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Contact Info
Home Town West, Texas
Last Address Fullerton, California
Date of Passing Feb 01, 2007
Location of Interment Riverside National Cemetery (VA) - Riverside, California
Robert L. Ashley, 81, of Fullerton, California, passed away at home February 1st, 2007. Born Aug 28, 1925 in West, Texas, he proudly joined the Navy and served in both WWII and Korea. Bob was a kind and gentle man, full of fun, and the life of every party. He was preceded in death by his beloved wife of 20 years, Gloria. Bob, thank you for all you gave us. We will miss you and we will never forget your wonderful smile. Services Feb. 10th, Memory Garden Memorial Park, Brea, CA. (The Orange County Register Feb 8, 2007).
Central Pacific Campaign (1941-43)/Marshall Islands Operation
From Month/Year
November / 1943
To Month/Year
December / 1943
Description In the Pacific Theater of World War II, the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign, from November 1943 through February 1944, were key strategic operations of the United States Pacific Fleet and Marine Corps in the Central Pacific. The purpose was to establish airfields that would allow land based air support for the upcoming operations across the Central Pacific. The campaign began with a costly three-day battle for the island of Betio at the Tarawa atoll. The campaign was preceded a year earlier by a diversionary raid on Makin Island by U.S. Marines in August, 1942.
About 4,000 kilometers southwest of the Hawaii Islands, the Marshall Islands represented part of the perimeter of the Japanese Pacific empire. The former German colony was given to Japan after the closure of WW1, and had since been an important part of both offensive and defensive plans of the Japanese Navy. By the end of 1943, Admiral Mineichi Koga of the Japanese Combined Fleet knew the Americans were eyeing the islands, but he could not figure out where they would strike. His difficulties were further complicated by the lack of carrier aircraft, as they were taken away from him in an attempt to reinforce land-based squadrons. With his hands tied, all Koga could do was to send his submarines out as forward observers and order the regional commander in Truk Admiral Masashi Kobayashi to reinforce the island garrisons that were most exposed to American attacks. Kobayashi shifted men to the outer islands of Jaluit, Mili, Wotje, and Maloelap. In total, Kobayashi had 28,000 troops available to him in the Marshall Islands. For a garrison that size ground fortifications were sub-par, but that was rather by design at this stage of the war, for that Tokyo had since decided that the Marshall Islands were to serve only as a part of a delay action campaign. The new defensive perimeter was to be established much closer to the home islands.
American intelligence decoded Japanese messages and detected movements for the outer islands, and decided to change the invasion plans. Unbeknownst to the Japanese, the Americans were now bypassing the reinforced outer islands; they were now directly attacking Kwajalein and Eniwetok.
