The Naval Academy Class of 1940 [slideshow]

As shocking as the Pearl Harbor attack had been for the Naval Academy Class of 1940, the sudden arrival of peace was nearly as disorienting. Most of the Forties, as they were known, were still only 27 years old, and the great adventure of their lives was now behind them. The war had dominated virtually all of their adult lives, from Hitler’s reoccupation of the Rhineland in 1936 to Japan’s surrender in 1945. For nine years, they had been directed by circumstance, authority, and a shared feeling of responsibility. They had served in different theaters, in different jobs, on different ships—or planes, or battalions. Yet all of them had been forged, tempered, and tested. Every man in the class knew someone who had been killed in the war, and the sacrifice of their classmates was etched into their hearts.

They had learned to live in the moment; now they had to think of the future. For the next two decades and longer, they served in a wide variety of assignments throughout the world. For some of them, there was another war, in Korea. For a few, there was even a third war, in Vietnam. Throughout it all, they stayed in touch with one another, attended class reunions when they could, and caught the occasional Navy football game. Eventually, they retired. Some took up a new profession; several became teachers. But none of them ever forgot their trial by fire in the Second World War, nor did they forget one another. They were always Forties.

Michael J. Hanley, Jr.

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Michael J. Hanley, Jr. came to the Naval Academy to play basketball. Disenchanted by his first experience at sea during his youngster cruise, he grew to enjoy service on smaller ships. He never forgot his near-disastrous encounter with a downed PanAm airplane while in command of a Navy blimp, nor could he forget the horrors of repeated kamikaze attacks near Okinawa. After commanding the destroyer escort USS Scroggins (DE-799), he decided to make a second attempt at flight school, despite failing his first time. This time he succeeded and became the commanding officer of the Navy’s first squadron of Douglas A-1 Skyraider attack planes (VA-65). Returning to the sea, Hanley took command of the USS Thetis Bay, which bore the presidential helicopter of John F. Kennedy when he went to Berlin to deliver his famous speech in 1963. Hanley retired from the Navy as a Captain in 1970 and lived in London for several years before returning to the United States. Sadly, his retirement was marked by Alzheimer’s Disease, and he died on March 14, 2001, at the age of 82.

_{Feature image credit: Graduation day at Annapolis, Class of 1940. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, photograph by Harris & Ewing, [reproduction number, e.g., LC-USZ62-12345]. Public domain.}