3, 2, 1. N; Crew 4, 3, 2, 1. N ; N Club; Two Stripes

Walter Burkhart Bayless

Knoxville, Tennessee

"Dub"

When Tennessee sent Dub to Annapolis she gave us no small sample of her population. Six feet two—you've heard of the "tall, dark, and handsome" type? As you might expect leaves have a bad effect on his weak heart. They never fail to put that far-away look in his eyes, and another picture in his locker of some "lil' ol' gal" back home. And if you ever hear him yell, "Who hid my mail?"—clear out! However, he finds better occupation than that for himself here. It takes a good man to make his way in three sports. Just ask the boys on the football squad who has the most determination to win his way to the top. It will be a long time till "at last he hails the moment flying," but when he does he'll be head and shoulders above them all.

Football 4, 3, 2, 1. N; Basketball 4, 3, 2, 1. N; Crew 4, 3, 2, 1. N ; N Club; Two Stripes

Loss

Walter was listed as missing on May 4, 1943 (and presumed dead on May 5, 1944) in the Pacific after his F4U-1 fighter disappeared after a pre-dawn launch from NAS Maui with Fighting Squadron (VF) 12. His was one of four planes that were lost in this mission.

Other Information

From the Class of 1936's Golden Lucky Bag, published in 1986:

Children: Thomas H.; Walter B., Jr.
Grandchildren: Elizabeth, T.H. (Smoky) and Gregory Bayless; Walter B. III (Trey), Lance, and Michael Bayless
After graduation, Dub served in California and the destroyer Claxton. He married Carolyn Elizabeth Howard of Washington, D.C., in 1938 and in February 1939 reported to Pensacola for flight training. By March 1940 he was a fighter pilot on board the carrier Ranger engaged in Neutrality Patrol operations in the Atlantic.
In February 1942, Dub was specially chosen as part of a select group to establish the Pre-flight Schools for the Bureau of Aeronautics, and Space program headed by Commander (later Rear Admiral) Thomas J. Hamilton, a former Naval Academy coach under whom Dub had played football. The goal of the program was to develop a ground school curriculum and physical training program, especially survival courses, for aviation cadets. Four pre-flight schools opened in April 1942 and were most successful in turning out future pilots who were prepared to take care of themselves under difficult conditions. The success of the program was due in substantial measure to Dub’s part in recruiting some of the best coaches and teachers in the nation.
In October 1942, Dub was ordered as XO of Fighter Squadron 12, a squadron of F4U Corsairs destined for Saratoga. On 4 May 1943 he lead a four-plane section from Maui, Hawaiian Islands, on a night training flight. Reportedly, the planes ran into bad weather and all were lost.
Dub is survived by his widow, Carol, who later married classmate Ralph Humes, and two sons who are Naval Academy graduates in the classes of 1962 and 1965. The older, Thomas Hamilton Bayless, resigned as a submarine officer in 1968 and is now at the Navy's Ocean System Command at San Diego. The other son, Walter B., Jr, resigned as a naval aviator in 1972 and is an executive in the computer industry in Orange County, California.
Rear Admiral Hamilton later recalled that Dub was a great leader who gave his all to any task given him, a tribute that his classmates would heartily support.

From The Knoxville Journal on June 4, 1944:

Lt. Comdr. Walter Burkhart Bayless, Navy pilot, has been listed on the Navy’s official lists as a casualty, according to word received yesterday by his mother, Mrs. Mamie B. Bayless, Central Avenue Pike.
The letter stated his plane took off with three others from their base in the Hawaiian area on a pre-dawn operational flight, May 4, 1943, and flew into a cloud bank which contained squally winds and heavy rain, which restricted the visibility to zero.
Commander Bayless was graduated from Central High School at the age of 16 and entered Marion Military Institute at Marion, Ala., after which he received his appointment to the Naval Academy.
He made the highest grade in mathematics of the 57 appointees, and graduated from the academy standing 92 in the class of 266. He held letters for football, basketball and crew.
His widow, Carolyn Howard Bayless, and two sons “Smoky,” three, and “Dub,” one, are residing in Coronado, Calif.
“Dub” was born 26 days after his father’s death.
Walter is the son of the late Walter R. Bayless and Mrs. Bayless, and the grandson of Mr. and Mrs. Charles T. Burkhart, Washington Pike.

His wife was listed as next of kin. He has a memory marker in Tennessee.

Rank

Though the Navy's casualty list — and possibly his memorial marker, though there is no picture — have Walter as a CDR, he is listed in the "deaths on active list" of the Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps of 1944 as a Lieutenant Commander. Memorial Hall has LCDR, as does the Class of 1936's Golden Lucky Bag book from 1986.

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.