Rommel, Herbert Fox, Jr., CAPT

Captain Herbert F. Rommel, Jr., U.S.N. (Ret.)

Birth: Oct. 27, 1915
Lansdowne
Delaware County
Pennsylvania, USA
Death: Jun. 10, 2007, USA

Retired Navy Capt. Herbert F. Rommel Jr. died in his sleep, one day after he held his annual "Iris Party" in his garden on Bridge Street to celebrate the life of his late wife, who planted the garden. His wife, Mary Heins Rommel, to whom he was married for 56 years, died in March 2001. During his professional career, his 40 years in Newport, and through his hobby collecting naval ship covers he touched lives all over the world. When stamps commemorating ships are issued, they are canceled with a special cover. Rommel was trading online for them just a few days before he died. He was the son of the late Herbert Fox and Mary Cecelia Rommel and a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Evening School, Boston University and the Naval War College. His main career and passion were with the Navy, and he was a well-known veteran and sailor. Rommel enlisted in the Naval Reserve in 1934 as an apprentice seaman and was commissioned as an ensign in 1938. He reported for active duty aboard the battleship USS Oklahoma in 1940. He was on board the Oklahoma at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941, preparing to attend a pistol match when he heard the explosions. "I went to see what was going on," Rommel said in an interview published in Newport Life Magazine last winter. "As I reached the deck, I saw a plane with bright red balls beneath its wings fly right over me. The officer of the deck sounded air defense on the bugle. I ran aft toward the turret. On the way, I grabbed the intercom and announced over the loudspeaker, "This is a real air raid. This is no (expletive deleted)." Rommel went on to serve aboard the USS Gridley for the next three years of the war. During his war service, he collected 12 battle stars and a Bronze Star. He was promoted until he became the commander of the USS Wilkes at the end of the war. "That was the most damn fun I ever had," Rommel told friends. He was one of only four Naval Reserve officers to command a destroyer during World War II. He broke the tradition that only regular Navy men were allowed to drive. He first came to Newport after the war to attend General Line School, "to learn what I should have known during the war," he later said. After officers school, he became commanding officer of Naval Station Washington, D.C. During the next two decades, he commanded five different ships and enjoyed four tours of duty in Newport. When he retired in 1969, he moved here permanently. He and his wife bought Arnold Art, which they operated and where they established an art gallery. The Rommels acquired the building at 210 Thames St. where Arnold Art is currently located in the early 1970s, at about the time the Navy fleet pulled out of Newport. The art store is now being run by Rommel's son Bill. He served on the city's Zoning Board for 20 years. He has served as treasurer of Trinity Church, superintendent of the church's Sunday School, treasurer of Seamen's Church Institute and president of the Nina Lynette Home for assisted living on Washington Street. He was a member of the Rotary Club of Newport and founder of the Photographers Guild of the Newport Art Museum. He was a member of the Universal Ship Cancellation Society. He is a past commodore of the U.S. Naval Sailing Association, past commodore of the Coaster's Harbor Navy Yacht Club and member of the New York Yacht Club. He had been successful racing Rhodes 19 sailboats. "I am much blessed," he said in the magazine article. "I enjoyed a wonderful wife for 56 years, along with three children, seven grand-children, and six great-grandchildren." He was 91.

Family links:
Parents:
Herbert Fox Rommel (1883 - 1938)

Burial:
Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington
Arlington County
Virginia, USA
Plot: Sec 66 Site 6321