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Contact Info
Last Address Arlington, VA
Date of Passing Nov 30, 1999
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Other Comments:
LCDR REICH was the only submarine commander during WWII to sink a battleship
World War II/Asiatic-Pacific Theater
From Month/Year
December / 1941
To Month/Year
September / 1945
Description The plan of the Pacific subseries was determined by the geography, strategy, and the military organization of a theater largely oceanic. Two independent, coordinate commands, one in the Southwest Pacific under General of the Army Douglas MacArthur and the other in the Central, South, and North Pacific (Pacific Ocean Areas) under Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, were created early in the war. Except in the South and Southwest Pacific, each conducted its own operations with its own ground, air, and naval forces in widely separated areas. These operations required at first only a relatively small number of troops whose efforts often yielded strategic gains which cannot be measured by the size of the forces involved. Indeed, the nature of the objectivesùsmall islands, coral atolls, and jungle-bound harbors and airstrips, made the employment of large ground forces impossible and highlighted the importance of air and naval operations. Thus, until 1945, the war in the Pacific progressed by a double series of amphibious operations each of which fitted into a strategic pattern developed in Washington.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
January / 1943
To Month/Year
December / 1943
Last Updated: Mar 16, 2020
Personal Memories
Memories 1 Jun, 1943 USS Lapon (Cdr. O.G. Kirk) arrives at Pearl Harbour. 24 Jun, 1943 USS Lapon (Cdr. O.G. Kirk) departs Pearl Harbour for her 1st war patrol. She is ordered to patrol in the Sea of Okhotsk and in the Sea of Japan off the east coast of Hokkaido and Honshu. 3 Aug, 1943 USS Lapon (Cdr. O.G. Kirk) ends her 1st war patrol at Pearl Harbour.