MEMBER  OF  GOLDEN  THIRTEEN

The Navy has practiced racial discrimination from time to time, and prior to World War II, African Americans were prohibited from becoming commissioned officers.  In June 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt issued an executive order prohibiting ethnic discrimination by federal agencies.  In January 1944, in response to pressure from First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and the Secretary of the Navy, the Navy began an officer training course for sixteen African American men who were serving as enlisted men.  In spite of efforts to prohibit all of them to succeed, all sixteen passed the course, but for reasons which have never been explained, only twelve of the men were commissioned on February 24, 1944, as Ensigns and one as a Warrant Officer.  The group has since been identified as the “Golden Thirteen”.

Frank Ellis Sublett Jr. was a member of the Golden Thirteen.  He was born March 5, 1920, in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.  At an early age his family moved to Illinois where he attended grade school.  He later completed three years of college studies, beginning his study at the University of Wisconsin and then transferring to George Williams College in Chicago.  On July 7, 1942, Sublett enlisted in the Naval Reserve and commenced active duty.  After recruit training he received training to became a machinist’s mate.  He was reportedly assigned to a Navy machine shop in Boston where he worked on sonar equipment, assisted in repairing equipment on auxiliary patrol craft, and attained the rate of machinist’s mate first class.  In 1944 he was transferred to Great Lakes for officer training.  Following his commissioning as ensign he was assigned to the Naval Local Defense Forces, San Francisco, and was also assigned to the Port Director’s Office, Twelfth Naval District.  In addition, he served as executive officer of a yard oiler at San Francisco.  On July 1, 1945, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant junior grade and briefly deployed as the Executive Officer of a stevedore battalion at Naval Operating Base, Eniwetok, Marshall Islands.  He was released from active duty on February 11, 1946, but remained a member of the Naval Reserve until his honorable discharge on October 27, 1952.  After leaving the service, Sublett worked for several years as a service manager for a Buick automobile dealership in Chicago until later becoming a professional model.  Sublett died September 27, 2006, at the age of 86 and is buried at Saint Joseph’s Catholic Cemetery in Holcombe, Wisconsin, where his burial marker carries the inscription: GOLDEN THIRTEEN – LTJG - US NAVY – WORLD WAR II.  He was survived by his wife.

                                            GREAT LAKES, IL - 3/17/1944

NOTE:  In 2024, H.R. 8008, the Golden Thirteen Congressional Gold Medal Act, was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives to posthumously award the Congressional Gold Medal to the Golden Thirteen in recognition of their contributions to the country.  The bill successfully passed the House on April 15, 2024, but as of this writing (June 2025) the bill has not yet been passed by the U.S. Senate and therefore, has not been enacted into law.

Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)