This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Kent Weekly (SS/DSV) (DBF), EMCS
to remember
Phelan, James Frederick, Sr., CDR 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
Home Town Sedalia, MO
Date of Passing Apr 18, 1998
Location of Interment Arlington National Cemetery (VLM) - Arlington, Virginia
James Frederick, Phelan, Sr., (Jim), Commander, U. S. Navy (Ret.) 81, of Blacksburg, died Saturday, April 18, 1998 at Montgomery Regional Hospital. He was born in Sedalia, Missouri on January 13, 1917 to the late Leroy Dean and Frances Josephine Milburn Phelan. A graduate of the U. S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., Jim served during World War II and the Korean War. He retired from the Navy after 20 years of service in 1960. At that time, he became a Professor of Engineering at VPI & SU, where he taught until his retirement in 1983. Jim was very active in the Rotary Club International, Blacksburg Chapter. He was preceded in death by his wife, Katherine C. Phelan. He is survived by a daughter and son-in-law, Anne Phelan-Adams and Tom Adams of Lebanon, Ohio; a son and daughter-in-law, James F., Jr. and Susan Phelan, Lieutenant, USN (Ret.) of Los Angeles, Calif.; a brother and sister-in-law, Jack D. and Ruth D. Phelan of Coronado, Calif.; five grandchildren, Lieutenant James F. Phelan, III, U. S. Marine Corps of San Diego, Calif., Geoffrey, Megan, Mary and Thomas Adams, all of Lebanon, Ohio; and three nephews, John, Frank and Tom Phelan. There will be no memorial service. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made on Jim's behalf to a charity of your choice. The family will receive friends from 4 to 6 p.m. Monday evening at the McCoy Funeral Home, Blacksburg.
Guadalcanal Campaign (1942-43)/Battle of Rennel Island
From Month/Year
January / 1943
To Month/Year
January / 1943
Description The Battle of Rennell Island took place on 29-30 January 1943. It was the last major naval engagement between the United States Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy during the Guadalcanal campaign of World War II. It occurred in the South Pacific between Rennell Island and Guadalcanal in the southern Solomon Islands.
In the battle, Japanese naval land-based torpedo bombers, seeking to provide protection for the impending evacuation of Japanese forces from Guadalcanal, made several attacks over two days on US warships operating as a task force south of this island. In addition to approaching Guadalcanal with the objective of engaging any Japanese ships that might come into range, the U.S. task force was protecting an Allied transport ship convoy carrying replacement troops there.
As a result of the Japanese air attacks on the task force, one U.S. heavy cruiser was sunk, a destroyer was heavily damaged, and the rest of the U.S. task force was forced to retreat from the southern Solomons area. Partly because they turned back the U.S. task force in this battle, the Japanese successfully evacuated their remaining troops from Guadalcanal by 7 February 1943, leaving it in the hands of the Allies and ending the battle for the island.