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 Fall River, MA
Last Address Born in Fall River, Massachusetts, Nel lived in Fall River for many years and in Tiverton, Rhode Island, for the past 47 years.
Date of Passing Jan 27, 2007
Location of Interment Notre Dame Cemetery - Fall River, Massachusetts
Navy veteran of WW II, USS Halford (DD-480).
Commissioned: 10 April 1943
Decommissioned: 15 May 1946.
Received 7 Battle Stars for service in the Pacific during WWII.
USS HALFORD DD 480
COMMANDING OFFICERS & BATTLE STARS
Lieutenant Commander G.N. Johansen, USN 10 April 1943 to 1 March1944
Lieutenant Commander R.J. Hardy, USN March 1944 to 1 March 1945
Commander R.J. Oliver, USN 1 April 1945 to 1 April 1946
Lieutenant Commander M. Johnson, Jr., USN April 1946 to Inactivation
During World War II, USS HALFORD earned seven Battle Stars on the Asiatic-Pacific Area Service Medal for participating in the following operations:
1 Star/Consolidation of the Northern Solomon Islands - 1 February 1944
1 Star/Bismarck Archipelago Operation
Green Islands Landing'- 15 February to 19 February 1944
Antishipping sweeps and bombardments of Rabaul and New Ireland - 24 February to 1 March 1944
1 Star/Pacific Raids - 1943
Marcus Island Raid - 31 August 1943
Wake Island Raid - 5-6 October 1943
1 Star/Marianas Operation
Capture and Occupation of Saipan - 14 June to 16 July 1944
Capture and Occupation of Guam - 12 July to 9 August 1944
1 Star/Western Caroline Islands Operation
Capture and Occupation of Southern Palau Islands - 6 Septembe to 14 October 1944
1 Star/Leyte Operation
Leyte Landings - 10 October to 29 November 19
Battle of Surigao Strait - 24 October to 26 October 1944
Ormoc Bay Landings - 7 December to 13 December l944
Battle of Surigao Strait - 24 October to 26 October 1944
Ormoc Bay Landings - 7 December to 13 December l944
1 Star/Luzon Operation
Mindoro Landings - 12 December to 18 December 1944
Lingayen Gulf Landings 4 January to 18 January 1945
HALFORD has also earned the Navy Occupation Service Medal for the period 7 to 20 September 1945.
Other Comments:
CINCPAC MSG TO PACIFIC FLEET
October 30, 1944
DATE: OCT 30, 44 FROM: RDO HONOLULU TO: PACIFIC FLEET INFO COMMANDER IN CHIEF UNITED STATES FLEET USS HALFORD DD480
THE COMMANDER IN CHIEF PACIFIC FLEET DESIRES TO EXPRESS TO ALL OFFICERS AND MEN OF THE FLEET HIS PRIDE AND GRATITUDE FOR THE COURAGEOUS AND AGGRESSIVE MANNER IN WHICH THEY HAVE DONE THEIR UTMOST TO DESTROY THE ENEMY IN THE RECENT FIGHTING IN THE PACIFIC.
TO THOSE WHO HAVE FOUGHT IN THE AIR ON THE SURFACER AND IN OUR SUBMARINES "WELL DONE".
TO THOSE BRAVE MEN WHO HAVE GALLANTLY GIVEN THEIR LIVES TO ACHIEVE VICGORY FOR OUR COUNTRY OUR REVERED AND LASTING RESPECT X THEIR HIGH EXAMPLE WILL INSPIRE US ALL IN THE COMPLETION OF OUR TASK OF DESTROYING THE ENEMIES OF THE UNITED STATES.
Asiatic-Pacific Specified Raids (1944)/Naval attack of Truk (Operation Hailstone)
From Month/Year
February / 1944
To Month/Year
February / 1944
Description Operation Hailstone was a massive naval air and surface attack launched on February 16–17, 1944, during World War II by the United States Navy against the Japanese naval and air base at Truk in the Caroline Islands, a pre-war Japanese territory.
The U.S. attack involved a combination of airstrikes, surface ship actions, and submarine attacks over two days and appeared to take the Japanese completely by surprise. Several daylight, along with nighttime, airstrikes employed fighters, dive bombers, and torpedo aircraft in attacks on Japanese airfields, aircraft, shore installations, and ships in and around the Truk anchorage. A force of U.S. surface ships and submarines guarded possible exit routes from the island's anchorage to attack any Japanese ships that tried to escape from the airstrikes.
In total the attack sank three Japanese light cruisers (Agano, Katori, and Naka), four destroyers (Oite, Fumizuki, Maikaze, and Tachikaze), three auxiliary cruisers (Akagi Maru, Aikoku Maru, Kiyosumi Maru), two submarine tenders (Heian Maru, Rio de Janeiro Maru), three other smaller warships (including submarine chasers CH-24 and Shonan Maru 15), aircraft transport Fujikawa Maru, and 32 merchant ships. Some of the ships were destroyed in the anchorage and some in the area surrounding Truk lagoon. Many of the merchant ships were loaded with reinforcements and supplies for Japanese garrisons in the central Pacific area. Very few of the troops aboard the sunken ships survived and little of their cargoes were recovered.
Maikaze, along with several support ships, was sunk by U.S. surface ships while trying to escape from the Truk anchorage. On 17 February 1944, while evacuating convoys to Yokosuka from Truk following Allied attack on Truk, Maikaze, the cruiser Katori, and the auxiliary cruiser Akagi Maru were sunk by gunfire from the cruisers Minneapolis, New Orleans, and the battleship New Jersey 40 miles (64 km) northwest of Truk. Maikaze herself was sunk with all hands on board. The survivors of the sunken Japanese ships reportedly refused rescue efforts by the U.S. ships.
The cruiser Agano, a veteran of the Raid on Rabaul and which was already en route to Japan when the attack began, was sunk by a U.S. submarine, Skate. Oite rescued 523 survivors from Agano and returned to Truk lagoon to assist in its defense with her anti-aircraft guns. She was sunk soon after by air attack with the Agano survivors still on board, killing all of them and all but 20 of Oite's crew.
Over 250 Japanese aircraft were destroyed, mostly on the ground. Many of the aircraft were in various states of assembly, having just arrived from Japan in disassembled form aboard cargo ships. Very few of the assembled aircraft were able to take off in response to the U.S. attack. Several Japanese aircraft that did take off were claimed destroyed by U.S. fighters or gunners on the U.S. bombers and torpedo planes.
The U.S. lost twenty-five aircraft, mainly due to the intense anti-aircraft fire from Truk's defenses. About 16 U.S. aircrew were rescued by submarine or amphibious aircraft (several Japanese, whose crew took them prisoner). A nighttime torpedo attack by a Japanese aircraft from either Rabaul or Saipan damaged Intrepid and killed 11 of her crew, forcing her to return to Pearl Harbor and later, San Francisco for repairs. She returned to duty in June, 1944. Another Japanese air attack slightly damaged the battleship Iowa with a bomb hit.
An aerial view of the airstrike at Truk can be seen in the U.S. Navy film The Fighting Lady.
One well-known pilot, U.S. Marine Corps ace Gregory "Pappy" Boyington, survived this raid while being held prisoner on Truk, after being captured at Rabaul.
Aftermath
The attacks for the most part ended Truk as a major threat to Allied operations in the central Pacific; the Japanese garrison on Eniwetok was denied any realistic hope of reinforcement and support during the invasion that began on February 18, 1944, greatly assisting U.S. forces in their conquest of that island.
The Japanese later relocated about 100 of their remaining aircraft from Rabaul to Truk. These aircraft were attacked by U.S. carrier forces in another attack on April 29–30, 1944 which destroyed most of them. The U.S. aircraft dropped 92 bombs over a 29-minute period to destroy the Japanese planes. The April 1944 strikes found no shipping in Truk lagoon and were the last major attacks on Truk during the war.
Truk was isolated by Allied (primarily U.S.) forces as they continued their advance towards Japan by invading other Pacific islands such as Guam, Saipan, Palau, and Iwo Jima. Cut off, the Japanese forces on Truk, like on other central Pacific islands, ran low on food and faced starvation before Japan surrendered in August 1945.
