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Contact Info
Home Town St Paul, MN
Last Address Bellows Falls, VT
Date of Passing Dec 04, 1988
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
James Clair Shaw, a retired rear admiral and naval historian, died Sunday at his home in Bellows Falls, Vt. He was 74 years old and before a recent illness had been New England director of the Humane Society of the United States.
Admiral Shaw, who fought in 16 Pacific campaigns in World War II, graduated from the United StatesNavalAcademy in 1936. He wrote a naval history in association with Samuel Eliot Morison, the Harvard historian, and was technical adviser for the film ''The Caine Mutiny.'' He had been affiliated with the Humane Society since leaving the Navy 25 years ago.
Other Comments:
Silver Star
Awarded for Actions During World War II
Service: Navy
Rank: Lieutenant
Division: U.S.S. Atlanta (CL-51)
Citation: The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Lieutenant James Clair Shaw, United States Navy, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action while serving as Gunnery Officer aboard the U.S.S. ATLANTA (CL-51), during the engagement with Japanese naval forces in the Solomon Islands area on 13 November 1942. Lieutenant Shaw suffered a broken hand after the action commenced. Despite this condition, he took an active part in removing those badly wounded from his ship, which was severely damaged, into the rescue boats alongside. He requested to be permitted to remain aboard but was ordered to leave with the wounded. His courageous conduct was in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.
World War II/Asiatic-Pacific Theater/Okinawa Gunto Operation
From Month/Year
March / 1945
To Month/Year
June / 1945
Description The Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg. was fought on the Ryukyu Islands of Okinawa and was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific War of World War II. The 82-day-long battle lasted from early April until mid-June 1945. After a long campaign of island hopping, the Allies were approaching Japan, and planned to use Okinawa, a large island only 340 mi (550 km) away from mainland Japan, as a base for air operations on the planned invasion of Japanese mainland (coded Operation Downfall). Four divisions of the U.S. 10th Army (the 7th, 27th, 77th, and 96th) and two Marine Divisions (the 1st and 6th) fought on the island. Their invasion was supported by naval, amphibious, and tactical air forces.
The battle has been referred to as the "typhoon of steel" in English, and tetsu no ame ("rain of steel") or ("violent wind of steel") in Japanese. The nicknames refer to the ferocity of the fighting, the intensity of kamikaze attacks from the Japanese defenders, and to the sheer numbers of Allied ships and armored vehicles that assaulted the island. The battle resulted in the highest number of casualties in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Based on Okinawan government sources, mainland Japan lost 77,166 soldiers, who were either killed or committed suicide, and the Allies suffered 14,009 deaths (with an estimated total of more than 65,000 casualties of all kinds). Simultaneously, 42,000–150,000 local civilians were killed or committed suicide, a significant proportion of the local population. The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki together with the Soviet invasion of Manchuria caused Japan to surrender less than two months after the end of the fighting on Okinawa.