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Contact Info
Home Town Los Angeles, CA
Last Address William "Bud" Waldon Cloud Murrieta, California. Interment at Riverside, CA
Date of Passing Jun 13, 2013
Location of Interment Riverside National Cemetery (VA) - Riverside, California
Marshall Islands Operation (1944)/Battle of Kwajalein Atoll (Operation Flintlock)
From Month/Year
January / 1944
To Month/Year
February / 1944
Description The Battle of Kwajalein was fought as part of the Pacific campaign of World War II. It took place from 31 January-3 February 1944, on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Employing the hard-learned lessons of the battle of Tarawa, the United States launched a successful twin assault on the main islands of Kwajalein in the south and Roi-Namur in the north. The Japanese defenders put up stiff resistance, although outnumbered and under-prepared. The determined defense of Roi-Namur left only 51 survivors of an original garrison of 3,500.
For the US, the battle represented both the next step in its island-hopping march to Japan and a significant moral victory because it was the first time the Americans had penetrated the "outer ring" of the Japanese Pacific sphere. For the Japanese, the battle represented the failure of the beach-line defense. Japanese defenses became prepared in depth, and the battles of Peleliu, Guam, and the Marianas proved far more costly to the US.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
January / 1944
To Month/Year
February / 1944
Last Updated: Mar 16, 2020
Personal Memories
Memories The USS Dewey was at Pearl Harbor, Coral Sea, Midway, Guadalcanal landings, Eastern Solomons, Attu and Kiska, Kwajalein, Eniwetok, Tinian, Saipan, Philippine Sea, Guam, Leyte Gulf, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa, plus dozens of smaller engagements and missions. Through all of that, the only damage she received was from Typhoon Cobra on December 18, 1944, when she was heeled over 75-degrees and had her forward stack ripped off. USS Dewey received 13 battle stars for World War II service.