This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Kent Weekly (SS/DSV) (DBF), EMCS
to remember
Calhoun, William Lowndes (Uncle Bill), ADM.
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Contact Info
Home Town Palatka, FL
Last Address San Diego, Ca
Date of Passing Oct 19, 1963
Location of Interment Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery (VA) - San Diego, California
Navy Distinguidhed Service Medal
Awarded for Actions During World War II
Service: Navy
General Orders: Bureau of Naval Personnel Information Bulletin No. 341 (August 1945)
Citation: The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Distinguished Service Medal to Vice Admiral William Lowndes Calhoun, United States Navy, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished service in a position of great responsibility to the Government of the United States as Commander Base Force and Commander Service Force, Pacific Fleet, from December 1939 to February 1945. Admiral Calhoun was charged with logistic support of the Pacific Fleet and naval shore-based establishments in the Pacific Ocean Area. He applied keen intelligence and resourceful initiative to the complexities of his assignment and, working with tireless energy, planned and organized a greatly enlarged service of supply which enabled him to provide personnel, provisions, fuel and ammunition for all fleet operations. An extremely able administrator, he also planned the requirements for each proposed new base and, in addition, acted for the Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Fleet, in supervising matters relating to the maintenance of ships of the fleet. By his keen foresight, decisive judgment and tenacious determination in the fulfillment of an urgent mission, he contributed essentially to the efficiency of combined operations and to the success of our war effort in the Pacific Area.
World War II/Asiatic-Pacific Theater/Attack on Pearl Harbor
From Month/Year
December / 1941
To Month/Year
December / 1941
Description The attack on Pearl Harbor, also known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor, the Hawaii Operation or Operation AI by the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters, and Operation Z during planning, was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory, on the morning of December 7, 1941. The attack led to the United States' entry into World War II.
Japan intended the attack as a preventive action to keep the U.S. Pacific Fleet from interfering with military actions the Empire of Japan planned in Southeast Asia against overseas territories of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and the United States. Over the next seven hours there were coordinated Japanese attacks on the U.S.-held Philippines, Guam and Wake Island and on the British Empire in Malaya, Singapore, and Hong Kong.
The attack commenced at 7:48 a.m. Hawaiian Time. The base was attacked by 353 Imperial Japanese fighter planes, bombers, and torpedo planes in two waves, launched from six aircraft carriers. All eight U.S. Navy battleships were damaged, with four sunk. All but Arizona were later raised, and six were returned to service and went on to fight in the war. The Japanese also sank or damaged three cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship, and one minelayer. 188 U.S. aircraft were destroyed; 2,403 Americans were killed and 1,178 others were wounded. Important base installations such as the power station, shipyard, maintenance, and fuel and torpedo storage facilities, as well as the submarine piers and headquarters building (also home of the intelligence section) were not attacked. Japanese losses were light: 29 aircraft and five midget submarines lost, and 64 servicemen killed. One Japanese sailor, Kazuo Sakamaki, was captured.
The attack came as a profound shock to the American people and led directly to the American entry into World War II in both the Pacific and European theaters. The following day, December 8, the United States declared war on Japan. Domestic support for non-interventionism, which had been fading since the Fall of France in 1940,[19] disappeared. Clandestine support of the United Kingdom (e.g., the Neutrality Patrol) was replaced by active alliance. Subsequent operations by the U.S. prompted Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy to declare war on the U.S. on December 11, which was reciprocated by the U.S. the same day.
From the 1950s, several writers alleged that parties high in the U.S. and British governments knew of the attack in advance and may have let it happen (or even encouraged it) with the aim of bringing the U.S. into war. However, this advance-knowledge conspiracy theory is rejected by mainstream historians.
There were numerous historical precedents for unannounced military action by Japan. However, the lack of any formal warning, particularly while negotiations were still apparently ongoing, led President Franklin D. Roosevelt to proclaim December 7, 1941, "a date which will live in infamy". Because the attack happened without a declaration of war and without explicit warning, the attack on Pearl Harbor was judged by the Tokyo Trials to be a war crime.
