Commander Franklin Mousley, USNR

To honor all the Veterans I've written about some of them before

My Great Uncle Russell

Veterans I Have Known

A Veteran No One Seems to Know

..and Robin Miller - A Local Veteran I Wish I Had Known and here

Today, I focus on just one - His career and service were not typical -


My Cousin (3 times removed) Franklin Mousley - "Old Stormy Weather"

Born in April of 1895 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he was a licenced wireless amateur by 1908.

He pioneered in wireless telegraphy while working with both the United Wireless Telegraph and the Marconi Telegraph Companies.

He had world-wide service on sailing vessels, freighters and passenger liners. he made five trips through the Strait of Magellan and Smythe Channel at the southern tip of South America. He was a Radio Operator, Purser, and Supercargo (The duties of a supercargo include managing the cargo owner's trade, selling the merchandise at the ports to which the vessel is sailing, and buying and receiving goods to be carried on the return voyage.)

He operated a trading post and store in Alaska and was the Office Manager for a Salmon Cannery; He experienced shipwrecks, earthquakes, WWI German commerce raiders, bubonic plague and fire at sea. Before the US entered WWI, he served on British and Japanese vessels then in the war against Germany.

He served as the Deputy Registrar for the Universal Draft (WWI) in southwest Alaska. During WWI, he was Chief-in-Charge of radio maintenance and personnel on US and Allied vessels in the port of Philadelphia. He spent six years at Norfolk, VA with the US Shipping Board, serving as the Supervisor of radio and submarine signal equipment on the main fleet's approximately 1,000 ships.

In 1926, he entered the foundry business with his father, Thomas Charles and brother Marshall and my Great-grandfather Harry Davis Mousley where he was a brass hardware saleman.

In 1930-31, he became the State Radio Commander of the American Legion (see newspaper article)

In 1930, he was a Delegate to the US Naval Reserve Communications Conference held in Washington D.C.,

During 1928-32, he organized and commanded the US Naval Communication Reserve, 4th Naval District**

**The boundaries of the Fourth Naval District, to be headquartered at League Island Navy Yard in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, were established on 7 May 1903 and consisted of the following geographic areas: Pennsylvania, the southern part of New Jersey (including the counties of Burlington, Ocean, and all counties south thereof), and Delaware.

During the WWII years of 1942-1943, he served as the Radio Security Officer, Panama Sea Frontier.

Promoted to Commander, in 1943, he served from 1943 to 1946 as the Radio Traffic Manager, Navy Department Communication Office in Washington D.C.

He retired from the Navy in 1946 and became a genealogist - it is he that left me with the materials I have documenting my family tree.

Franklin married twice:
1 - September 19, 1921 Norfolk, VA to Elizabeth Christina LaGiglia (b. April 1902 Nicosia, Catania, Sicily, Italy) They had one child, a boy named Thomas Samuel who died as an infant in 1923. They divorced while Franklin was based in Norfolk and Franklin left active service for a time to work in the family foundry business.

2 - September 3, 1937 Philadelphia, PA to Lillian Hutchington (b. September 1905 Philadelphia, PA) They had no children. Lillian Hutchington was an established singing voice in the Philadelphia "Girls Chorus". She died in 1990 in Poquoson, Virginia and is buried in Wallingford, PA.

I have not been able to discover when Franklin died or where he is buried.

Commander Franklin Mousley, USN was not a typical veteran and lived a varied and fascinating life. I thank him for all his efforts to get secure radio communications on ships of all sorts - and US Navy vessels in particular.