BLUE, WHO DISCOVERED CERVERA’S FLEET
Victor Blue, who in his uniform made the fearless expedition ashore at Santiago, and actually saw for the first time the Spanish fleet within the harbor, is the kind of a man who does not have very much to say for himself, which is often a sign that a person is to be found ready when wanted. He was a member of the class of ’87, in which his work was fair, but not remarkable in any way. He lived quietly, receiving his quota of good and bad marks, but having no special distinction, even in his offences against the oracles of Stribling Row.
He did not care much for “fems” (girls, in the vernacular), but towards his first class-year began to “take notice.” He played a guard on the “Hustlers,” the scrub football team which struggles with the “Academy” eleven on practice-days, but never made the “Team.” He had plenty of grit, but was too light for the centre and not active enough for the ends. Blue is a fair specimen of the type of men who without ostentation have made our new navy what it is. Many men envy him, but no man begrudges him his numbers recently awarded for “extraordinary heroism.”