This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Shaun Thomas (Underdog), OSC
to remember
Turner, Richmond Kelly, ADM USN(Ret).
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Contact Info
Home Town Portland, OR
Last Address Monterey, CA
Date of Passing Feb 13, 1961
Location of Interment Golden Gate National Cemetery (VA) - San Bruno, California
Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz (U.S. Naval Academy, 1905) had long worked with Admiral Raymond Spruance (U.S. Naval Academy, 1906) and made him the air boss at Midway. He was the pre-eminent carrier strategist of the Pacific. Turner (U.S. Naval Academy, 1906) won Nimitz' admiration for leading amphibious groups throughout the Pacific during the war and Charles Lockwood (U.S. Naval Academy, 1908) was a submariner, like Nimitz, and became Commander Submarine Force, Pacific (COMSUBPAC) in February 1943 which force crushed the Japanese Merchant Fleet.
Nimitz had enormous respect and appreciation for each of these men and wanted them all to be together. They had been friends and shipmates for forty years. Their wives had been supportive and friends also.
Thus, their grave sites perfectly aligned in the first row along the street bearing Nimitz's name –Nimitz Drive. This is a unique tribute to each of these Californians.
Other Comments:
USS Richmond K. Turner (DLG-20 / CG-20) was a Leahy-class cruiser destroyer leader in the United States Navy. The ship was named for AdmiralRichmond K. Turner.
Navy Cross
Awarded for Actions During World War II
Service: Navy
Division: Task Force Tare
General Orders: Commander in Chief Pacific: Serial 022004 (October 3, 1942)
Citation:
"The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Rear Admiral Richmond Kelly Turner (NSN: 0-6312), United States Navy, for extraordinary heroism and distinguished service in the line of his profession as Commander, Task Force TARE, during the Amphibious landings in the Solomon Islands on 7 August 1942.
...
He, in spite of much enemy opposition and under repeated severe air attack, led his force with great courage and determination and was successful not only in carrying the initial attack through to complete victory but in landing supplies and equipment so that the objectives captured could be held and used in further operations against the enemy. His conduct throughout was in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service."
World War II/Asiatic-Pacific Theater/Okinawa Gunto Operation
From Month/Year
March / 1945
To Month/Year
June / 1945
Description The Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg. was fought on the Ryukyu Islands of Okinawa and was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific War of World War II. The 82-day-long battle lasted from early April until mid-June 1945. After a long campaign of island hopping, the Allies were approaching Japan, and planned to use Okinawa, a large island only 340 mi (550 km) away from mainland Japan, as a base for air operations on the planned invasion of Japanese mainland (coded Operation Downfall). Four divisions of the U.S. 10th Army (the 7th, 27th, 77th, and 96th) and two Marine Divisions (the 1st and 6th) fought on the island. Their invasion was supported by naval, amphibious, and tactical air forces.
The battle has been referred to as the "typhoon of steel" in English, and tetsu no ame ("rain of steel") or ("violent wind of steel") in Japanese. The nicknames refer to the ferocity of the fighting, the intensity of kamikaze attacks from the Japanese defenders, and to the sheer numbers of Allied ships and armored vehicles that assaulted the island. The battle resulted in the highest number of casualties in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Based on Okinawan government sources, mainland Japan lost 77,166 soldiers, who were either killed or committed suicide, and the Allies suffered 14,009 deaths (with an estimated total of more than 65,000 casualties of all kinds). Simultaneously, 42,000–150,000 local civilians were killed or committed suicide, a significant proportion of the local population. The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki together with the Soviet invasion of Manchuria caused Japan to surrender less than two months after the end of the fighting on Okinawa.