★★★ Memorial Monday ★★★
ENS Fred Cannon, Jr., USNR '40 was only at the Naval Academy for 9 months prior to his resignation. He returned home to West Virginia, and by 1940 was working at the Federal Security Agency, Social Security Board in Clarksburg, WV. A tall and skinny young man -- his draft registration lists him as 6' tall, 140 lbs -- he was commissioned an Ensign in the Naval Reserve sometime before April 1942.
On June 10, 1942 he left aboard USS Mizar, a contracted stores ship, with task force 39, centered around USS Wasp (CV 7). At some point in the next three months he moved to WASP; he was aboard that ship when she was torpedoed on September 15, 1942. One hundred ninety two of Fred's shipmates died when WASP sank, including five other alumni.
Fred was survived by his parents.
His photograph was only recently discovered by volunteer researcher Kathy Franz.
To Honor! ⚓
https://usnamemorialhall.org/index.php/FRED_B._CANNON,_JR.,_ENS,_USNR