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Home Town Reno, Nevada
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LCdr. Elmer Drummond Snare, U.S. Navy
Lieutenant Commander Elmer D Snare was the commanding office of the Maury (DD-401) from October 1940 until December 1942. The USS Maury received 16 Battle Stars and the Presidential Unit Citation during WWII.
Elmer Drummond Snare. Reno, Nevada. Graduated Reno High School in 1916.
USNA - Nevada 30 July 1917 (19 years 2 months old), Class of 1921 (may have graduated in 1920 due to a 1917 Act of Congress, WWI).
Reno, NV High School Alumni Notes 1914-1917 state: We are represented at Annapolis by Elmer Snare and Clark Green. Room-mates and both graduated USNA Class of 1921.
USS Birmingham (CL-2)
USS Chewink (AM-39)
Submarine School
USS S-40 (SS-145)
USS Rigel (AD-14/AR-11)
USS R-11 (SS-88)
Naval Ordnance Plant, South. Charleston, W Va.
USS Colorado (BB-45) (engineering) Bureau of Engineering, Operation and Maintenance Div., Navy Dept. Washington D.C.
USS Maury (DD-401)
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Central Pacific Campaign (1941-43)/Battle of Wake Island
From Month/Year
December / 1941
To Month/Year
December / 1941
Description The Battle of Wake Island began simultaneously with the Attack on Pearl Harbor and ended on 23 December 1941, with the surrender of the American forces to the Empire of Japan. It was fought on and around the atoll formed by Wake Island and its islets of Peale and Wilkes Islands by the air, land and naval forces of the Empire of Japan against those of the U.S., with Marines playing a prominent role on both sides.
The island was held by the Japanese for the duration of the Pacific War; the remaining Japanese garrison on the island surrendered to a detachment of United States Marines on 4 September 1945.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
December / 1941
To Month/Year
December / 1941
Last Updated: Mar 16, 2020
Personal Memories
Memories The Raids on Wake and Marcus Islands Fehruary 24th and March 4th
Despite the tactical success of the preceding attacks on enemy bases, the Japanese flood of military, naval, and air power continued to pour into British and Dutch possessions in the southwestern Pacific. During the first week of February enemy forces, having overrun Malaya, were approaching Singapore, and were filtering down through Borneo, Celebes, New Guinea, and the Solomons in the direction of Sumatra, Java, and Australia. Because the available strength of the United Nations in this area was so sparse that little more than delaying action could be realistically considered, another diversion in the northern or mid-Pacific seemed advisable to the American naval command. At the least, such an enterprise would increase our security at Midway and at other points in the central and southern Pacific. At the most, by striking in the direction of Japan's homeland, it might disturb the Japanese strategists sufficiently to cause them to halt their far-extended advances in the southwest.
PLAN OF ATTACK
On February 11th organization orders were issued for Task Force HOW. This force was directed to raid Wake Island, which had been under enemy control since December 22d, and Eniwetok Island in the northern Marshalls. It was from this latter island that the Japanese had presumably launched their bombers against Wake. The expedition's announced objectives were: (1) to weaken the enemy and gain information as to his dispositions; (2) to divert enemy strength from his offensives in the southwest; (3) to cover our positions and communications in the mid-Pacific. If, however, important enemy combatant forces were encountered within striking distance, these forces would become the primary objective.