Qualls, Robert, MMFN

Deceased

Service Photo

Service Details

Last Rank
Fireman

Last Primary NEC
MM-9348-Machinists Mate

Last Rating/NEC Group
Machinists Mate

Primary Unit
1944-1946, USS Teton (AGC-14)

Service Years
1944 - 1946

Official/Unofficial US Navy Certificates

Order of the Golden Dragon

Panama Canal

Order of the Ditch

Last Photo

Personal Details

Home Country

United States

This Military Service Page was created/owned by Steve Qualls, MR3 to remember Qualls, Robert, FN.

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Contact Info

Last Address WWII, USS Teton AGC-14,
Date of Passing Oct 26, 1997

Official Badges

Unofficial Badges

Additional Information

Last Known Activity:

Welder in Civie life, Was born in Kentucky

Other Comments:

Assigned USS Teton AGC-14

USS Teton (AGC-14) was laid down under Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 1363) as Water Witch on 9 November 1943 by the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company in Wilmington, North Carolina; launched on 5 February 1944, sponsored by Mrs. C. E. Shimp; renamed Teton on 7 February 1944; acquired by the Navy on 18 October 1944; and commissioned the same day at Brooklyn, New York, with Captain Donald Rex Tallman in command.

Following shakedown in the Chesapeake Bay, the amphibious force flagship, escorted by USS Barr (APD-39), steamed south; transited the Panama Canal; proceeded, via the Mare Island Navy Yard, to Hawaii; and arrived at Pearl Harbor on 19 January 1945. Four days later, Rear Admiral John L. Hall, Commander, Amphibious Group 12, Amphibious Forces, Pacific Fleet, hoisted his flag as his staff came on board.

Teton was attached to a convoy that got underway for the Philippines on 28 January. After stops at Eniwetok, Ulithi, and the Palaus, the force reached Leyte on 21 February. Teton next began rehearsals as flagship of Task Force 44 for the forthcoming assault against the Ryukyus. Commodore Clifford Greer Richardson, commanding Transport Squadron 14, and Major General John R. Hodge, commanding the XXIV Army Corps, embarked with their staffs. On 27 March, Teton got underway as flagship of Task Unit 51.13.1 and arrived off Okinawa on 1 April, the day the assault began. She remained there for 72 days controlling the landing operations on the Hagushi beaches and then providing standby control of offensive and defensive air operations. On 11 June, the ship got underway in a convoy bound for the Philippines.

Teton arrived at Subic Bay on 15 June and remained there until 17 August. When news of Japan's surrender arrived, Admiral Hall and his staff left the ship to transfer to USS Hansford (APA-106). Teton embarked Army forces for the occupation of Japan and proceeded to Honsh�, arriving in Tokyo Bay on 29 August.

Teton stood out of Tokyo Bay on 25 September and headed for Guam to embark approximately 750 passengers for transportation to the United States. The ship reached San Francisco on 16 October; disembarked her passengers; and steamed west again three days later.

Teton continued duty with the "Magic-Carpet" Fleet, returning servicemen from Pacific bases to the United States until early 1946. She began inactivation at San Diego in March 1946 and was decommissioned there on 30 August 1946. Teton was struck from the Navy list on 1 June 1961 and sold for scrap in March 1962 to Union Minerals and Alloys Corporation, New York, New York

Teton received one battle star for World War II service

World War II/Asiatic-Pacific Theater/Surrender of Japan, End of WWII
From Month/Year August / 1945	To Month/Year August / 1945
Description The surrender of the Empire of Japan was announced by Imperial Japan on August 15 and formally signed on September 2, 1945, bringing the hostilities of World War II to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy was incapable of conducting major operations and an Allied invasion of Japan was imminent. Together with the United Kingdom and China, the United States called for the unconditional surrender of the Japanese armed forces in the Potsdam Declaration on July 26, 1945—the alternative being "prompt and utter destruction". While publicly stating their intent to fight on to the bitter end, Japan's leaders (the Supreme Council for the Direction of the War, also known as the "Big Six") were privately making entreaties to the still-neutral Soviet Union to mediate peace on terms more favorable to the Japanese. Meanwhile, the Soviets were preparing to attack Japanese forces in Manchuria and Korea (in addition to southern Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands) in fulfillment of promises they had secretly made to the United States and the United Kingdom at the Tehran and Yalta Conferences.