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Casualty Info
Home Town Greenlee, AZ
Last Address Morenci, AZ
Casualty Date Nov 16, 1944
Cause KIA-Body Not Recovered
Reason Other Explosive Device
Location Pacific Ocean
Conflict World War II
Location of Interment Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial - Honolulu, Hawaii
Wall/Plot Coordinates Court 1 (cenotaph)
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
USS Scamp (SS-277) began her 8th war patrol on 16 October 1944, and was last heard from on 9 November. Japanese records indicate that a submarine was depth charged near Tokyo bay on 11 November, and five days later another attack produced a large explosion. This may have been the fate of the Scamp. Seaman 1st Class Rodriguez was listed as missing in action and later declared dead 6 December 1945.
Comments/Citation:
Service number: 3831149
Submarine war patrols:
USS Guardfish (SS-217) - 1st through 5th
USS Scamp (SS-277) - 4th through 8th
The information contained in this profile was compiled from various internet sources.
World War II/Asiatic-Pacific Theater/New Guinea Campaign (1943-44)
From Month/Year
January / 1943
To Month/Year
December / 1944
Description The last obstacle in liberating all of New Guinea island was the Vogelkop Peninsula in Dutch New Guinea. The Japanese resistance on the peninsula gathered at Manokwari, and MacArthur did not wish to contest with this force. Instead, his "hit 'em where they ain't" strategy took the Allied forces to a number of undefended beaches near Cape Opmaria and Sansapor. Like Rabaul, the 25,000 men at Manokwari were now stranded, frustratingly idling uselessly.
In Sep 1944, Allied troops occupied the Halmahera Islands, concluding the New Guinea Campaign. MacArthur was now only several hundred miles from the Philippines. In his memoir, MacArthur attributed to the Allied victory over New Guinea to mobility and the ability to achieve surprise at key confrontations. Additionally, he also insisted that his refusal to deploy military governors over conquered regions helped his command focus on the task at hand. Instead, he brought in Dutch and Australian civil administrators immediately after the area had been deemed secure. "The success of this method was reflected in the complete lack of friction between the various governments concerned", he noted.
Although Allied attention would move toward the Philippine Islands by this time, small pockets of Japanese resistance would continue to fight until late May 1945.
