This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Kent Weekly (SS/DSV) (DBF), EMCS
to remember
Smoot, Roland Nesbit, VADM USN(Ret).
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Contact Info
Home Town Provo, UT
Last Address Seal Beach, CA
Date of Passing Feb 13, 1984
Location of Interment Forest Lawn Memorial Park - Glendale, California
Vice Admiral, U.S. Navy. Smoot was the senior U.S. military advisor to President Chiang Kai-skek in 1958-62 during Taiwanese and Chinese tensions which became a major campaign issue between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy. A graduate of the NavalAcademy in 1923, he served on destroyers, cruisers, submarines and battleships during his 40 year career. He held two Navy Crosses, one for directing a destroyer squadron against the Japanese in the WWII battle of the SurigaoStraits and the other for his efforts during the invasion of Okinawa in the latter stages of the war. After retirement be became president of an oil drilling firm. He was also president of Leisure World's home owner association in Seal Beach, California and was a board member (Council of Regents) of Forest Lawn Memorial-Parks, Glendale, California. He was the nephew of Reed Smoot, U.S. Senator from Utah, who was a member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and at the time of Senator Smoot's death, was third in succession to become President of the Mormon church.
Other Comments:
Navy Cross
Awarded for Actions During World War II
Service: Navy
Division: Destroyer Squadron 56
General Orders: Commander 7th Fleet: Serial 13680 (December 7, 1944)
Citation: The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Captain Roland Nesbit Smoot (NSN: 0-58232), United States Navy, for extraordinary heroism and distinguished service in the line of his profession as Commander, Attack Section ONE, Destroyer Squadron FIFTY-SIX, in action against enemy Japanese forces at Surigao Strait during the Battle for Leyte Gulf in the Philippine Islands on the night of 24 - 25 October 1944. Leading his ships in a daring and successful attack on the enemy battle-line, by his courage, skill in combat, and determination, Captain Smoot gave encouragement to his force in a manner that caused his action to be very instrumental in the success of this most difficult operations. This successful attack contributed in large measure to eliminating an imminent and dangerous threat to our transports and other ships in Leyte Gulf. Captain Smoot's high professional skill, forceful leadership, and gallant devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.
World War II/Asiatic-Pacific Theater/Iwo Jima Operation
From Month/Year
February / 1945
To Month/Year
March / 1945
Description The Battle of Iwo Jima (19 February – 26 March 1945), or Operation Detachment, was a major battle in which the United States Armed Forces fought for and captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Japanese Empire. The American invasion had the goal of capturing the entire island, including its three airfields (including South Field and Central Field), to provide a staging area for attacks on the Japanese main islands. This five-week battle comprised some of the fiercest and bloodiest fighting of the War in the Pacific of World War II.
After the heavy losses incurred in the battle, the strategic value of the island became controversial. It was useless to the U.S. Army as a staging base and useless to the U.S. Navy as a fleet base. However, Navy SEABEES rebuilt the landing strips, which were used as emergency landing strips for USAAF B-29s.
The Imperial Japanese Army positions on the island were heavily fortified, with a dense network of bunkers, hidden artillery positions, and 18 km (11 mi) of underground tunnels. The Americans on the ground were supported by extensive naval artillery and complete air supremacy over Iwo Jima from the beginning of the battle by U.S. Navy and Marine Corps aviators.
Iwo Jima was the only battle by the U.S. Marine Corps in which the Japanese combat deaths were thrice those of the Americans throughout the battle. Of the 22,000 Japanese soldiers on Iwo Jima at the beginning of the battle, only 216 were taken prisoner, some of whom were captured because they had been knocked unconscious or otherwise disabled. The majority of the remainder were killed in action, although it has been estimated that as many as 3,000 continued to resist within the various cave systems for many days afterwards, eventually succumbing to their injuries or surrendering weeks later.
Despite the bloody fighting and severe casualties on both sides, the Japanese defeat was assured from the start. Overwhelming American superiority in arms and numbers as well as complete control of air power — coupled with the impossibility of Japanese retreat or reinforcement — permitted no plausible circumstance in which the Americans could have lost the battle.
The battle was immortalized by Joe Rosenthal's photograph of the raising of the U.S. flag on top of the 166 m (545 ft) Mount Suribachi by five U.S. Marines and one U.S. Navy battlefield Hospital Corpsman. The photograph records the second flag-raising on the mountain, both of which took place on the fifth day of the 35-day battle. Rosenthal's photograph promptly became an indelible icon — of that battle, of that war in the Pacific, and of the Marine Corps itself — and has been widely reproduced.
