This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Kent Weekly (SS/DSV) (DBF), EMCS
to remember
Montgomery, Alfred Eugene, VADM USN(Ret).
If you knew or served with this Sailor and have additional information or photos to support this Page, please leave a message for the Page Administrator(s) HERE.
Contact Info
Last Address Seattle, WA
Date of Passing Dec 15, 1961
Location of Interment Holyrood Catholic Cemetery - Shoreline, Washington
Wall/Plot Coordinates Section M, Lot 634, Site 1
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
MONTGOMERY, ALFRED E.
Citation:
The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Alfred E. Montgomery, Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy, for extraordinary heroism and distinguished service in the line of his profession as Officer in Tactical Command of a U.S. Navy Carrier Task Group, in action against enemy Japanese forces near Saipan on 21 February 1944. Rear Admiral Montgomery maneuvered his group in an excellent manner when attacked by enemy torpedo and bombing planes. Eight Japanese planes were destroyed at night by screen ships' gunfire and nine more were destroyed by ship's gunfire and combat air patrol the following morning. In the face of these determined attached Rear Admiral Montgomery launched aircraft from his carriers and they delivered repeated attacks on shipping, aircraft and shore installations on and in the vicinity of Saipan. This action and retirement were completed without damage to the ships of his task group. Rear Admiral Montgomery's inspiring leadership and the valiant devotion to duty of his command contributed in large measure to the outstanding success of these vital missions and reflect great credit upon the United States Naval Service.
Bureau of Naval Personnel Information Bulletin No. 331 (October 1944)
Born: June 12, 1891 at Omaha, Nebraska
Home Town: Piedmont, California
Other Comments:
VADM Montgomery was one of only 5 survivors of the sinking ot USS F-1 (SS-20) in 1917.
If anyone has any photos or other information on VADM Montgomery please contact me.
World War II/Asiatic-Pacific Theater/Mariana and Palau Islands Campaign (1944)
From Month/Year
June / 1944
To Month/Year
November / 1944
Description The Mariana and Palau Islands campaign, also known as Operation Forager, was an offensive launched by United States forces against Imperial Japanese forces in the Mariana Islands and Palau in the Pacific Ocean between June and November, 1944 during the Pacific War. The United States offensive, under the overall command of Chester Nimitz, followed the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign and was intended to neutralize Japanese bases in the central Pacific, support the Allied drive to retake the Philippines, and provide bases for a strategic bombing campaign against Japan.
Beginning the offensive, United States Marine Corps and United States Army forces, with support from the United States Navy, executed landings on Saipan in June, 1944. In response, the Imperial Japanese Navy's combined fleet sortied to attack the U.S. Navy fleet supporting the landings. In the resulting aircraft carrier Battle of the Philippine Sea (the so-called “Great Marianas Turkey Shoot”) on 19–20 June, the Japanese naval forces were decisively defeated with heavy and irreplaceable losses to their carrier-borne and land-based aircraft.
Thereafter, U.S. forces executed landings on Guam and Tinian in July, 1944. After heavy fighting, Saipan was secured in July and Guam and Tinian in August, 1944. The U.S. then constructed airfields on Saipan and Tinian where B-29s were based to conduct strategic bombing missions against the Japanese mainland until the end of World War II, including the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
In the meantime, in order to secure the flank for U.S. forces preparing to attack Japanese forces in the Philippines, in September, 1944, U.S. Marine and Army forces landed on the islands of Peleliu and Angaur in Palau. After heavy and intense combat on Peleliu, the island was finally secured by U.S. forces in November, 1944.
Following their landings in the Mariana and Palau Islands, Allied forces continued their ultimately successful campaign against Japan by landing in the Philippines in October, 1944 and the Volcano and Ryukyu Islands beginning in January, 1945.