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Contact Info
Home Town St. Louis, MO
Last Address San Diego, CA
Date of Passing Jun 06, 1956
Location of Interment U.S. Naval Academy Cemetery and Columbarium (VLM) - Annapolis, Maryland
Wall/Plot Coordinates Plot: Section 7 Plot 1607
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Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
Charles Turner Joy served as an admiral of the United States Navy during World War II and the Korean War. During the last years of his career, while fighting leukemia, he served as Superintendent of the Naval Academy.
Other Comments:
After receiving an appointment to the US Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland in 1912, he graduated as an ensign in 1916 and served on the battleship USS Pennsylvania for more than four years, including the period of US participation in World War I.
In 1923, after receiving a graduate degree in ordinance engineering from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Michigan, he began two years as Aide and Flag Lieutenant to Commander, Yangtze Patrol, China, followed by a tour as Executive Officer of the Asiatic Fleet destroyer USS Pope, an assignment with the Bureau of Ordnance in Washington DC, sea duty with the battleship USS California, and service at the Naval Mine Depot at Yorktown, Virginia.
In the mid-1930s, as a lieutenant commander, he became the commander of the destroyer USS Litchfield and was on the staff of Commander Destroyers, Battle Force. In 1937, he became an instructor at the US Naval Academy, followed in 1940 as the Executive Officer of the heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis.
When the US entered World War II in December 1941, he was the Operations Officer for Commander Scouting Force, Pacific Fleet and assisted in planning and executing combat operations against Japan. In 1942, he was promoted to the rank of captain and commanded the heavy cruiser USS Louisville from September 1942 until June 1943, during which time he was active in the Aleutian Islands and South Pacific war campaigns.
In 1944, following a war plans tour at the Navy Department in Washington DC, he was promoted to the rank of rear admiral and became commander of Cruiser Division 6, leading it through nearly a year and a half of intense combat service against the Japanese. He participated in eleven naval combat engagements in the Pacific Theater during World War II, including the Battles of Bougainville, Rennell Island, Guadalcanal, Attu, Saipan, the Philippine Sea, Formosa and Okinawa.
After the Japanese surrender in August 1945, he was assigned to duty in China as the Commander, Yangtze Task Force. In 1946, he returned to the US and became head of the Naval Proving Ground at Dahlgren, Virginia.
In 1949, he was promoted to the rank of vice admiral and he returned to the Western Pacific to become Commander Naval Forces, Far East and held that position until mid-1952, directing much of the Navy's effort during the first two years of the Korean War, directing the amphibious landings at Inchon, Korea. From July 1951 until May 1952, he was the senior United Nations (UN) delegate to the Korean Armistice Negotiations. Negotiations languished after he put the final UN Command package proposal on the table in April 1952.
Frustrated by lack of progress, he requested a reassignment and he returned to the US to become the Superintendent of the US Naval Academy and he retired in that position in July 1954 after 38 years of continuous military service.
His military and foreign decorations and awards include the Distinguished Service Cross, the Navy Distinguished Service Medal, the Army Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star with combat "V" device, the Mexican Service Medal, the World War I Victory Medal with escort clasp, the China Service Medal, the American Defense Service Medal with Atlantic clasp, the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with three bronze service stars, the World War II Victory Medal, the Navy Occupation Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korea Service Medal with one service star, the Philippine Liberation Medal with two stars, the Order of British Empire, and the United Nations Korea Medal.
He was then promoted to the rank of admiral on the retired list for having been especially commended in combat in accordance with an Act of Congress passed on March 4, 1925 and February 23, 1942 (colloquially known as a "tombstone promotion").
In 1955 he authored the book "How Communists Negotiate," based on his experiences while a part of the Korean Armistice Negotiations. He died of leukemia at the age of 61.
The destroyer USS Turner Joy (DD-951), which was in service from 1959 until 1991, was named in his honor, as well as Turner Joy Road at the US Naval Academy.
In 1978, his memoirs "Negotiating While Fighting: The Diary of Admiral C. Turner Joy at the Korean Armistice Conference" was published.
Mariana and Palau Islands Campaign (1944)/Battle of Saipan
From Month/Year
June / 1944
To Month/Year
July / 1944
Description The Battle of Saipan was a battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II, fought on the island of Saipan in the Mariana Islands from 15 June–9 July 1944. The Allied invasion fleet embarking the expeditionary forces left Pearl Harbor on 5 June 1944, the day before Operation Overlord in Europe was launched. The U.S. 2nd Marine Division, 4th Marine Division, and 27th Infantry Division, commanded by Lieutenant General Holland Smith, defeated the 43rd Division of the Imperial Japanese Army, commanded by Lieutenant General Yoshitsugu Saito.
Bombardment of Saipan began on 13 June 1944. Fifteen battleships were involved, and 165,000 shells were fired. Seven modern fast battleships delivered twenty-four hundred 16 in (410 mm) shells, but to avoid potential minefields, fire was from a distance of 10,000 yd (9,100 m) or more, and crews were inexperienced in shore bombardment. The following day the eight older battleships and 11 cruisers under Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf replaced the fast battleships but were lacking in time and ammunition.
The landings[4] began at 07:00 on 15 June 1944. More than 300 LVTs landed 8,000 Marines on the west coast of Saipan by about 09:00. Eleven fire support ships covered the Marine landings. The naval force consisted of the battleships Tennessee and California. The cruisers were Birmingham and Indianapolis. The destroyers were Norman Scott, Monssen, Colahan, Halsey Powell, Bailey, Robinson and Albert W. Grant. Careful Japanese artillery preparation — placing flags in the lagoon to indicate the range — allowed them to destroy about 20 amphibious tanks, and the Japanese strategically placed barbed wire, artillery, machine gun emplacements, and trenches to maximize the American casualties. However, by nightfall the 2nd and 4th Marine Divisions had a beachhead about 6 mi (10 km) wide and 0.5 mi (1 km) deep. The Japanese counter-attacked at night but were repulsed with heavy losses. On 16 June, units of the U.S. Army's 27th Infantry Division landed and advanced on the airfield at Ås Lito (which is now the location of Saipan International Airport). Again the Japanese counter-attacked at night. On 18 June, Saito abandoned the airfield.
The invasion surprised the Japanese high command, which had been expecting an attack further south. Admiral Soemu Toyoda, commander-in-chief of the Japanese Navy, saw an opportunity to use the A-Go force to attack the U.S. Navy forces around Saipan. On 15 June, he gave the order to attack. But the resulting battle of the Philippine Sea was a disaster for the Imperial Japanese Navy, which lost three aircraft carriers and hundreds of planes. The garrisons of the Marianas would have no hope of resupply or reinforcement.
Without resupply, the battle on Saipan was hopeless for the defenders, but the Japanese were determined to fight to the last man. Saito organized his troops into a line anchored on Mount Tapotchau in the defensible mountainous terrain of central Saipan. The nicknames given by the Americans to the features of the battle — "Hell's Pocket", "Purple Heart Ridge" and "Death Valley" — indicate the severity of the fighting. The Japanese used the many caves in the volcanic landscape to delay the attackers, by hiding during the day and making sorties at night. The Americans gradually developed tactics for clearing the caves by using flamethrower teams supported by artillery and machine guns.
The operation was marred by inter-service controversy when Marine General Holland Smith, unsatisfied with the performance of the 27th Division, relieved its commander, Army Major General Ralph C. Smith. However, General Holland Smith had not inspected the terrain over which the 27th was to advance. Essentially, it was a valley surrounded by hills and cliffs under Japanese control. The 27th took heavy casualties and eventually, under a plan developed by General Ralph Smith and implemented after his relief, had one battalion hold the area while two other battalions successfully flanked the Japanese.
By 7 July, the Japanese had nowhere to retreat. Saito made plans for a final suicidal banzai charge. On the fate of the remaining civilians on the island, Saito said, "There is no longer any distinction between civilians and troops. It would be better for them to join in the attack with bamboo spears than be captured." At dawn, with a group of 12 men carrying a great red flag in the lead, the remaining able-bodied troops — about 3,000 men — charged forward in the final attack. Amazingly, behind them came the wounded, with bandaged heads, crutches, and barely armed. The Japanese surged over the American front lines, engaging both army and Marine units. The 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 105th Infantry Regiment were almost destroyed, losing 650 killed and wounded. However, the fierce resistance of these two battalions, as well as that of Headquarters Company, 105th Infantry, and supply elements of 3rd Battalion, 10th Marine Artillery Regiment resulted in over 4,300 Japanese killed. For their actions during the 15-hour Japanese attack, three men of the 105th Infantry were awarded the Medal of Honor — all posthumously. Numerous others fought the Japanese until they were overwhelmed by the largest Japanese Banzai attack in the Pacific War.
By 16:15 on 9 July, Admiral Turner announced that Saipan was officially secured. Saito — along with commanders Hirakushi and Igeta — committed suicide in a cave. Also committing suicide at the end of the battle was Vice-Admiral Chuichi Nagumo — the naval commander who led the Japanese carriers at Pearl Harbor and Midway — who had been assigned to Saipan to direct the Japanese naval air forces based there.
In the end, almost the entire garrison of troops on the island — at least 30,000 — died. For the Americans, the victory was the most costly to date in the Pacific War. 2,949 Americans were killed and 10,464 wounded, out of 71,000 who landed. Hollywood actor Lee Marvin was among the many American wounded. He was serving with "I" Company, 24th Marine Regiment, when he was shot in the buttocks by Japanese machine gun fire during the assault on Mount Tapochau. He was awarded the Purple Heart and was given a medical discharge with the rank of Private First Class in 1945.
