Age 27. 106 Pennsylvania Avenue (Royal York Apartments) #607, Pittsburgh, PA. Born 4/26/1915, in Plainfield, NJ. Died of burns (death certificate). Ensign, U.S. Naval Reserve, studying at the Naval Training School (Communications) at Harvard University. To the club by taxi with Harvard military roommates John Albritton, Sr., age 28, of Montgomery, AL, dead, A. Perry Gordy, age 30 (Born 12/16/1911. Died 5/07/1983, age 71), of Columbus, GA, and L. Eugene Jessup, age 27 (Born 12/01/1914. Died as L. Eugene Jessup, Sr., on 11/19/1956, Georgia hunting accident, age 41), of Atlanta, GA, latter two survived, all naval ensigns. Ensign Gordy (letter to the Sunday Ledger-Enquirer, Columbus, GA, 12/06/1942): "After checking our hats and overcoats Albritton and Bauer saw some friends...The last we saw of our two roommates they were talking to these people." Was reported in the 12/04/1942 Boston Herald that he was heard to say (unnamed source): "This place is on fire. Take it easy and we'll get out of here." His cap was found on the street with other clothing thrown outside, scorched billfold near the Caricature Bar, contents intact. Was rumored wandering around dazed (due to a mistaken possible sighting) when his remains could not be located among the dead. Missing ensign was described as, "...5 feet 9 inches tall, blue eyed and with short clipped light brown hair that is almost blond" (Boston Evening American, 12/04/1942). Was later learned that the Navy had claimed but failed to remove his unidentified remains from Waterman's Funeral Home, Boston: "The body...was marked with a tag which had said it would be called for by the Navy" (Boston Traveler, 12/04/1942). Identification was made the following Friday at Southern Mortuary, Boston, through military dental charts and, "...the initials 'J.B.B.'...on a piece of underwear which was on the body..." (First Naval District inquest transcript, 12/07/1942). Six-day unexplained disappearance was colorfully observed by the 12/04/1942 Boston Daily Record as: "...one of the weirdest and most fantastic...of all the strange and ghastly happenings in the holocaust of Cocoanut Grove." Was single. Was a graduate of Yale University in 1938. Previously a salesman, George S. Daugherty Co. (wholesale grocers), of Pittsburgh. Was the final Grove fire victim (of 490) to be identified, six days post-blaze. Parents Mr. and Mrs. Alfred G., Jr., and Helen M. Bauer, same address. Burial at New Somerville Cemetery, Somerville, NJ. Middle name Bowlby.

‍