CAPTAIN  SLADE  DEVILLE  CUTTER
NAVY  HERO  AND  STAR  ATHLETE 
DEAD  IS  AT  93 – 13 June 2005

Captain SLADE DEVILLE CUTTER, one of the Navy's most highly decorated submarine captains of World War II and a star athlete at the United States Naval Academy in the 1930's, died on Thursday 9 June 2005 in Annapolis, Maryland, at the age of 93.

His death was announced by the United States Naval Academy Alumni Association and Foundation.Under Captain Cutter's command,  the submarine Seahorse sank 19 Japanese ships in 1943 and 1944. Captain Cutter was a four-time recipient of the Navy Cross, the service's highest award for valor after the Medal of Honor,  and also received two awards of the Silver Star and a Bronze Star. Throughout his long and distinguished naval career he was the recipient of a number of other military decorations and service medals, including three awards of the Legion of Merit, the Navy Commendation Medal and the Navy Achievement Medal.

He graduated from the Naval Academy in 1935,  then served aboard a battleship before entering submarine school. He was executive officer of the submarine Pompano on its Pacific patrols early in World War II, then became executive officer of the Seahorse and finally its commander in 1943.Slade Deville Cutter,  who grew up on an Illinois farm, became a star tackle at the Naval Academy and was remembered for kicking a first-quarter field goal in a heavy rain to give Navy a 3-0 victory over Army at Philadelphia in 1934, its first triumph over the Cadets in 13 years. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1967.

At 6 feet 1 inch and 215 pounds, he was the undefeated collegiate heavyweight boxing champion while at the academy, and he also played lacrosse.

"Sports makes you offensive-minded,"  he told The Baltimore Sun in 1943.  "After all,  this war is much like a game;  it's you against the other fellow."After World War II,  Captain Cutter had several seagoing assignments. He served as athletic director at the Naval Academy from 1957 to 1959 and commander of the Naval Training Center at Great Lakes, Illinois, from 1963 to 1964, then retired from the Navy in 1965 at the conclusion of a 30-year career.

He is survived by his second wife,  Ruth;  a son,  Slade Jr.,  of Austin, Texas;  a daughter,  Anne McCarthy of Santa Fe,  New Mexico; 
a sister, Louise Woodard of Portland, Oregon;  nine grandchildren;  and four great-grandchildren. His first wife,  Frances,  died in the 1980's.

Special to www.historicalmilitaria.com – 13 June 2005