From the Shawano County Journal, 1942: Anderson Dowling is commissioned ensign
Anderson Magee Dowling, 25, son of Mrs. Arthur Bokel, 106 South
Lafayette street, Shawano, Wisconsin, was commissioned as an ensign
in the United States Naval Reserve on Friday after four months of
intensive study in the Naval Reserve Midshipmen’s school at Abbott
Hall, on Northwestern University’s Chicago campus. He was one of 800
young men in the school’s first commissioning ceremony since America’s
declaration of war against the Axis. Under the Navy’s expansion
program, 14,000 more college graduates will be similarly trained and
commissioned as junior officers during the next two years.
Studies pursued at Abbott Hall, one of the Navy’s two reserve
midshipmen’s schools, include seamanship, navigation and gunnery.
Candidates for the two schools are selected from applicants between the
ages of 19 and 28 who are unmarried and American citizens by birth. New
regulations provide for the enlistment of third and fourth year college
students for the V-7, or midshipman training program. Students enlisted
under this plan will be deferred from active duty until they have
completed their college education. All candidates must complete at
least two semesters of college mathematics before qualifying for
enlistment. The other reserve midshipmen’s school
is aboard the U.S.S. Prairie State in New York City, where graduation
exercises were also held on the same day. Graduates of the two schools
have inspired the respect and confidence of old-line Navy officers in
their performance of duty. Three Naval Reserve ensigns were commended
by Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox for their bravery and
resourcefulness following the Hapanese attack on Pearl Harbor. They
were credited with taking a destroyer to sea in pursuit of the enemy
after all senior officers on their ship had been killed of disabled.
Ensign Dowling is a graduate of the Oshkosh State Teachers’ college,
where he was a member of the varsity golf team and president of the
student body.
From the May 28, 1942 Shawano County Journal: Ensign A. Dowling to wed Two Rivers girl
Mrs. Arthur Bokel accompanied by Miss Joyce Magee, of Two Rivers, left
Sunday for Los Angeles, Calif., where the former’s son, Ensign Anderson
Dowling, and Miss Magee will be married this week. Ensign Dowling, who
is stationed on the President Hayes transport, will fly from San Diego,
Calif., to Los Angeles. Ensign Dowling and his bride-to-be will make
their home in San Diego, California. Mrs. Bokel will visit relatives
there for some time.
From the June 4, 1942 Shawano County Journal: Ensign Dowling takes bride in ceremony at Yuma, Arizona, May 27
Ensign Anderson M. Dowling, son of Mrs. Arthur Bokel of this city, took
Miss Joyce A. Magee, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas L. Magee of Two
Rivers, as his bride at a church in Yuma, Arizona, last Wednesday.
The bride wore a tailored suit of green gabardine with luggage tan
accessories and an orchid corsage. Ensign Dowling wore his white naval
uniform. The former Joyce Magee was a teacher in
the public school at Wittenberg the past year, and Ensign Dowling is a
graduate of the Naval Reserve at Northwestern University, Chicago,
Ill., where he received his commission as ensign. He is now in active
duty as assistant to the executive officer in command. After spending several days at Palm Springs, Arizona, Ensign and Mrs. Dowling returned to San Diego, California. Young Mrs. Dowling is a relative of the Shawano and Angelica Magee families.
Mrs. Bokel, besides Mrs. Claude Wayne and Mrs. Daniel Van Brunt, aunts
of the groom, who reside in Los Angeles, and Mrs. Henry Krautter of
Encinitas, California, cousin of the bride, were present for the
ceremony.