CAPTAIN LOUIS P. DAVIS, SR. (1883-1978)
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Louis Poisson Davis was born on December 8, 1883 (the year after Franklin Roosevelt and the year before Harry Truman) in Wilmington, North Carolina, the sixth child (and the fifth and youngest son), out of the seven children of Mary Orme Walker and Junius Davis. His mother died when he was a little less than 5 years old. His father remarried about five years later, when Lou was 9 years old, to Mary W. Cowan, with whom he had three more children. Lou did not follow the family tradition and become a lawyer -- as he was the fifth son, money was running low to send another child to university and law school, so instead he applied (more accurately, it was decided he would apply) to the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. Thus, he started a naval career of 41 years, and he graduated with the Naval Academy Class of 1905. He served in the Spanish-American War, World War I, and World War II (in fact, his widow, who lived to be 99, was one of the last women in America to collect a pension as a widow of a Spanish-American War veteran!). He got married at the relatively older age of 35 to a northerner and to a woman with as formidable a personality as his: he married Edna Shethar on June 8, 1918 in Greenwich, Connecticut. They had four sons, born quite close together: Louis Poisson Jr. (my father) in 1919, George Junius in 1920, Shethar (always called "Duke" -- or "Duckey", as a child) in 1923, and Thomas (Tom) Walker in 1925. My grandmother was very partial to boys and less fond of girls, so it was lucky they had only sons!
As a Navy family, they moved frequently. They lived in Washington, D.C., California, Panama, Charleston, Hingham, Massachusetts, and while Gramp spent a couple of years sailing in the Pacific in the early 1930s, Edna took the boys to live in Montreux, Switzerland (so they could learn French and how to ski!). Much more than most of his relatives and ancestors, he moved far afield from Wilmington. He loved the Navy, and he and my grandmother both thrived on Navy life. The excerpt below from the book, A Guide to Naval and Maritime History Resources in the East Carolina Manuscript Collection, gives more detail about his Naval career.
Gramp reached the rank of Captain. One of the reasons why he did not make Admiral was because the Navy wanted some of its high-ranking officers to become pilots before they could reach that level. Gramp was asked to take the qualifying test for pilot training, around the mid-1930s, but because of his near-sightedness, he could not pass the physical. Some of his peers who did qualify and later made admiral included John Sidney McCain and William Halsey. Jr.
In 1937, Gramp retired. However, with World War II fast approaching, he was immediately recalled to active duty and in January 1938, went to the Hingham, Massachusetts, where he was the commanding officer of the Hingham Naval Ammunition Depot. They lived in Hingham until 1944, and then Gramp was transferred to Washington to be the Inspector General of Ammunition Depots. In Washington, Grandmother and Gramp lived in a hotel until after the war, when in July 1946, they moved to 2126 Connecticut Avenue, Apt. 63, where they lived for several decades. For a number of years, they lived in Washington in the spring and fall, in Jamestown, Rhode Island in the summer, and in Pompano Beach, Florida in the winter (in a cottage on the property of Grandmother's brother, Jack Shethar).
Gramp was one of the first people to get a pacemaker for his heart. He was scheduled for the operation at Bethesda Naval Hospital in November 1963 -- on what turned out to be the same day that President Kennedy was shot and was brought to Bethesda. The pacemaker solved his heart problem, and Gramp lived to be 94, in good health most of that time. He died in February 1978 in Washington, and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery on a snowy day. Grandmother lived to be 99, in good health until the last several months of her life, and she died in Winter Park, Florida on November 8, 1989. She is buried at Arlington, next to her husband.
Both of them were avid bridge players, and they won many awards. Gramp was a student of American and Roman history, particularly military history, and assumed everyone else should learn it as well as he, and often chose the dinner table as his classroom. As one might imagine with his military background, he had set ideas on how things should be and felt no need to move with the times. He enjoyed his brandy, and after a couple of them, he would occasionally be known to sing that old Southern Civil War standard, "I killed three thousand Yanks today, and I don't give a damn!" He and Edna would only go out to eat at one restaurant -- the Army and Navy Club.
He was a man of the old school, loyal to family, friends, and country. I believe he enjoyed his life, finding a lot of pleasure and satisfaction from both his family life and career.
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As a Navy family, they moved frequently. They lived in Washington, D.C., California, Panama, Charleston, Hingham, Massachusetts, and while Gramp spent a couple of years sailing in the Pacific in the early 1930s, Edna took the boys to live in Montreux, Switzerland (so they could learn French and how to ski!). Much more than most of his relatives and ancestors, he moved far afield from Wilmington. He loved the Navy, and he and my grandmother both thrived on Navy life. The excerpt below from the book, A Guide to Naval and Maritime History Resources in the East Carolina Manuscript Collection, gives more detail about his Naval career.
Gramp reached the rank of Captain. One of the reasons why he did not make Admiral was because the Navy wanted some of its high-ranking officers to become pilots before they could reach that level. Gramp was asked to take the qualifying test for pilot training, around the mid-1930s, but because of his near-sightedness, he could not pass the physical. Some of his peers who did qualify and later made admiral included John Sidney McCain and William Halsey. Jr.
In 1937, Gramp retired. However, with World War II fast approaching, he was immediately recalled to active duty and in January 1938, went to the Hingham, Massachusetts, where he was the commanding officer of the Hingham Naval Ammunition Depot. They lived in Hingham until 1944, and then Gramp was transferred to Washington to be the Inspector General of Ammunition Depots. In Washington, Grandmother and Gramp lived in a hotel until after the war, when in July 1946, they moved to 2126 Connecticut Avenue, Apt. 63, where they lived for several decades. For a number of years, they lived in Washington in the spring and fall, in Jamestown, Rhode Island in the summer, and in Pompano Beach, Florida in the winter (in a cottage on the property of Grandmother's brother, Jack Shethar).
Gramp was one of the first people to get a pacemaker for his heart. He was scheduled for the operation at Bethesda Naval Hospital in November 1963 -- on what turned out to be the same day that President Kennedy was shot and was brought to Bethesda. The pacemaker solved his heart problem, and Gramp lived to be 94, in good health most of that time. He died in February 1978 in Washington, and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery on a snowy day. Grandmother lived to be 99, in good health until the last several months of her life, and she died in Winter Park, Florida on November 8, 1989. She is buried at Arlington, next to her husband.
Both of them were avid bridge players, and they won many awards. Gramp was a student of American and Roman history, particularly military history, and assumed everyone else should learn it as well as he, and often chose the dinner table as his classroom. As one might imagine with his military background, he had set ideas on how things should be and felt no need to move with the times. He enjoyed his brandy, and after a couple of them, he would occasionally be known to sing that old Southern Civil War standard, "I killed three thousand Yanks today, and I don't give a damn!" He and Edna would only go out to eat at one restaurant -- the Army and Navy Club.
He was a man of the old school, loyal to family, friends, and country. I believe he enjoyed his life, finding a lot of pleasure and satisfaction from both his family life and career.
______________
Youth and early career
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Lou wrote a short description of his boyhood and how he came to attend the Naval Academy, when his brothers and many of his forebears attended the University of North Carolina. I found this essay among his papers at East Carolina University; the paper is undated.
I was born in the town of Wilmington, N.C. on 8 Dec 1883. My early years were those of the average small boy in a small town. Being the youngest of 5 boys I had few nights that I did not fight for which may explain some points of temperament. At the age of 14 I was sent off to a tin soldier school to be disciplined. During my first year I was all but fired for having liquor in school but my youthful countenance convinced the principal that I did not know really what the stuff was so I was saved. I was born and raised in the finest of rebel traditions so I never had any idea of selling my soul for Uncle Sam's gold. In fact, I knew nothing whatever of the Navy at that time except that during the Spanish War I had seen(??) the old monitor Monterey and after the war the Sandoval and Alvorado and had no notion of the Naval Academy except that it was at Annapolis. While in Xmas leave in 1900 my father asked me if I would like to go to the Naval Academy. As I had never given the matter a thought I had no ideas whatever on the subject but I saw that he really desired my going and being a dutiful son I said yes I would like nothing better. Thus is our destiny shaped. So a few weeks later I appeared in Annapolis as one of Bobby Werntz candidates, and along with others passed into the academy on 8 June 1901.
Note: Robert "Bobby" Werntz managed a school in Annapolis to prepare students to pass the USNA exams.
When Lou was a young boy, he attended private schools in Wilmington, from age 4 to 14, and then he was sent to the "tin soldier school" mentioned in his essay, the Horner Military School, almost 200 miles away, in Oxford, North Carolina. This academy was established in 1851 by James H. Horner. Louie attended the school for about two years until he received an appointment to the Naval Academy. He received his appointment from Congressman John D. Bellamy (Democrat), then the representative from North Carolina's 6th District.
LInk to Great White Fleet
I was born in the town of Wilmington, N.C. on 8 Dec 1883. My early years were those of the average small boy in a small town. Being the youngest of 5 boys I had few nights that I did not fight for which may explain some points of temperament. At the age of 14 I was sent off to a tin soldier school to be disciplined. During my first year I was all but fired for having liquor in school but my youthful countenance convinced the principal that I did not know really what the stuff was so I was saved. I was born and raised in the finest of rebel traditions so I never had any idea of selling my soul for Uncle Sam's gold. In fact, I knew nothing whatever of the Navy at that time except that during the Spanish War I had seen(??) the old monitor Monterey and after the war the Sandoval and Alvorado and had no notion of the Naval Academy except that it was at Annapolis. While in Xmas leave in 1900 my father asked me if I would like to go to the Naval Academy. As I had never given the matter a thought I had no ideas whatever on the subject but I saw that he really desired my going and being a dutiful son I said yes I would like nothing better. Thus is our destiny shaped. So a few weeks later I appeared in Annapolis as one of Bobby Werntz candidates, and along with others passed into the academy on 8 June 1901.
Note: Robert "Bobby" Werntz managed a school in Annapolis to prepare students to pass the USNA exams.
When Lou was a young boy, he attended private schools in Wilmington, from age 4 to 14, and then he was sent to the "tin soldier school" mentioned in his essay, the Horner Military School, almost 200 miles away, in Oxford, North Carolina. This academy was established in 1851 by James H. Horner. Louie attended the school for about two years until he received an appointment to the Naval Academy. He received his appointment from Congressman John D. Bellamy (Democrat), then the representative from North Carolina's 6th District.
LInk to Great White Fleet