This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Michael Kohan (Mikey), ATCS
to remember
Moorer, Thomas, ADM.
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Contact Info
Last Address Mt. Willing
Date of Passing Feb 05, 2004
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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."
Puget Sound (AV-13) was laid down on 10 April 1943 by Todd Shipyards Corp., San Pedro, Calif.; renamed Salisbury Sound on 5 June 1944; launched on18 June 1944; sponsored by Mrs. John D. Price; and commissioned on 26 November 1945, Capt. Doyle G. Donaho in command.
After shakedown, Salisbury Sound departed San Diego on 12 February 1946 and commenced her first of 19 deployments to the western Pacific, where she served during a portion of every year from 1946 through 1966. The seaplane tender operated at Okinawa, Shanghai, and Tsingtao from March through October 1946. From April into September 1947, she voyaged Okinawa, Tsingtao, and Guam; and later, from May into September 1948, she sailed to Yokosuka, Tsingtao, and Shanghai. Upon completion of several west coast operations in 1949, she steamed to Hong Kong later that year and returned to San Diego on 13 June 1950.
On 26 July 1950, soon after Communist forces invaded South Korea, Salisbury Sound sailed from San Diego. After delivering cargo to Yokosuka and Okinawa, she tended planes at Iwakuni, Japan, and at Okinawa from September into December. Her planes performed reconnaissance work in the Korean area and in the Taiwan Strait. After returning to San Diego on 31 March 1951, she sailed on 1 August, and served at Boko Ko in the Pescadores Islands, at Okinawa, and at Iwakuni, before returning to San Diego on 16 April 1952. Departing Long Beach on 15 August, she again tended planes at Okinawa, before arriving at Alameda, Calif., on 25 March 1953.
From 1954 through 1966, Salisbury Sound operated frequently at Okinawa, and also at Taiwan and Luzon. She served as flagship of the Formosa Patrol Force during the evacuation of the Tachen Islands in February 1955. Effective 1 August 1963, her homeport was changed from San Francisco, Calif., to Whidbey Island, Wash. Voyaging to Vietnam, she visited Saigon from 1 to 4 June 1964. She steamed to Danang, Con Son Island, and Cu Lao Cham Island in 1965, and to Cam Ranh Bay in 1966. Decommissioned on 31 March 1967, she was transferred to the Maritime Administration on 3 July 1968 and entered the National Defense Reserve Fleet, Olympia, Wash., where she remained until sold to Ziddell Explorations, Inc., of Portland, Oreg., on 7 February 1972.
Salisbury Sound received four campaign stars for Vietnam service.