This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Michael D. Withers (Mike), OSCS
to remember
Hayler, Robert Ward, VADM USN(Ret).
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Contact Info
Home Town Sandusky, OH
Last Address Carmel, CA
Date of Passing Nov 17, 1980
Location of Interment Arlington National Cemetery (VLM) - Arlington, Virginia
Robert Ward Hayler was a highly decorated officer in the United States Navy with the rank of vice admiral. He was a three-time recipient of the Navy Cross, the Navy's second highest military decoration for valor. Two of these awards were received while serving as the commanding officer of the light cruiser USS Honolulu at Guadalcanal and Kula Gulf and the third as a rear admiral and Commander, Cruiser Division Twelve during the Battle of Surigao Strait in October 1944.
Following the Second World War, Hayler remained in the Navy and served as Commandant, Sixth Naval District and President, Permanent General Court Martial for the Ninth Naval District until his retirement in July 1953.
World War II/Asiatic-Pacific Theater/Treasury-Bougainville Operation
From Month/Year
October / 1943
To Month/Year
December / 1943
Description The Bougainville campaign (Operation Cherry Blossom) was fought by the Allies in the South Pacific during World War II to regain control of the island of Bougainville from the Japanese forces who had occupied it in 1942. During their occupation the Japanese constructed naval aircraft bases in the north, east, and south of the island; but none in the west. They developed a naval anchorage at Tonolei Harbor near Buin, their largest base, on the southern coastal plain of Bougainville. On the nearby Treasury and Shortland Islands they built airfields, naval bases and anchorages. These bases helped protect Rabaul, the major Japanese garrison and naval base in Papua New Guinea, while allowing continued expansion to the south-east, down the Solomon Islands chain, to Guadalcanal.
The Allied campaign, which had two distinct phases, began on 1 November 1943 and ended on 21 August 1945, with the surrender of the Japanese.
Before the war, Bougainville had been administered as part of the Australian Territory of New Guinea, even though, geographically, Bougainville is part of the Solomon Islands chain. The United Kingdom and Germany had traded it for another islands territory which became British rather than German. As a result, the campaign is referred to as part of both the New Guinea and the Solomon Islands campaigns.