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Shaun Thomas (Underdog), OSC
to remember
Lee, Willis Augustus, Jr., VADM.
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Contact Info
Home Town Natlee, KY
Date of Passing Aug 25, 1945
Location of Interment Arlington National Cemetery (VLM) - Arlington, Virginia
In early 1942, following his promotion to the rank of Rear Admiral, Lee became Assistant Chief of Staff to the Commander in Chief, U.S. Fleet. In August 1942, Rear Admiral Lee was sent to the Pacific to command a battleship division.
Flying his flag on the battleship Washington, he was active throughout the Guadalcanal Campaign and led his force to victory over a Japanese surface group in the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal on the night of November 14, 1942. The victory ended Japanese attempts to reinforce their troops on Guadalcanal, and thus marked a turning point in both the Guadalcanal Campaign and the Pacific War. He was later promoted and placed in charge of the Pacific Fleet's fast battleships.
In May 1945, he was sent to the Atlantic to command a special unit researching defenses against the Kamikaze threat. While serving in that position on August 25, 1945, Vice Admiral Willis A. Lee died suddenly after suffering a heart attack.
Death and Burial
Willis Augustus Lee Jr. died of a heart attack on 25 August 1945 in Casco Bay, Maine. During his career, he was awarded the Navy Cross, two Distinguished Service Medals and the Legion of Merit. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, Section: 6, Site: 5691 on 28 August 1945.
Other Comments:
NAME SAKE
U.S.S. Willis A. Lee (DL-4)
Early Life
Willis Augustus Lee Jr. was born on 11 May 1888 in Natlee, Owen County, Kentucky. His nickname was “Mose”. His father, Willis Augustus Lee Sr., born 20 February 1852 in Owen County, Kentucky, died 3 December 1931 in Owenton, Owen County, Kentucky, was a Lawyer.
His mother, Susan Ireland "Susie" Arnold was born on 12 February 1855 in Owen County, Kentucky and died on 5 October 1913 in Owen County, Kentucky. Willis’ parents were married in 1880. Willis was the third of four children in the family; he had two older sisters and one younger sister.
On 14 July 1919 in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, he married Mabelle Allen Elspeth, born about 1898 in Illinois, died 1949. They had no children.
Military
From Find-A-Grave.com
Willis Augustus Lee Jr. graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1908. Over the next two decades, he served on several ships and on shore duty as an inspector of ordnance, while also representing the Navy in rifle competitions.
He was Commanding Officer of three destroyers during the 1920s and attended the Naval War College late in that decade. During the 1930s and early 1940s, Lee was several times assigned to the Fleet Training Division, commanded the light cruiser Concord, and served on the staff of Commander, Cruisers, Battle Force.
This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see https://www.storiesbehindthestars.org/). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Together We Served and Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smartphone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen person's name and read his/her story.
If you have any details, photos, or corrections for this story, please email me by clicking on my name. CDR Robert "Red" Mulvanny-Contributing Author, Stories Behind the Stars
Mariana and Palau Islands Campaign (1944)/Battle of Tinian
From Month/Year
July / 1944
To Month/Year
August / 1944
Description The Battle of Tinian was a battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II, fought on the island of Tinian in the Mariana Islands from 24 July until 1 August 1944. The 9,000-man Japanese garrison was eliminated, and the island joined Saipan and Guam as a base for the Twentieth Air Force.
The 4th Marine Division landed on 24 July 1944, supported by naval bombardment and marine artillery firing across the strait from Saipan. With the help of Seabee ingenuity the Marines were able to land where the Japanese did not expect, along the Northwest coast with its water's edge small coral cliffs. A successful feint for the major settlement of Tinian Town diverted defenders from the actual landing site on the north of the island. They withstood a series of night counterattacks supported by tanks, and the 2nd Marine Division landed the next day.
The weather worsened on 28 July, damaging the pontoon causeways, and interrupting the unloading of supplies. By 29 July, the Americans had captured half the island, and on 30 July the 4th Marine Division occupied Tinian Town and Airfield No. 4.
Japanese remnants made a final stand in the caves and ravines of a limestone ridge on the south portion of the island, making probes and counterattacks into the Marine line. Resistance continued through 3 August, with some civilians murdered by the Japanese.
Aftermath
By 10 August 1944, 13,000 Japanese civilians were interned, but up to 4,000 were dead through suicide, murdered by Japanese troops or killed in combat. The garrison on Aguijan Island off the southwest cape of Tinian, commanded by Lieutenant Kinichi Yamada, held out until the end of the war, surrendering on 4 September 1945. The last holdout on Tinian, Murata Susumu, was captured in 1953.
After the battle, Tinian became an important base for further Allied operations in the Pacific campaign. Camps were built for 50,000 troops. Fifteen thousand Seabees turned the island into the busiest airfield of the war, with six 7,900-foot (2,400 m) runways for attacks by United States Army Air Forces B-29 Superfortress bombers on enemy targets in the Philippines, the Ryukyu Islands, and mainland Japan, including the March 9/10 1945 Operation Meetinghouse firebombing of Tokyo and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. North Field was built over Airfields No. 1 and 3, and became operational in February 1945, while West Field was built over Airfield No. 2, and became operational in March 1945.
