Harold Van Buskirk
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Harold Van Buskirk (February 20, 1894 – October 25, 1980) was an American
architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
and
fencing Fencing is a combat sport that features sword fighting. It consists of three primary disciplines: Foil (fencing), foil, épée, and Sabre (fencing), sabre (also spelled ''saber''), each with its own blade and set of rules. Most competitive fe ...
champion, and a three-time member of the US Olympic fencing team. During World War I, he was the officer in charge of the
US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
Camouflage Section, which designed and tested
camouflage Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the b ...
for American ships, both military and civilian (Van Buskirk 1919).


Early years

Born in
Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
, his birth name was Charles Harold Van Buskirk. He attended college at the
University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...
, where he earned a BS in architecture in 1915, and fenced for the University of Pennsylvania Quakers.


Camouflage service

During World War I, Van Buskirk was a lieutenant in the US Naval Reserve Force. Initially connected with the Submarine Defense Association, in March 1918 he was put in charge of the Camouflage Section, a newly formed government unit within the
Bureau of Construction and Repair The Bureau of Construction and Repair (BuC&R) was the part of the United States Navy which from 1862 to 1940 was responsible for supervising the design, construction, conversion, procurement, maintenance, and repair of ships and other craft for the ...
(Skerrett 1919:101). The Camouflage Section had two subsections, the Design Subsection (located in
Washington DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...
) and the Research Subsection (located at
Eastman Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company, referred to simply as Kodak (), is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in film photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorporated i ...
Laboratories in
Rochester, New York Rochester is a city in and the county seat, seat of government of Monroe County, New York, United States. It is the List of municipalities in New York, fourth-most populous city and 10th most-populated municipality in New York, with a populati ...
). The former, which was largely made up of artists, was led by a painter named
Everett L. Warner Everett Longley Warner (July 16, 1877 – October 20, 1963) was an American Impressionist painter and printmaker, as well as a leading contributor to US Navy camouflage during both World Wars. Early years Warner was born in the small town of Vi ...
, while the latter, whose members where mostly scientists, was under the direction of Eastman Kodak's head physicist, Loyd A. Jones (Warner 1919:105-106). Van Buskirk was the executive head of the two subsections, which included making certain that the patterns produced by these units were being correctly adapted to merchant ships by civilian painters. The task of commissioning painters to apply
dazzle camouflage Dazzle camouflage, also known as razzle dazzle (in the U.S.) or dazzle painting, is a type of ship camouflage that was used extensively in World War I, and to a lesser extent in World War II and afterwards. Credited to the British marine art ...
patterns to the ships was given to a civilian agency, the
Emergency Fleet Corporation The Emergency Fleet Corporation (EFC) was established by the United States Shipping Board, sometimes referred to as the War Shipping Board, on 16 April 1917 pursuant to the Shipping Act (39 Stat. 729) to acquire, maintain, and operate merchant shi ...
(Van Buskirk 1919:227).


Fencing career

Van Buskirk's skills as a fencer led to his being a member of the US Olympic fencing team in
1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20–January 30, 30 – Kuomintang in Ch ...
,
1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly demonstrating that DNA is the genetic material. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris B ...
and
1932 Events January * January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel. * January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident (1932), Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort ...
, competing with the sabre. In 1927, he was the US National Champion with the épée. His wife Evelyn was also a fencing champion. In 1944, the Van Buskirks moved to
Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
, where he was a coach and instructor of fencing at
Rice University William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University, is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. Established in 1912, the university spans 300 acres. Rice University comp ...
for more than twenty years, and where, in 1968, the Van Buskirk Sabre Tournament was established. A member of the US Fencing Association (USFA) Hall of Fame, he died in Harris County, Texas, in 1980.


See also

*
USFA Hall of Fame The United States Fencing Association (USFA) is the national governing body for the sport of fencing in the United States. The USFA was founded in 1891 as the Amateur Fencers League of America (AFLA) by a group of New York fencers seeking indepe ...
*
Dazzle camouflage Dazzle camouflage, also known as razzle dazzle (in the U.S.) or dazzle painting, is a type of ship camouflage that was used extensively in World War I, and to a lesser extent in World War II and afterwards. Credited to the British marine art ...
*
Everett Warner Everett Longley Warner (July 16, 1877 – October 20, 1963) was an American Impressionist painter and printmaker, as well as a leading contributor to US Navy camouflage during both World Wars. Early years Warner was born in the small town of Vi ...
* Loyd A. Jones * William Mackay *
List of USFA Division I National Champions This is a list of USA Fencing (USFA) Division I national champions. The Division I National Championship in each weapon was contested at Summer Nationals until recently, when it started taking place during the April North American Cup. Men's Fen ...


Notes

*Everett L. Warner, “Fooling the Iron Fish: The Inside Story of Marine Camouflage” in ''Everybody’s Magazine'' (November 1919), pp. 102–109. *Robert G. Skerrett, “How We Put It Over on the Periscope” in ''The Rudder'' (March 1919), pp. 97–102; (April 1919), pp. 175–179. *Harold Van Buskirk, “Camouflage” in ''Transactions of the Illuminating Engineering Society'' 14 (July 21, 1919), pp. 225–232.


References


External links


WWI Ship Camouflage (includes Van Buskirk photographs)US Fencing Hall of Fame biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Buskirk, Harold 1894 births 1980 deaths 20th-century American architects American male épée fencers Olympic fencers for the United States Fencers at the 1924 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 1928 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 1932 Summer Olympics Fencers from Brooklyn Camoufleurs University of Pennsylvania alumni American male sabre fencers 20th-century American sportsmen