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 La Crosse, IN
Last Address Porter Hospital, Valparaiso Campus, Porter, Indiana. Burial: Oak Grove Cemetery at La Crosse, La Porte County, Indiana.
Date of Passing Feb 18, 2005
Location of Interment Oak Grove Cemetery - LaCrosse, Indiana
Mr. Rowley J. Sheely, 81, of LaCrosse, Indiana, died Friday, Feb. 18, 2005, at Porter Hospital, Valparaiso Campus.
He was born Feb. 2, 1924, in LaCrosse to Noah and Maudie (James) Sheely.
Mr. Sheely was a farmer. He was a member of United Methodist Church of LaCrosse, F&AM 438 Masonic Lodge of North Judson, Orak Shrine of Michigan City and VFW of LaPorte. He was a 1943 graduate of LaCrosse High School and was a U.S. Navy veteran of World War II. He served as a Radarman on-board the USS Izard DD-589 from the ship's commissioning in May 1943 until it was decommissioned in May 1946, a total of 36 months.
On Feb. 2, 1946, in LaPorte, he married Jeanette Lesser, who died in 1998.
Also preceding him in death were his parents; one daughter, Laura; one son, John; and one brother, Forrest.
Other Comments:
Mr. Sheely served in the Asiatic Pacific Theater on-board the USS Izard which was awarded 10 battle stars, during 12 major battles. Among some of them were Saipan, Kwajalein, Lingayen, Gulf and Iwo Jima. He wears the Victory medal, Good Conduct medal, Asiatic Pacific with 10 stars, Philippine Liberation with 2 stars, and the American area medal.
World War II/Asiatic-Pacific Theater/Mariana and Palau Islands Campaign (1944)
From Month/Year
June / 1944
To Month/Year
November / 1944
Description The Mariana and Palau Islands campaign, also known as Operation Forager, was an offensive launched by United States forces against Imperial Japanese forces in the Mariana Islands and Palau in the Pacific Ocean between June and November, 1944 during the Pacific War. The United States offensive, under the overall command of Chester Nimitz, followed the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign and was intended to neutralize Japanese bases in the central Pacific, support the Allied drive to retake the Philippines, and provide bases for a strategic bombing campaign against Japan.
Beginning the offensive, United States Marine Corps and United States Army forces, with support from the United States Navy, executed landings on Saipan in June, 1944. In response, the Imperial Japanese Navy's combined fleet sortied to attack the U.S. Navy fleet supporting the landings. In the resulting aircraft carrier Battle of the Philippine Sea (the so-called “Great Marianas Turkey Shoot”) on 19–20 June, the Japanese naval forces were decisively defeated with heavy and irreplaceable losses to their carrier-borne and land-based aircraft.
Thereafter, U.S. forces executed landings on Guam and Tinian in July, 1944. After heavy fighting, Saipan was secured in July and Guam and Tinian in August, 1944. The U.S. then constructed airfields on Saipan and Tinian where B-29s were based to conduct strategic bombing missions against the Japanese mainland until the end of World War II, including the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
In the meantime, in order to secure the flank for U.S. forces preparing to attack Japanese forces in the Philippines, in September, 1944, U.S. Marine and Army forces landed on the islands of Peleliu and Angaur in Palau. After heavy and intense combat on Peleliu, the island was finally secured by U.S. forces in November, 1944.
Following their landings in the Mariana and Palau Islands, Allied forces continued their ultimately successful campaign against Japan by landing in the Philippines in October, 1944 and the Volcano and Ryukyu Islands beginning in January, 1945.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
June / 1944
To Month/Year
November / 1944
Last Updated: Mar 16, 2020
Personal Memories
Memories Mr. Sheely served in the Asiatic Pacific Theater on-board the USS Izard which was awarded 10 battle stars, during 12 major battles. Among some of them were Saipan, Kawajelein, Lingayen, Gulf and Iwo Jima. He wears the Victory medal, Good Conduct medal, Asiatic Pacific with 10 stars, Philippine Liberation with 2 stars, and the American area medal.
