Lyle Mosbey and a 1941 enlistment milestone

This young man is Lyle E. Mosbey, probably about 21 when photographed. I've written about Lyle before, in a post headlined "A Charger 'all-time great' gives up his life" and considerably more about him can be found there by following the link.

Then this week, I came across a story in The Chariton Leader of Oct. 29, 1941 --- about his enlistment in the U.S. Navy --- and that got me to thinking about him again. 

It's a little eerie to read through newspaper front pages from the autumn of 1941 armed with the foreknowledge that the attack by Japanese forces on Pearl Harbor was only weeks away.

Everyone knew at the time that war was just over the horizon, but those were uncertain times. The process of registering young men from Lucas County for the draft had begun a year earlier, during October of 1940, and during October of 1941 potential draftees were sent to Fort Des Moines for pre-induction physicals for the first time (previously, local physicians had determined eligibility).

But Lyle chose to enlist --- with 124 other Iowans --- thus becoming part of the largest Navy recruit group inducted and sent off to basic training as a unit in Iowa history. Here's the text of The Leader story:

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Lyle Mosbey of Chariton was one of the 125 youths who were sworn into the U.S. Navy yesterday on the capitol steps in the largest group ever to leave Des Moines en masse.

The ceremony took place on Navy Day, which occasion climaxed a drive by the Chariton post of the American Legion to aid enlistment in the navy from Lucas county.

Last night Lyle left with the group for the Great Lakes Training station north of Chicago, Ill. This group made more than 1,000 young men to leave Iowa this year for navy service. The state leads the nation in navy enlistment in proportion to its population.

The youths were addressed on the capitol steps by Governor Wilson, Thomas H. Tracey, Iowa department American Legion commander, and Lieutenant Commander P.R. Weaver, officer in charge of the Des Moines navy recruiting station.

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After basic training at Great Lakes, Lyle attended Electrical School in St. Louis and Submarine School at New London, Conn., emerging as a electrician's mate. His final assignment --- as an electrician's mate 2nd class --- was to the USS Scorpion, a Gato-class submarine whose mission was to patrol in the Pacific.

On Jan. 3, 1944, the Scorpion departed Midway Island after refueling and reprovisioning to patrol the East China Sea. On Jan. 5, the Scorpion rendezvoused with the USS Herring to attempt transfer of an injured crewman, but the transfer was unsuccessful because of sea conditions. The Scorpion was not seen or heard from again.

Lyle is commemorated by a cenotaph near the graves of his parents, Carl and Lillie Mosbey, in Goshen Cemetery and on the Tablets of the Missing, Manila American Cemetery, in the Philippines.