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764. Pensacola's May Loss 5-10-1946 WWII

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Updated: Feb 27, 2022

US Navy Commander John Ogle Strickland was born in Bandera, Texas on February 23, 1890, the son of John Reno Strickland (1864-1925) and Letha Gibbons (1863-1929). There, his parents would marry on September 13, 1883, and by 1900 his father was supporting the family in Crockett County, Texas raising sheep. Ten years later his father was a clerk in an El Paso factory. By 1920, he was a salesman for an ice cream company. He would pass away prematurely in 1925 and Lillie would join him in death four years later. John Ogle's grandfather was Jerome Strickland (1826-1890) who had a long history in Texas and had been a member of the Confederate Home Guard stationed on the Rio Grande River.


By the time of his parent's passing, John Ogle had enlisted in the US Navy and by 1910 was stationed aboard the cruiser (ACR-5) USS West Virginia at Mare Island. By 1921, John had entered the flight training program at NAS Pensacola and had been commissioned as a Lieutenant (Junior Grade) and designated Naval Aviator #2949 (lighter-than-air). While stationed there he would marry Pensacola native Miss Louise Geraldine Ellis (1899-1991) on April 7, 1921. She was the daughter of Escambia County Sheriff Andrew Cary Ellis (1875-1923) and Louise B. Burns (1877-1960).


Louise was also the granddaughter of Samuel Lafayette Ellis (1848-1886). Samuel enlisted in 1864 in Mobile, Alabama as a private in the Confederate Army's 1st Alabama Reserve Regiment, also called the 62nd Alabama Infantry Regiment. The regiment was formed by adding two companies to Lockhart's Alabama Battalion (Exempts) and assigning it to General B. M. Thomas' Brigade. Following a disagreement, Samuel was stabbed to death on December 25, 1886, by John Posey in Repton, Alabama, and was buried in the A. J. Ellis Cemetery in Faimelson, Conecuh County, AL.


Sadly, two years after Louise and John were married she received word that her father, Sheriff Andrew Cary Ellis had been murdered on September 25, 1923. He had accompanied other officers to 2009 Petterson Street off Barrancas Avenue near Bayou Chico to arrest Susie McLane on charges of contempt of court. The woman refused to open the door and fired two .32 shots through it, neither of which struck the sheriff. When he forced the door open she fired a third shot which killed him. The other officers returned fire killing Ms. McLane instantly. In response, flags throughout Pensacola were flown at half-mast to honor him. Also, the name of the street where he was killed was changed from Petterson Road to Cary’s Lane and still bears his name today.


In the meantime, the newlyweds took an apartment at the San Carlos Hotel and as late as 1927 were making their residence at her parent's home at 1125 North Baylen Street. John would serve at various duty stations until WWII began. At that time he was assigned as the first commander of the new USS Tekesta (AT-93) on August 16, 1943. The sea-going tugboat was commissioned on March 20, 1943, and served during the Marianas and Marshall campaigns. In March 1944, while he was serving overseas, he was notified that his son John Ellis Strickland had died in California. On September 25, 1944, he turned over command of the Tekesta and took up duties in the Marshall Island area as a captain of an advanced base section dock. There, he died of a heart attack on May 10, 1946. His remains were buried on Entiwetock until they were removed after the war to Hawaii and buried in the military cemetery there. Per the request of Louise, they were finally disinterred and removed to Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia, and reburied on November 10, 1947.


Louise would remain in Pensacola for the rest of her life and finally retire as a Civil Service clerk at NAS while still residing at 1125 North Baylen Street. She would pass away in Pensacola on March 13, 1991, and joined John in Arlington Cemetery.



















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