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Bob Craycroft-Family
to remember
Craycroft, William (Red), PO3.
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Description The plan of the Pacific subseries was determined by the geography, strategy, and the military organization of a theater largely oceanic. Two independent, coordinate commands, one in the Southwest Pacific under General of the Army Douglas MacArthur and the other in the Central, South, and North Pacific (Pacific Ocean Areas) under Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, were created early in the war. Except in the South and Southwest Pacific, each conducted its own operations with its own ground, air, and naval forces in widely separated areas. These operations required at first only a relatively small number of troops whose efforts often yielded strategic gains which cannot be measured by the size of the forces involved. Indeed, the nature of the objectivesùsmall islands, coral atolls, and jungle-bound harbors and airstrips, made the employment of large ground forces impossible and highlighted the importance of air and naval operations. Thus, until 1945, the war in the Pacific progressed by a double series of amphibious operations each of which fitted into a strategic pattern developed in Washington.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
January / 1945
To Month/Year
September / 1945
Last Updated: Mar 16, 2020
Personal Memories
Memories Commendation - April 1, 1945: Participated this date in the initial amphibious assault on the west coast of OKINAWA GUNTO, in the Ryuku Group of the home islands of Japan. During the periods of the initial assault and subsequent unloading from 1 April to 10 April 1945, while this vessel was subjected to numerous heavy concentrated aerial bombings and suicide attacks, he displayed high devotion to duty in keeping with the best traditions of the Naval Service.
