Ernest George Rouse Jr.

ENSIGN ERNEST GEORGE ROUSE JR. was born in Camden NJ to Ernest George and Augusta Weber Rouse on August 12, 1924. The couple live at 1260 Atlantic Avenue, the home of Mrs. Rouse's parents, Charles and Augusta Weber. In 1930 the elder Rouse worked as an electrician's helper at a radio factory, while Mr. Weber, then 65, was still working as a cigar maker.

An only child, Ernest Rouse graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School on Federal Street in Camden in 1941. While at school he was the class treasurer, a member of the track team, and he received a trophy as the outstanding member of the 1941 football team. 

He continued in the sport with the local Camden Wildcats in the 1942 football season., while working for the Penn Mutual Insurance Company.

Ernest Rouse signed up for the Navy V-5 pilot training program, and received his wings and his commission as an Ensign on December 12, 1944 while stationed at Pensacola Naval Air Station in Pensacola FL. He was later stationed at the Naval Air Station in Alameda CA, near Oakland.

While on a test flight of a Navy fighter plane, Ensign Ernest George Rouse Jr. was killed in a crash on September 24, 1945 in Alameda County CA. He had recently written home that he had signed separation papers in order to leave the service. His death was reported in the September 26, 1945 evening edition of the Camden Courier-Post. His funeral was held in the Camden area on October 4, 1945. Ernest Rouse was survived by his mother and father, parents, who remained in the Camden area until they both passed away in 1990.

Camden Courier-Post
September 26, 1944

Naval Air Station
Alameda, CA.

"Control Tower"
Building 19

On November 1, 1940, Naval Air Station Alameda was commissioned.

In 1967, following the death of Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, the Navy named the airfield at NAS Alameda, "Nimitz Field", in his honor.