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Kent Weekly (SS/DSV) (DBF), EMCS
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Street, George Levick, III, CAPT USN(Ret).
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Contact Info
Home Town Richmond, VA
Last Address Andover, MD
Date of Passing Feb 26, 2000
Location of Interment Arlington National Cemetery (VLM) - Arlington, Virginia
Wall/Plot Coordinates Section 7A, Site 130-B
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
Obituary in NYT- By Richard Goldstein,, March 5, 2000
Capt. George L. Street III, who won the Medal of Honor in World War II for directing a daring submarine attack that destroyed three Japanese ships off the coast of Korea, died Feb. 26, 2000 at a nursing home in Andover, Mass. He was 86.
George Levick Street III, a native of Richmond, Va., graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1937. He took part in war patrols on the submarine Gar before assuming command of the Tirante. After World War II, he held a variety of administrative and seagoing posts before retiring from the Navy in 1966 as a captain.
Serving as the skipper of the submarine Tirante, Street, then a lieutenant commander brought his boat into the Japanese anchorage off QuelpartIsland, a high, rocky spot containing an air base, in the early hours of April 14, 1945.
The waters, about 100 miles south of Korea, were heavily mined and the Japanese had radar-equipped patrol vessels off the island in addition to five shore-based radar stations.
But Street was determined to find Japanese ships and sink them. He approached the harbor on the surface at night, gun crews at their stations. If the submarine was detected, it would have to shoot its way out of trouble because the waters were too shallow for it to dive.
At 4 a.m., the Tirante fired torpedoes at a large ammunition ship.
"A tremendous, beautiful explosion," Street would write in his report. "A great mushroom of white blinding flame shot 2,000 feet into the air. Not a sound was heard for a moment, but then a tremendous roar flattened our ears against our heads. The jackpot, and no mistake!"
The explosions lighted up the harbor.
"In the glare of the fire, Tirante stood out in her light camouflage, like a snowman in a coal pit," Commander Street would report. "But, more important, silhouetted against the flame were two escort vessels, both instantly obvious as fine new frigates of the Mikura class. Steadied to pick off the two frigates."
The Tirante did just that, using two torpedoes to blow up one of the frigates and destroying the other one with one torpedo. Street then took the Tirante out of the harbor at full speed and dived, eluding depth charges from a pursuing patrol.
While the Tirante had been approaching the Japanese-held harbor, it had received word over its radio of the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the ascension to the presidency of Harry S. Truman. A few hours after the Tirante completed its mission, it sent a message to the Pacific submarine command reading: "Three for Franklin ... Sank ammunition ship two escorts."
Street received the Medal of Honor from Truman at the White House on Oct. 6, 1945, and was a recipient of the Navy Cross. He was decorated a second time by Truman in December1947, receiving a gold star in lieu of a second Silver Star for his actions in World War II.
Street's executive officer on the Tirante was Capt. Edward L. Beach, also a recipient of the Navy Cross, whose best-selling novel "Run Silent, Run Deep" (Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1955) drew on his experiences aboard the Tirante and other World War II submarines. Endicott Peabody, a future governor of Massachusetts, was a lieutenant on the Tirante.
Despite all his individual honors, Street was exceedingly proud of a collective award, the Presidential Unit Citation, which went to the Tirante for its overall combat record. As Street put it, "I really treasure that more than the Medal of Honor because every man was there with us."
Description Tension in the Middle East began to increase in 1957, when it seemed as though Syria was about to fall to communism. Acting on his recent increased commitment to the region, and in order to protect neighboring Turkey, Iraq, and Jordan, President Eisenhower approved the deployment of USAF fighters from Germany to Adana. The crisis quickly abated, but set the stage for the next upheaval the following year in Lebanon.
Lebanese Moslems rebelled and rioted over fears that the delicate balance between Christianity and Islam in the Lebanese government was in peril. Adding to the regional tension, leftist Iraqi officers assassinated their nation's king and prime minister on 14 July 1958. This prompted the President of Lebanon and the King of Jordan to request military assistance from the US.
The purpose of Operation Blue Bat in Lebanon was to bolster the pro-Western Lebanese government of President Chamoun against internal opposition and threats from Syria and the United Arab Republic. The plan was to occupy and secure the Beirut International Airport, a few miles south of the city, then to secure the port of Beirut and approaches to the city. The operation involved approximately 14,000 men, including 8,509 Army personnel and 5,670 officers and men of the Marine Corps.
Army participation was conducted by USAREUR under the February 1958 revision of its Emergency Plan (EP) 201. The plan called for a task force (Army Task Force 201) to cope with any emergencies in the Middle East. The task force consisted of two airborne battle groups reinforced with minimum essential combat sand service support elements. The task force would comprise five echelons, four of which were actually committed to the operation in Lebanon.
While both Army and Marine forces were ordered to Lebanon on 15 July, only Marine units made assault landings. Army forces from USAREUR did not close in Beirut until 19 July. On this date, Force ALPHA, composed of 1 reinforced airborne battle group and the task force command group (1,720 personnel) arrived at Beirut by air. Since combat did not develop in Lebanon, Force BRAVO, a second airborne battle group and the advance headquarters of the task force (1,723 personnel) never left its station in Germany.
Force CHARLIE, containing combat, combat support and combat service units, left Germany by sea and air on 19 July and closed at Beirut by 25 July. According to EP 201, Force CHARLIE contained the main headquarters, the task force artillery (2 airborne batteries of 105-mm. howitzers), 1 section of a 762-mm. rocket battery, and the headquarters element-an airborne reconnaissance troop, an engineer construction company, the advance party of the task force support command, an evacuation hospital unit, elements of an airborne support group, and an Army Security Agency detachment. Political considerations subsequently eliminated the 762-mm rocket battery from the operations in Lebanon.
Force DELTA comprised the sea-tail of the airborne battle group, including 2 light truck companies, a section of a 762-mm. rocket battery, an engineer construction battalion (-), an antiaircraft artillery (AW) battery, technical service support units, and a military police unit. This echelon left Germany on 26 July and closed in Beirut from 3 to 5 August.
Force ECHO, a 90-mm. gun tank battalion, was to move by sea, according to EP 201. Its embarkation was delayed at Bremerhaven pending a decision whether to send one tank company or the entire battalion. Leaving Germany on 22-23 July, the echelon arrived at Beirut on 3 August 1958.
By 5 August, all major ATF-201 forces had reached Beirut and the bulk of their equipment and initial resupply had arrived or was en route. By 26 July, the Marines had deployed, in and around Beirut, four battalion landing teams and a logistical support group.
Besides authorizing the Navy's Sixth Fleet to conduct air operations and to land Marines in Beirut, the President ordered Tactical Air Command (TAC) Composite Air Strike Force Bravo to deploy from the US to Incirlik AB. The strike force, under command of Maj Gen Henry Viccellio, was in place by 20 July. It consisted of F-100s, B-57s, RF-101s, RB-66s, and WB-66s. These aircraft and supporting personnel overwhelmed the facilities at Incirlik, which also supported cargo and transport aircraft deploying an Army battalion from Germany to Lebanon. As no ground fighting involving Americans broke out, the strike force flew missions to cover troop movements, show-of-force missions over Beirut, aerial reconnaissance sorties, and leaflet drops. The Air Force had no tactical controllers in Lebanon, therefore the Navy established procedures for all tactical aircraft involved in the operation.
All operations had gone according to plan. Stable conditions were maintained until a new government was installed in Lebanon. American troops left in October, after the tension diminished.
The absence of opposition, and the underlying problem of whether such contingency forces should be supplied by USAREUR or STRAC in the United States, were factors in the Lebanon operation. The major logistical problems developed primarily from the non-combat status of the task force. The airlift of a Marine battalion from the continental United States to the objective area demonstrated that such a movement was both feasible and expeditious. It further pointed up the difficulty of reconciling the need for a USAREUR contingency force for the Middle East when STRAC was being maintained for this very purpose.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
January / 1958
To Month/Year
December / 1958
Last Updated: Mar 16, 2020
Personal Memories
Memories The following are some personal observations of Dick Kleva, USMC concerning his part in the Beirut Landing. "My Platoon did a pre landing over to the Spiegal Grove a landing ship dock. We then transferred to Amp Tracks and were the first to hit the beach. We were met by Natives in bathing suits and Bikinis, Capt Trowbridge our Company Commander told me to keep the landing area open. The local police would not let me cross the Macadam Road, so I sent the Amp tracks down the beach out of the way, and met Capt Trowbridge , When he landed with a vendor's Ice Cream Pop. We went up into the Mountains. We did get shot at which made it the biggest War I ever want to be in. The USS Fremont left us We stay there for about six weeks. we did motorized patrols along the syrian border. A squadren of marine fighter ad's flew support. A destroyer or light cruiser gave us navel gunfire support. We had engineers for map making and air navel gunfire officers in the convoy we were met in the villages by cheering lebanese people we tossed them candy and food from our c rations . I did heliocopter patrols when I wasn't on the ground patrol. We were under combat conditions for a least 3 weeks. 50 per cent security. ( One marine on watch while one marine slept per fox hole) every night we were harassed by locals who were trying to catch a marine asleep to steal his weapon my troops were exhusted. The locals jammed our radio's. We finnaly were ordered to stand down and it was a court marshal charge if a marine was found with a live round in his weapon. My understanding was that his officer would also be charged. So we went from a combat situation to denfending our self without bullets. So we used stones and huge rocks to scare away intruders. After some time we had a chance to go into town. The st george hotel was like heaven I saw the first bikini on a young gal wearing high heel shoes. I still can't get over it. Had coffee in the city. A bomb went off in side ' blew the shop window out and I landed under the table looking up at the ceiling did't know where the hell I was. I want to go back to beirut but since the last war there I guess I will have to wait awhile. Since the Fremont left us there we flew from Beirut to Italy then to the navy base in Morroco from there to Newfoundland and the to South Carolina and a bus to Camp Lejune."
