Byron McCandless

Byron McCandless was born in Endicott, Nebraska. His grandfather was David McCanles, who was killed by Wild Bill Hickok in 1861 at the Rock Creek Station, Nebraska shoot-out. His father was Julius McCandless (born 1851), who later moved his family to Florence, Colorado, where he operated a hardware store.{{cite web |url=http://www.dailycamera.com/bdc/running/article/0,1713,BDC_2413_4723370,00.html |first=Ryan |last=Thorburn |publisher=Daily Camera |date=May 27, 2006 |title=McCandless family to be honored |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070807094222/http://www.dailycamera.com/bdc/running/article/0%2C1713%2CBDC_2413_4723370%2C00.html |archive-date=2007-08-07 }}{{cite web|url=http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=REG&db=geolarson2&id=I077821|last1=Franklin|first1=Audrey|title=McCandless Extended Family|last2=Larson|first2=George|publisher=rootsweb.com}} (Florence had been founded by one of Julius' uncles, James McCandless, and named for one of James' daughters.{{cite web|url=http://genforum.genealogy.com/mccandless/messages/460.html|title=James Alexander Leroy McCandless}}{{cite web|url=http://www.triptrivia.com/step4.php?Submit=Submit&State=6&StartCity=16114|title=Travel Guide Florence, Colorado|publisher=TripTrivia|access-date=2009-08-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717104558/http://www.triptrivia.com/step4.php?Submit=Submit&State=6&StartCity=16114|archive-date=2011-07-17|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=http://www.rmbt.com/default.aspx?v=92f1d831-f1db-45a6-99f2-5fe9b3c36931 |title=History of Rocky Mountain Bank & Trust |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715191037/http://www.rmbt.com/default.aspx?v=92f1d831-f1db-45a6-99f2-5fe9b3c36931 |archive-date=2011-07-15 }})

Byron McCandless attended the Colorado School of Mines, and in 1899 played one season as quarterback for the University of Colorado football team.{{cite web|url=http://www.cubuffs.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=600&ATCLID=3706490|title=Colorado Football Letterwinners}} He later went to the United States Naval Academy where he graduated in 1905. He married Velma May Kitson (a daughter of May Kitson) on September 29, 1909.{{citation|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1909/10/04/archives/marriage-announcement-1-no-title.html|title=Marriage Announcement 1|date=October 4, 1909|newspaper=The New York Times}} Their son Bruce was born in Washington, D.C., on August 12, 1911. The couple also had a daughter named Velma,{{citation|title=Byron McCandless, Navy Commodore|date=June 4, 1967|newspaper=Washington Post and Times-Herald|page=B6}} born in Brooklyn, New York, on June 4, 1914.Mariposa Gazette and Miner; Vol. CXLIV, No. 5, 26 March 1998, pg. 13. Obituary of Velma May McCandless Ransom Overstreet. Date of death: 17 March 1998.

File:Byron McCandless 1915.jpg

Following his graduation from the United States Naval Academy in 1905, McCandless sailed with the Great White Fleet on the USS Maine.{{cite web|url=http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/i06000/i06227l.htm |title=Photo # NH 106227: USS Maine (Battleship #10) |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121103171922/http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/i06000/i06227l.htm |archive-date=2012-11-03 }} He was a gunnery and turret officer, and later became the flag lieutenant and aide to Rear Admiral Charles J. Badger, the commander of the Atlantic Fleet. When Admiral William S. Benson became the first Chief of Naval Operations in 1915, he chose McCandless to be on his three-person staff.{{citation|title=The War Chiefs of the Navy|last1=Page|first1=Walter Hines|last2=Page|first2=Arthur|author-link1=Walter Hines Page|author-link2=Arthur W. Page|periodical=World's Work|page=412|date=August 1915|volume=XXX|issue=4|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=N69E9klDugUC&pg=RA2-PA412|publisher=Doubleday, Page & Co.}} Later, McCandless also became an aide to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels.{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010509012540/http://users.erols.com/sharpb/ff1084/byronm.html|archive-date=May 9, 2001|url=http://users.erols.com/sharpb/ff1084/byronm.html|title=Personal History of Commodore Byron McCandless (1881-1967)}}{{cite web|url=http://www.homeofheroes.com/a_homepage/community/misc/mccandless_family.htm|title=The McCandless Family's Contribution to America|publisher=HomeOfHeroes.com|access-date=2009-08-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140226152223/http://www.homeofheroes.com/a_homepage/community/misc/mccandless_family.htm|archive-date=2014-02-26|url-status=dead}}

During World War I, McCandless commanded the destroyer USS Caldwell, and was awarded the Navy Cross. His citation read:{{cite web|url=http://www.militarytimes.com/citations-medals-awards/recipient.php?recipientid=9786|title=Valor awards for Byron McCandless|publisher=MilitaryTimes.com|access-date=2009-08-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120229141558/http://www.militarytimes.com/citations-medals-awards/recipient.php?recipientid=9786|archive-date=2012-02-29|url-status=dead}}

{{blockquote|For distinguished service in the line of his profession as commanding officer of the USS Caldwell, engaged in the important, exacting and hazardous duty of patrolling the waters infested with enemy submarines and mines, in escorting and protecting vitally important convoys of troops and supplies through these waters, and in offensive and defensive action, vigorously and unremittingly prosecuted against all forms of enemy naval activity.}}

After the war, McCandless was the executive officer on the battleship USS Kansas. He later commanded the USS Parrott from 1921 to 1923,{{cite web|url= http://www.navsource.net/archives/05/218.htm|title=USS Parrott (DD-218)|website=NavSource}}{{cite web|url=http://www.geocities.com/scs028a/1923NavForEur.html|title=Naval Forces Europe and Special Services Squadron, July 1, 1923|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091022105706/http://geocities.com/scs028a/1923NavForEur.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2009-10-22}} the oiler USS Brazos in 1927-28, and the cruiser USS Raleigh. McCandless also commanded Destroyer Division 30 and served as the Operations Officer for Destroyer Squadrons of the Scouting Fleet.

McCandless attended the Naval War College, then became the Director of the Training Division in the Navy's Bureau of Navigation, and later headed the Branch Hydrographic Office in Boston. After completing another course at the Naval War College, he served as the Chief of Staff for Destroyers, Battle Force, from 1935 to 1937.

McCandless became the commanding officer of the Destroyer Base, San Diego, in January 1937. He was transferred to the retired list on June 30, 1940, but remained on active duty and in command. He oversaw an expansion in scope of the base, adding fleet training schools and an amphibious force training unit, and accordingly it was renamed the Repair Base, San Diego, in 1942. Helped by the addition of several floating dry docks, between 1943 and 1945 the base performed conversion, overhaul, maintenance and battle damage repair to more than 5,000 ships. He remained the commander until the end of the war, leaving on September 8, 1945.{{cite web|url=https://cnrsw.cnic.navy.mil/Installations/NAVBASE-San-Diego/|title=Naval Base San Diego History|author=CNIC|author-link=Commander, Navy Installations Command (United States)}} For his service at the base, McCandless was awarded the Legion of Merit. He retired on September 25, 1946.

File:Jeheemy.jpg

During his career, McCandless made several inventions. One of them was the "Jeheemy", an apparatus used to salvage landing craft swamped and stranded on invasion beachheads. It consisted of portable crane hauled along the beach by a tractor.{{cite book|title=Dictionary of Naval Terms|first=Thomas J.|last=Cutler|year=2005|volume=23|edition=6|page=123|publisher=Naval Institute Press|isbn=978-1-59114-150-1}}{{cite book|title=Skill in the Surf: A Landing Boat Manual|chapter=The Salvage Boat|chapter-url=http://ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ref/SurfSkill/SurfSkill-8.html|url= http://ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ref/SurfSkill/index.html|date=February 1945|publisher=United States Navy}} McCandless also patented several other inventions, including a camera and other photographic equipment, a projection system, and a portable lamp.One patent was filed in 1927; the others were all filed on August 31, 1931. The patent numbers are 1695382 (a camera), 1870687 (portable lamp), 1900020 (photocopying apparatus), 1901182 (portable display screen), 1925149 (projector), and 1960254 (photographic apparatus).

McCandless developed in interest in flags, a field later called vexillology, and in 1917 was described by National Geographic Magazine as the "foremost flag expert of the United States Government and probably the leading authority in the world on flag usages among maritime nations". McCandless authored almost the entire October 1917 issue of National Geographic, their "Flag Number", depicting nearly 1200 world flags in color and including a history of the American flag.{{cite book|title=Flags of the World|last1=McCandless|first1=Byron|last2=Grosvenor|first2=Gilbert|author-link2=Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor|publisher=National Geographic Society|year=1917|url=https://archive.org/stream/flagsofworld00mccarich#page/n15|oclc=2826771|page=284}}

In 1923, McCandless discovered the 1779 Dutch sketches of the Serapis flag in the records of the Chicago Historical Society, removing any doubt as to what the flags actually looked like.{{cite book|title=The History of The United States Flag|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofunited00quai|url-access=registration|last1=Quaife|first1=Milo M.|last2=Weig|first2=Melvin J.|last3=Appleman|first3=Roy E.|year=1961|page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofunited00quai/page/38 38]|publisher=Harper & Row|location=New York}} The paintings were part of the Gunther collection, which was uncategorized at the time.

File:USPresidentialSeal1915Print.jpg

In 1915, Woodrow Wilson decided to design a new flag for the presidency, replacing the separate flags then in use by the Army and the Navy. McCandless, the Aide to the Secretary of the Navy at the time, participated in the discussions along with Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt and Assistant Secretary of War Henry Breckinridge. McCandless suggested a design which added four stars to the Navy's version (which used the Great Seal on a blue background), as this would be enough to distinguish it from the Army infantry flag. McCandless then met with Wilson to demonstrate the proposed design; Wilson liked it but wanted to use the eagle from the presidential seal instead. This became the final design, and Wilson issued Executive Order 2390 on May 29, 1916, to officially define it.{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/stream/TheEagleAndTheShield/The%20Eagle%20and%20the%20Shield#page/n479|title=The Eagle and the Shield: A History of the Great Seal of the United States|last1=Patterson|first1=Richard Sharpe|last2=Dougall|first2=Richardson|publisher= Washington : Office of the Historian, Bureau of Public Affairs, Dept. of State : for sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S. Govt. Print. Off.|date=1978|orig-year=1976 i.e. 1978|series=Department and Foreign Service series ; 161 Department of State publication ; 8900|lccn=78602518|oclc=4268298|pages=434–7}}

In March 1945, Franklin Roosevelt wondered if the four stars were still appropriate, given the creation of the five-star Fleet Admiral and General of the Army ranks during World War II. Despite initial responses which recommended no change (the stars were not supposed to be indicative of rank), Roosevelt persisted and had a message sent to his old colleague McCandless, by this time a Commodore and commanding the Naval Repair Base in San Diego. Roosevelt died on April 12 before McCandless could reply, but Truman still expressed interest, so on May 29 McCandless sent a long letter containing a history of the President's flag, dozens of attachments and several recommendations for a redesign. McCandless primarily suggested using four six-pointed stars, each made up with twelve smaller stars. The six stars would indicate a higher rank, while the 48 total stars would represent the states. Truman (as a civilian) did not like the idea of designating rank, so instead requested a simple circle of 48 stars. McCandless accordingly made up a new drawing with this design. Further alterations (turning the eagle's head to its right, and changing the eagle to full color) were made by Arthur E. DuBois of the Heraldic Section of the Army's Office of the Quartermaster General (the forerunner of the Army Institute of Heraldry). This design was used for the presidential coat of arms, seal, and flag, and was officially defined with Executive Order 9646 issued on October 25, 1945. The accompanying press release discussed McCandless' role at length. It is still the current design for the presidential seal and flag, as the only changes since have been to add more stars after Alaska and Hawaii became states.[https://archive.org/stream/TheEagleAndTheShield/The%20Eagle%20and%20the%20Shield#page/n487 Patterson and Dougall, pp. 441-449]

In 1962, McCandless began writing an extensive book on the Flag of the United States in collaboration with Annapolis classmate Rear Admiral William R. Furlong, but died in 1967 well before the book was finished. Furlong continued working on the book, and in 1971 turned over more than a thousand pages to the Smithsonian Institution, the sponsor (Furlong himself died in 1976). Dr. Harold D. Langley of the Smithsonian eventually edited down the manuscript to a 260-page book, So Proudly We Hail: The History of the United States Flag, which was published in 1981.{{cite web|url=http://siarchives.si.edu/findingaids/FA97-007.htm|title= National Museum of History and Technology, Research Records, circa 1950-1971|publisher=Smithsonian Institution}} Scott Guenther, an author of another flag book in 1990, ranked it along with a few others as "seminal works of scholarship on the history of the American flag".{{cite book|title=The American Flag, 1777-1924|last=Guenter|first=Scott M.|year=1990|pages=17, 213|publisher=Fairleigh Dickinson University Press|isbn=978-0-8386-3384-7}}

Byron McCandless died on May 30, 1967, in Mariposa, California. In 1971, the frigate USS McCandless was named in honor of both Byron McCandless and his son, Rear Admiral Bruce McCandless (who died in 1968). There is also a street named after Commodore McCandless at the San Diego Naval Repair Base.

• {{cite book|title=The Harbor of St. Thomas|last=McCandless|first=Byron|year=1916|oclc=39488994}}
• {{cite book|title=Flags of the World|last1=McCandless|first1=Byron|last2=Grosvenor|first2=Gilbert|author-link2=Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor|publisher=National Geographic Society|date=October 1917|url=https://archive.org/details/flagsofworld00mccarich|oclc=2826771}}
• {{cite book|title=So Proudly We Hail: The History of the United States Flag|date=October 1981|last1=Furlong|first1=William Rea|last2=McCandless|first2=Byron|others=Edited by Harold D. Langley|publisher=Smithsonian Institution Press|isbn=978-0-87474-449-1|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/soproudlywehail00furl}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{Internet Archive author |sname=Byron McCandless}}

{{Navy Midshipmen athletic director navbox}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCandless, Byron}}

Category:1881 births

Category:1967 deaths

Category:United States Navy commodores

Category:Navy Midshipmen athletic directors

Category:Recipients of the Navy Cross (United States)

Category:Recipients of the Legion of Merit

Category:United States Naval Academy alumni

Category:People from Florence, Colorado

Category:United States Navy personnel of World War I

Category:United States Navy personnel of World War II

Category:Military personnel from Colorado