THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 14, 1996 TAG: 9606120111
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY REBECCA MYERS CUTCHINS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 59 lines
Although it has been occupied for several months, the newest barracks at Portsmouth's Naval Hospital was named last Friday in memory of a Virginia native who earned the Medal of Honor in 1906.
Called Shacklette Hall, the co-ed barracks has 156 rooms that house 312 people who either work at the hospital or attend the Naval School of Health Sciences, said Lt. Merritt Allen, public affairs officer of Naval Medical Center Portsmouth. The barracks is the third on the hospital grounds.
The building was named after William Sidney Shacklette, a native of Delaplane, Va., who served as a hospital corpsman in the Navy after enlisting in 1902.
Shacklette received the medal for treating fellow shipmates after a boiler explosion on board the Navy gunboat Bennington in 1905. The explosion killed 60 sailors, and 40 others sustained serious steam burns.
The blast left Shacklette with third-degree burns that resulted in his medical discharge from the Navy in 1906, according to Master Chief Larry East, 48, a hospital corpsman with 29 years of service.
East did the research that led to the naming of the barracks after a Medal of Honor recipient from Virginia. A former hospital commander, Adm. William J. McDaniel, made the final decision.
``Then once we decided on who, we had to get approval from the chief of Naval Operations to do this,'' East said, ``and they granted that permission.''
With help from his wife, East tracked down Shacklette's descendants and invited them to last week's ceremony. Shacklette's son, daughter, two grandsons, a great-grandson and a nephew attended the dedication.
``My wife is pretty smart when it comes to trying to track down folks,'' East said, ``and she had a brilliant idea.''
The Easts went to the public library in Virginia Beach and researched all of the Shacklettes on a CD-ROM that contains current directory listings of phone numbers and addresses in the United States.
``And, by golly, William Sidney (Shacklette Jr.) was listed,'' East said of Shacklette's 81-year-old son, whom East learned was living in Florida.
After the elder Shacklette was discharged from the Navy in 1906, he completed seminary studies and returned to active duty as an Army chaplain during World War I. At the end of the war, he left the Army but continued his ministry.
While serving as rector of a church in Washington, D.C., Shacklette was nominated to serve as chaplain of the U.S. Senate but did not receive the appointment.
In retirement, Shacklette lived in Eustis, Fla. He died in 1945 at the Naval Hospital in St. Petersburg, Fla. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by VICKI CRONIS
William S. Shacklette Jr., right, stands at attention as the colors
are retired, ending the dedication of the Portsmouth Naval Medical
Center's newest barracks, Shacklette Hall, named after Shacklette's
late father. by CNB