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The stars fell on the Naval Academy’s Class of 1888. Of its 35 graduates, two attained the rank of admiral, seven became rear admirals, two became Marine generals, and one of the latter, John Archer Lejeune, became the 19th commandant of the Corps.
A twelfth officer, Curtis D. Wilbur, who graduated third in the class, was Secretary of the Navy from 1924 to 1929- When, in 1937, Wilbur learned that the Admiral Farragut Academy of Toms River, New Jersey, would be dedicating a plaque to one of his classmates, Admiral Charles F. Hughes, he wrote a letter to Admiral S. S. Robison, another classmate, who founded and was then Superintendent of the Farragut Academy.
Captain F. N. Klein, Jr., U. S. Navy (Ret.), who is Director of Naval Training for the Academy, has forwarded a copy of Wilbur’s letter which is interesting both for Hughes’ little known part in the early days of naval aviation and for the warmth two classmates felt for another who had died three years earlier.
In his letter, Wilbur cast his mind back more than 50 years and told Admiral Robison how he remembered Charlie Hughes.
"I think of him crawling through the narrow manholes of the double bottoms of the old monitor Monterey, not built to accommodate a man of his size. I think of him trying to extinguish a blazing powder magazine at Mare Island, California, where his future father-in-law, Admiral Clark, and yourself faced such grave danger, yet extinguished the fire before it had completely burned through the wooden boxes containing great quantities of gun powder, and saving lives and property at such great risk.
"I think of him descending a ladder into a powder magazine from which smoke was escaping, not knowing 'whether he would go up before he got down’—as he expressed it. I think of him commanding the New York, crossing the Atlantic to join the Grand Fleet; when the packing in the hawse pipes worked loose in one of the greatest storms ever known. Water was coming through the hawse pipe into the chain lockers and had flooded the paint locker. The bilge pumps failed to work because the)' were gummed up with paint from
the paint locker. A diver sent into the paint locker nearly drowned because his air escape valve also clogged. The ship, getting down by the head, was taking on more water at every plunge with the head seas. Seven hundred fifty tons of water shipped forward and yet this relatively young commander kept his head, encouraged his officers, until the storm abated. I think of him spending an entire cruise in the emergency cabin of a ship when he was navigator and a mistake of his captain had shown him that he must assume heavy responsibility if the cruise was to be successful.
"I think of him dumbfounding the air service propagandists who had predicted the easy destruction of battleships by air bombs, by sitting in a chair on the deck of the USS Washington, a new ship which had been fixed up as a target, and letting the carefully placed bombs—one of two thousand pounds—do their worst, and of how his testimony before a hostile Congressional Committee astonished and completely won their admiration and convinced their judgment. I think of this unique contribution to legislative success from a man who feared that he would be a total failure in dealing with Congress.
"I think of this admirable Admiral as a young man at the Naval Academy rising through the classes and having the respect and confidence of his classmates, of the other classes, and of his superior officers, respect that he never lost in his long years of service.
"He faced the problems of manhood with the same fine spirit he manifested as a youth. He not only won and commanded the obedience of those under him but the confidence and respect of those above him, and also achieved the more difficult task of winning the affection and love of all worthy men. He never flinched from dangers others must encounter. He never failed to yield to his superiors the loyalty and devotion that he demanded and received from those under his command.
"He has helped us to interpret in living terms the words which so well describe him—Fidelity, Loyalty and Courage. I loved him.
"May God rest his soul.”
Two naval cadets were missing as the 35-man Class of 1888 gathered around and on the Nava! Academy's famed figurehead Tecumseh. The ensuing years would bring a measure of fame not only to Curtis D. Wilbur (1), who wrote the letter to Samuel S. Robison (2), about Charles F. Hughes (3), but also to John A. Lejeune (4), for whom the sprawling North Carolina Marine Base is named.