Richard F. Outcault Jr. - New York, New York.

Army Rank: Corporal (1918).

Assigned Unit: 213^th Aero Squadron

Army Serial Number:

Inducted:

Promoted:

Army Discharge: 1919

Remarks:  Overseas Jan. 24, 1918 – 1919

Torpedoed on the Transport Tuscania Feb. 5, 1918

Address: 245 Madison Ave., New York, N.Y. (1918)

Address: Flossmoor, Illinois (1938)

Member of the Tuscania Survivors Association (1938)

Fathers Name: Richard F. Outcault (famous cartoonist)

Mothers Name: Mary Jane Outcault

Sister:  Mary Jane Outcault-Pershing

Wife: Marjorie Filer

Born: Dec. 2, 1892 Queens, New York

Died: Nov. 4, 1989 Huntington Beach, California (age 96)

Cemetery:

Plot:

My father related this story to me regarding his experience:

“When I boarded the ship in Hoboken, I was approached by one of the crew who said he thought that the ship was going to be torpedoed at some point in the crossing and that if I wanted his help in the event that it happened, he stated that we could come to an agreement, he would do all he could to help me. We agreed. The crewman showed me where his cabin was and said that if anything happened and I needed his help he would be waiting for me in his cabin.” Dad said he thought he was singled out by the crewmember because he was wearing a custom tailored uniform instead of the regular issue.

“The crossing was relatively routine with a few lifeboat drills and not much else. Then within sight of the coast of Scotland the ship was torpedoed. There was much confusion - however; I was able to make it to my lifeboat station only to find that the boat had been destroyed by the attack and that there weren’t any others available. Remembering my agreement with the crewmember I started for his cabin - at the other end of the ship. Soon they’re after all the lights in the passageways went out and I had to negotiate the passageway, the length of the ship, in complete darkness. After what seemed like a terribly long time I made it to the crewman’s cabin, opened the door and sure enough the man was sitting there waiting for him!” Dad said “Ok I’m ready lets go!” The man replied “don’t worry we have plenty of time.” As they sat together the crewman said,  “when we go up on deck you will see other ships circling around and when the time is right one will come along side and we will be able to jump off this ship onto the deck of another.” That was exactly what happened - when they went up on deck a ship was coming along side however; the seas were very rough and the two ships were banging together and bobbing up and down. The crewmember said “don’t jump until I tell you to and try to land exactly where I tell you to land. After a while the crewman said get ready, jump now!” The timing was perfect and Dad landed on the deck of the other ship as it was dropping away from the deck of the Tuscania and came in for a soft landing (or relatively so).

Dad said “many men were lost by jumping at the wrong time and being caught between the two ships.” After his rescue he was taken to England and then re-connected with his unit and went on to serve in the war.  He eventually went to France and served as an Airplane mechanic repairing Magnetos. Some time later he was wounded by an airplane propeller and spent some recovery time in England and then came home for discharge.

After the war he worked in his father’s advertising business, in Chicago and New York, that promoted products using the cartoon characters that his father had created (The Yellow Kid, Buster Brown and others) until his father’s death in 1928. He married in 1920 and after living in the Chicago area he and his family moved to Palm Springs, California in 1936 where he built, and operated a hotel with his brother in law, Frank Pershing until he retired in the late 1950’s. 

Peter Outcault

Jan. 4, 2008