This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Sheila Rae Myers, HM3
to remember
Craven, John Harold, CAPT.
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Contact Info
Home Town Cape Girardeau, MO
Last Address McClean, VA
Date of Passing Apr 10, 2001
Location of Interment Arlington National Cemetery (VLM) - Arlington, Virginia
Wall/Plot Coordinates 2 E-65 LH
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
Captain Craven's miltary career began as an enlisted man in the United States Marine Corps. He enlisted in the Marines instead of going to college. He was trained at Parris Island, SC. Wanting to apply to the US Naval Academy and having been told any experience on ships would be helpful, he requested and was sent to the Sea School for Marines at the naval shipyard in Portsmouth, VA. He then spent 18 months on the USS New Mexico. While there, he gave more thought to attending college and, since he couldn't get into the Navy Academy so easily, the Marine Corps granted him a special discharge so he could attend the college of his choice.
It was while in the Marines he gave thought to the idea of going into the mnistry, so he went to various schools to reach that goal. He spent six years after his ordination - two while serving out his time in the US Marine Corps Reserve - as a civilain Baptist minister. As will be seen by reading other parts of this profile, his Marine Corps and shipboard training would come in handy once he joined the Navy as a chaplain. Most of his war time combat service was spent with Marine Corps.
In 1974, Captain Craven moved to Okinawa on a one-year assignment from the Foreign Missionaries Board of the Baptist Church. He then relocated to Virginia Beach. Until 1989, he was director of Christian Social Ministries for the Norfolk Baptist Association.
In 1995, Captain Craven returned to Iwo Jima to participate in dedication ceremonies for a monument to the Americans and Japanese who had fought there 50 years earlier. After leading a prayer, he embraced a former Japanese army captain who had since become a Buddhist priest. Later he wrote of the experience: "Before leaving the beach and the spot where our command post had been, I photographed a small green plant with a small red bloom. To me it represented the hopes and dreams for peace rising out of the blood-soaked sands of Iwo Jima."
Other Comments:
There are no current citations available for the medals listed. The Bronze Stars and Legion of Merit Awards are listed as part of the service record recorded in the digital collection of the William Madison Randall Library as part of the Military Chaplains in the USA collection. The Silver Star is listed at the arlingtoncemetery.com web site.
The information contained in this profile was compiled from various internet sources.
Mariana and Palau Islands Campaign (1944)/Battle of Tinian
From Month/Year
July / 1944
To Month/Year
August / 1944
Description The Battle of Tinian was a battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II, fought on the island of Tinian in the Mariana Islands from 24 July until 1 August 1944. The 9,000-man Japanese garrison was eliminated, and the island joined Saipan and Guam as a base for the Twentieth Air Force.
The 4th Marine Division landed on 24 July 1944, supported by naval bombardment and marine artillery firing across the strait from Saipan. With the help of Seabee ingenuity the Marines were able to land where the Japanese did not expect, along the Northwest coast with its water's edge small coral cliffs. A successful feint for the major settlement of Tinian Town diverted defenders from the actual landing site on the north of the island. They withstood a series of night counterattacks supported by tanks, and the 2nd Marine Division landed the next day.
The weather worsened on 28 July, damaging the pontoon causeways, and interrupting the unloading of supplies. By 29 July, the Americans had captured half the island, and on 30 July the 4th Marine Division occupied Tinian Town and Airfield No. 4.
Japanese remnants made a final stand in the caves and ravines of a limestone ridge on the south portion of the island, making probes and counterattacks into the Marine line. Resistance continued through 3 August, with some civilians murdered by the Japanese.
Aftermath
By 10 August 1944, 13,000 Japanese civilians were interned, but up to 4,000 were dead through suicide, murdered by Japanese troops or killed in combat. The garrison on Aguijan Island off the southwest cape of Tinian, commanded by Lieutenant Kinichi Yamada, held out until the end of the war, surrendering on 4 September 1945. The last holdout on Tinian, Murata Susumu, was captured in 1953.
After the battle, Tinian became an important base for further Allied operations in the Pacific campaign. Camps were built for 50,000 troops. Fifteen thousand Seabees turned the island into the busiest airfield of the war, with six 7,900-foot (2,400 m) runways for attacks by United States Army Air Forces B-29 Superfortress bombers on enemy targets in the Philippines, the Ryukyu Islands, and mainland Japan, including the March 9/10 1945 Operation Meetinghouse firebombing of Tokyo and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. North Field was built over Airfields No. 1 and 3, and became operational in February 1945, while West Field was built over Airfield No. 2, and became operational in March 1945.