This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Kent Weekly (SS/DSV) (DBF), EMCS
to remember
Merrill, Aaron Stanton (Tip), VADM USN(Ret).
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Contact Info
Home Town Brandon Hall, MS
Last Address Natchaz, MS
Date of Passing Feb 28, 1961
Location of Interment Natchez City Cemetery - Natchez, Mississippi
Aaron Stanton Merrill, also known as Tip Merrill, was an American rear admiral during World War II who led American naval forces during the Solomon Islands campaign as well as the first admiral to solely use radar for fire control during wartime.
Other Comments:
USS Merrill (DD-976), named for Rear Admiral Aaron Stanton Merrill, was a Spruance-class destroyer that entered service with the United States Navy in 1978.
Foreign Awards:Officer of the Order of the Crown by the Belgium Government Grand Officer of the Order of Merit by the Government of Chile
World War II/Asiatic-Pacific Theater/Treasury-Bougainville Operation
From Month/Year
October / 1943
To Month/Year
December / 1943
Description The Bougainville campaign (Operation Cherry Blossom) was fought by the Allies in the South Pacific during World War II to regain control of the island of Bougainville from the Japanese forces who had occupied it in 1942. During their occupation the Japanese constructed naval aircraft bases in the north, east, and south of the island; but none in the west. They developed a naval anchorage at Tonolei Harbor near Buin, their largest base, on the southern coastal plain of Bougainville. On the nearby Treasury and Shortland Islands they built airfields, naval bases and anchorages. These bases helped protect Rabaul, the major Japanese garrison and naval base in Papua New Guinea, while allowing continued expansion to the south-east, down the Solomon Islands chain, to Guadalcanal.
The Allied campaign, which had two distinct phases, began on 1 November 1943 and ended on 21 August 1945, with the surrender of the Japanese.
Before the war, Bougainville had been administered as part of the Australian Territory of New Guinea, even though, geographically, Bougainville is part of the Solomon Islands chain. The United Kingdom and Germany had traded it for another islands territory which became British rather than German. As a result, the campaign is referred to as part of both the New Guinea and the Solomon Islands campaigns.