Captain franklin van valkenburgh biography of abraham lincoln

Along with his older sister Helen, the Van Valkenburgh family moved to the east side of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, along the shores of Lake Michigan, when he was a young child. Arriving there in , Van Valkenburgh graduated with the class of In he reported for duty back in Annapolis and on April 2 of that year, married Marguerite Horne of Philadelphia.

A fourth child was lost at birth. Having just emerged from World War I and the Great Depression , the United States was in no mood to get involved in another international conflict.

Franklin Van Valkenburgh (April 5, – December 7, ) was an American naval officer who served as the last captain of the USS Arizona (BB).

But with Nazi Germany threatening Europe and Imperial Japan becoming increasingly aggressive in the Pacific, by it was becoming clear that America could not remain on the sidelines for long. In preparation, the U. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Dec. Van Valkenburgh wrote to his aunt, describing his preparations:. We never go to sea without being completely ready to move on to Singapore if need be, without further preparation.

Most of our work we are not allowed to talk about off of the ship.

Captain Franklin Van Valkenburgh received the Medal of Honor posthumously.

I have spent 16 to 20 hours a day on the bridge for a week at a time, then a week of rest, then at it again. Our eyes are constantly trained Westward, and we keep the guns ready for instant use against aircraft or submarines whenever we are at sea. We have no intention of being caught napping. Just a month after that letter, on December 7, , Imperial Japan executed a surprise attack on the U.