Captain William J Caspari, USN (Ret)

Captain William J Caspari, USN (Ret) died in Escondido, CA on 17 September 1998 where he had been a resident for 20 years. There were no services, but his ashes were scattered at sea as he requested. 

Bill was born in Emporia, KS on 9 October 1916. He graduated from the Naval Academy with the class of 1940. 

His first duty after graduation was the fleet flagship PENNSYLVANIA. He was present when the ship was damaged at Pear Harbor, and from  PENNSYLVANIA, he joined the destroyer Navy, progressing during his 14 months aboard LAUB from gunnery officer to exec. Next cam a lucky break of Bill to command the old four-piper BABBIT in December 1943. He then took command of EDSON and returned to the Pacific. 

After the war, Bill became Flag Secretary and Aide to RADM S. S. Murray at the Military Advisory Group, Nanking China. Bill married Ruth Stone back in 1940, and they both thoroughly enjoyed the tour in China, taking in a great part of the countryside. After China, Bill took a postgraduate course in personnel administration and training at Stanford University, then went to Norfolk for a year as Office-in-Charge of Instructors School. Bill was off to sea again in command of MACOMB in the Atlantic, and this tour was followed by a year in command of Leonard  F. Mason in the Korean area. 

Next came three years in BuPers, a yea at the Naval War College, and two-and-a-half years for Bill and Ruth on the French Rivera, when Bill was exec of SALEM and Flag Secretary to Commander Sith Fleet. In 1958, Bill took command of Destroyer Division 132 operating out of Long Beach and from there to OpNav. In March 1963, he commissioned the guided missile frigate ENGLAND as commanding officer. 

After 26-and-a-half years of enjoyable Navy duty, Bill and Ruth decided it was time to retire and try civilian life in the business world. He went to Sanders Associates, Inc., in September 1966 and retried from that company in February 1982, remaining home in Rancho Bernardo, near San Diego.