Last Primary NEC
131X-Unrestricted Line Officer - Pilot
Last Rating/NEC Group
Line Officer
Service Years
1930 - 1967
Last Photo
Personal Details
Home State
New Jersey
Year of Birth 1905
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Contact Info
Home Town Jersey City, New Jersey
Last Address Ft. Pierce, Florida
Date of Passing Jul 10, 1989
Location of Interment Arlington National Cemetery (VLM) - Arlington, Virginia
Rudolph Charles Bauer, 83, an aviator who served as a Navy dive bomber and test pilot during WWII and in Korea, died of cancer July 10, 1989 in Ft Pierce, Florida.
Admiral Bauer served aboard carriers USS Coral Sea and USS Kalinin Bay, participating in the WWII Marshall Islands, Saipan, Guam and Palau Islands campaigns, and in the battle of Leyte Gulf in the Philippines. He also served as the executive officer of the carrier Midway in 1945 and later was director of the armament test unit at the Patuxent River Naval Air Test Center in Southern Maryland.
In the early 1930s, he completed flight training at Pensacola, Florida, and served for 3 years as a pilot in bombing and scouting squadrons embarked in the USS Lexington. From 1937 to 1939, he was the senior aviator aboard the heavy cruiser USS Pensacola.
During his military career was awarded the Navy Cross, the Silver Star, several Air Medals and the Presidential Unit Citation.
A native of Jersey City, New Jersey, he attended Fordham University and later was appointed to the United States Naval Academy, where he graduated in 1930.
He is survived by his wife of 47 years, Margaret Ryan Bauer of Ft Pierce; 2 sons, a daughter, and 2 grandchildren. Services will be held at the Fort Myer Chapel, with burial in Arlington National Cemetery.
http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/rcbauer.htm
Central Pacific Campaign (1941-43)/Marshall Islands Operation
From Month/Year
November / 1943
To Month/Year
December / 1943
Description In the Pacific Theater of World War II, the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign, from November 1943 through February 1944, were key strategic operations of the United States Pacific Fleet and Marine Corps in the Central Pacific. The purpose was to establish airfields that would allow land based air support for the upcoming operations across the Central Pacific. The campaign began with a costly three-day battle for the island of Betio at the Tarawa atoll. The campaign was preceded a year earlier by a diversionary raid on Makin Island by U.S. Marines in August, 1942.
About 4,000 kilometers southwest of the Hawaii Islands, the Marshall Islands represented part of the perimeter of the Japanese Pacific empire. The former German colony was given to Japan after the closure of WW1, and had since been an important part of both offensive and defensive plans of the Japanese Navy. By the end of 1943, Admiral Mineichi Koga of the Japanese Combined Fleet knew the Americans were eyeing the islands, but he could not figure out where they would strike. His difficulties were further complicated by the lack of carrier aircraft, as they were taken away from him in an attempt to reinforce land-based squadrons. With his hands tied, all Koga could do was to send his submarines out as forward observers and order the regional commander in Truk Admiral Masashi Kobayashi to reinforce the island garrisons that were most exposed to American attacks. Kobayashi shifted men to the outer islands of Jaluit, Mili, Wotje, and Maloelap. In total, Kobayashi had 28,000 troops available to him in the Marshall Islands. For a garrison that size ground fortifications were sub-par, but that was rather by design at this stage of the war, for that Tokyo had since decided that the Marshall Islands were to serve only as a part of a delay action campaign. The new defensive perimeter was to be established much closer to the home islands.
American intelligence decoded Japanese messages and detected movements for the outer islands, and decided to change the invasion plans. Unbeknownst to the Japanese, the Americans were now bypassing the reinforced outer islands; they were now directly attacking Kwajalein and Eniwetok.
