Stephen Stafford Mann, Jr. – Captain, United States Navy

From a contemporary press report

Captain Stephen Stafford Mann Jr., United States Navy, Retired, 87, of Punta Gorda, Florida, died Thursday, May 30, 2002, at his residence after a long illness.

Captain Mann was born August 5, 1914, in Baltimore, Maryland, to Stephen Stafford and Rosalie U. Baxter Mann.

Captain Mann was educated and graduated from Gilman School in Baltimore and was appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy, from which he graduated in 1938.

After graduation, he served a tour of duty on a heavy cruiser in the Pacific.

He volunteered for submarine duty, serving in active combat in the Pacific during World War II. He served first as a junior officer, then as executive officer of the USS Trigger. He later was commanding officer of the USS Devilfish.

He was awarded numerous combat decorations during the war.

Ashore duties after the war included faculty positions at the U.S. Naval Academy, the Armed Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Virginia and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces National War College in Washington, D.C. He also had duty at the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill. At sea after the war, he served as commanding officer of a German type-21 experimental submarine U-2513 and later had command of the USS Chivo. He was submarine division commanding officer (five subs) and finally submarine squadron commander (fifteen subs).

He also commanded a submarine tender (a target supply and repair ship), the USS Bushnell.

Upon retirement from the Navy in 1968, he joined the firm of A.G. Edwards & Sons in Alexandria, Virginia, as an investment broker until moving to Punta Gorda in 1978. He was a member of the Isles Yacht Club and a charter member of St. Andrews Golf Club, serving on the board of directors.

He served on the board of directors of the Navy League. He was a charter member of the Charlotte Harbor Chapter of the Retired Officers Association. He was a member of the Church of the Good Shepherd and served on its vestry.

Captain Mann lived in Boone on Forest Ridge Drive for ten years and attended St. Luke’s Episcopal Church. They moved to Hendersonville, North Carolina, four years ago. They sold their home this past early October. He never left his beloved Florida home again until his death. He missed the friendships made in the Boone and Hendersonville area.

Survivors include his wife, Elizabeth “Beth” Mann; two sons, Stephen S. Mann III of Atlanta, Georgia and Douglass S. Mann of Silver Spring, Maryland; one daughter, Lois M. Nichols of Newport News, Virginia; and two stepsons, Dr. Robert J. Esher of Waveland, Mississippi, and Brian R. Esher of Alpharetta, Georgia; nine grandchildren and six step-grandchildren.

A memorial service was conducted Tuesday, June 4, at the Church of the Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in Punta Gorda, Florida. Graveside services with full military honors will be conducted Wednesday, July 10, at 1 p.m., at Arlington
National Cemetery.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Church of the Good Shepherd Discretionary Fund, 401 W. Henry St., Punta Gorda, Florida, 33950.

Michael Robert Patterson

Michael Robert Patterson was born in Arlington and is the son of a former officer of the US Army. So it was no wonder that sooner or later his interests drew him to American history and especially to American military history. Many of his articles can be found on renowned portals like the New York Times, Washingtonpost or Wikipedia.

Reviewed by: Michael Howard