Moorer, Thomas, ADM

Born February. 9, 1912, in Mountt Willing, Alabama, Admiral Moorer graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1933. After completing naval aviation training at the Pensacola Naval Air Station in 1936, he flew with fighter squadrons based on the carriers Langley, Lexington and Enterprise. Adm. Moorer was serving with Patrol Squadron Twenty-Two at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, when the Japanese attacked in December 1941. His squadron subsequently participated in the Dutch East Indies Campaign in the Southwest Pacific where he flew numerous combat missions. Moorer received a Purple Heart after being shot down and wounded off the coast of Australia in February 1942 and then surviving an attack on the rescue ship, which was sunk by enemy action the same day. Moorer received the Distinguished Flying Cross for his valor three months later when he braved Japanese air superiority to fly supplies into and evacuate wounded out of the island of Timor. Tours afloat included operations officer aboard USS Midway and on the staff of Commander Carrier Division Four, Atlantic Fleet. Moorer commanded USS Salisbury Sound. Promoted to vice admiral in 1962, Moorer took command of the Seventh Fleet, and in June 1964 became commander in chief of the Pacific Fleet as a full admiral. One year later, he took command of NATO?s U.S. Atlantic Command and the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, becoming the first naval officer to command both the Pacific and Atlantic Fleets. President Johnson appointed him chief of naval operations in 1967, and after serving almost three years, President Nixon selected him to be chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff--the first naval officer to hold this position in 13 years. On July 2, 1974, Adm. Moorer retired from active duty. At his retirement ceremony, a second Department of Defense Distinguished Service Medal was presented by Secretary of Defense James R. Schlesinger for extraordinary performance of duty and exceptional achievement as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from January 1973 to June 1974. In this citation, the secretary of defense said, "I particularly note that Tom Moorer has always put his country's interests before anything else, and it is this quality I recognize in presenting him the only oak leaf cluster ever given to the Defense Distinguished Service Medal."