April 13, 1978
Picture #1 – Rear Admiral Lockhart and wife, photographed when they lived in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Picture #2 – 223 West Tiffin Street where Lockharts lived for many years when Robert and his brother Bill were boys.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is another in the series of article that will appear from time-to-time about people who grew up in Fostoria, and experiences successful careers in their chosen profession
All the successful people in this country do not come from the metropolitan areas. In fact, statistics show that a large proportions come from rural areas.
Today’s story is about another Fostorian who was born and reared here, and went on to become an admiral in the U.S. Navy.
Robert Green Lockhart was born in Fostoria January 10, 1902, to John W. and Laura (Green) Lockhart.
Older Fostorians will remember his father, John, as a former owner of the Fostoria Review, and after its sale as news editor of the Daily Times.
“Bob” Lockhart, as he was known to Fostorians, graduated from Fostoria High School in 1919 and from the United States Naval Academy in 1924.
He received aviation training at the Naval Base at Pensacola Florida; and subsequently was stationed at many bases around the United States and in foreign countries. He was at Pearl Harbor at the time of the infamous attack by the Japanese.
During the second World War he was serving as navigation officer on the ill- fated Hornet when she was bombed and disabled after a suicide attack by Japanese dive bombers and torpedo planes in the South Pacific east of the Solomon Islands in October 1942. Lockhart and Rear Admiral Charles P. Mason were the last two men to abandon the Hornet.
Two months earlier, the Hornet was used by Jimmy Doolittle’s bombers for their attacks on Tokyo and the Japanese were out to “get” it, the “Shangri- La” base for the Tokyo attack.
Lockhart was a lieutenant commander aboard the battleship West Virginia and was a member of the admiral’s staff at Pearl Harbor when the Second World War broke out. He was named executive officer of the Alameda (California) Naval Air Base after the sinking of the Hornet. Later he was promoted to the rank of captain and was named commander of the U.S. Navy Air Training Field, Olathe, Kansas.
At the close of the war, Lockhart became naval attaché to the United States Embassy in Copenhagen, Denmark, where he remained until 1955, after which he was retired from the Navy with rank of admiral, having served his country for 36 years.
In 1955, he became a consultant for the Rand Corporation of Santa Monica, California, and remained their until 1965, when he retired.
Rear Admiral Lockhart passed away at the Balboa Navy Hospital at San Diego, California, in 1970.
His wife Ina Katherine (Van Gundia), to whom he was married in 1926, resides at Rancho Santa Fe, California.
This story would not be complete with a “local” touch.
Lockhart was graduated from FHS with the 1919 class which produced several young people who became successful in their chosen careers.
Opposite the photo in the Red and Black Annual for that year, appeared the quote…”I want to be a sailor, a sailor, a sailor”. And so he became… notably too. He was vice-president of his high school class, and on the Red and Black staff.
The Lockhart family lived at 223 W. Tiffin Street. The house still stands, unaltered, but now painted red, and occupied by the Donald Watkins family.
Many Fostorians do not know that Gerlock Drive, extending north from Culbertson Street was layed out and developed by John W. Lockhart and Fred Gerlinger. As previously stated, Lockhart was a newspaper man, and Gerlinger was a business man and connected with Ohio Savings and Loan.
The other member of the Lockhart family…all of them upstanding and well- liked citizens.