Duty
Rear Admiral Dean Lane Axene
United States Navy
World War II
After graduating from Upper Arlington High School in 1941, Dean Lane Axene attended the United States Naval Academy and commissioned as an Ensign in the naval submarine fleet.
During World War II, Axene served on two WWII war patrols, including the USS Parche, credited for sinking three Japanese ships. Axene’s career highlights include: Commissioning Executive Officer of the USS Nautilus; Commanding Officer of the USS Croaker and USS Thresher; and John C. Calhoun Blue Crew. He also served as Officer in Charge of the U.S. Navy’s Nuclear Power School, responsible for training enrollees on nuclear power plant operations of surface ships and submarines.
He attended the Senior Seminar in Foreign Policy at the State Department, which lead to assignments in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations and on the staff of the Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic. The Submarine Combat Control Patrol Pin, the Bronze Star Medal with Combat V and the Great Star of Military Merit from the government of Chile are just a few of the awards Axene received during his exemplary service in the U.S. Navy.
Upper Arlington Red Cross Unit
Signing up for service wasn’t the only way residents of Upper Arlington served during war times. Thirty-one members of the Upper Arlington Red Cross Unit marched in a parade held on June 30, 1918. Miss Katherine Carmack and Mrs. Warren A. Armstrong are shown standing beside the Red Cross parade banner in front of the H. W. Carmack home at 1740 Roxbury Road. The Upper Arlington Red Cross Unit evolved from “a little afternoon tea club” comprised of fewer than twelve women from Upper Arlington, Grandview, and Marble Cliff.
The club met regularly in the home of James T. Miller to sew garments for French orphans. In August 1917, they became the Upper Arlington Red Cross Unit under the leadership of Mrs. Ben Thompson. The twenty-six members of the unit met on Tuesday afternoons in her ballroom where they made several hundred kit bags, towels, hospital shirts, and pillowcases. In addition, they met at the Arlington Country Club where they prepared surgical dressings for the war effort. When World War I ended the unit decided to form a “club to continue the neighborly spirit and to discuss the needs and general welfare of the community.” They named the new organization the Norwester Women’s Club.