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Contact Info
Home Town Flint, MI
Date of Passing Feb 15, 1976
Location of Interment Arlington National Cemetery (VLM) - Arlington, Virginia
Wall/Plot Coordinates 2 4735-B
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
Admiral Maurice E. Curts graduated from United States Naval Academy in 1919. He studied the emerging technology of radio at the Naval Postgraduate School in Annapolis, Maryland and Harvard University between 1926 and 1928. These studies led to his assignment as Officer-in-Charge, Radio and Sound, Naval Research Laboratory from 1936 to 1938, where he earned a commendation from the Secretary of the Navy for his outstanding contributions in the development of radar.
At the outbreak of World War II, Admiral Curts was the Communications Officer for the staff of Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet. He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for his successful and innovative organization of joint communications during the first months of the war.
Admiral Curts was awarded the Navy Cross and Silver Star Medal for extraordinary heroism while commanding the cruiser USS COLUMBIA during the Leyte Gulf landings, the Battle of Surigao Strait, the Lingayen Gulf landings and the liberation of Borneo. During the initial Lingayen Gulf landings, he continued to lead his cruiser in action despite severe damage inflicted by two suicide planes which had left 100 of his men dead or wounded.
As Chief of Staff and Aide to Commander, FIRST Carrier Task Force, Pacific Fleet, Admiral Curts was present at the formal surrender of the Japanese on board the battleship USS MISSOURI in Tokyo Bay on 02 September 1945.
Following the close of World War II, Admiral Curts served as Force Commander, Operational Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet; Assistant Chief of Naval Operations (Readiness); and Deputy Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet, serving with great distinction until 13 January 1956. On that date, President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed Admiral Curts Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet. Admiral Curts served in that capacity until 01 February 1958. One month later, he assumed duty as Commander, Western Sea Frontier, serving in that capacity until his retirement on 01 April 1960.
Other Comments:
Navy Cross
Awarded for Actions During World War II
Service: Navy
Division: U.S.S. Columbia (CL-56)
General Orders: Commander 7th Fleet: Serial 27-F (March 1945)
Citation: The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Rear Admiral [then Captain] Maurice Edwin Curts (NSN: 0-55964), United States Navy, for extraordinary heroism and distinguished service in the line of his profession as Commanding Officer of the Light Cruiser U.S.S. COLUMBIA (CL-56), in action against enemy Japanese forces during the amphibious landings on Leyte and during the Battle for Leyte Gulf from 17 to 29 October 1944. Skillfully directing his ship in an assignment of vital importance, Rear Admiral Curts courageously maneuvered through enemy-infested waters during the approach on Leyte Gulf and, continually providing alert and effective defense for our invasion forces against hostile air attacks, furnished close-in bombardment support for the actual landings. In the course of this action, his ship assisted in the sinking of at least one Japanese battleship, a cruiser and six destroyers, thereby contributing materially to the success of our operations in this area. By his courageous leadership and gallant devotion to duty, Rear Admiral Curts upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.
World War II/Asiatic-Pacific Theater/Iwo Jima Operation
From Month/Year
February / 1945
To Month/Year
March / 1945
Description The Battle of Iwo Jima (19 February – 26 March 1945), or Operation Detachment, was a major battle in which the United States Armed Forces fought for and captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Japanese Empire. The American invasion had the goal of capturing the entire island, including its three airfields (including South Field and Central Field), to provide a staging area for attacks on the Japanese main islands. This five-week battle comprised some of the fiercest and bloodiest fighting of the War in the Pacific of World War II.
After the heavy losses incurred in the battle, the strategic value of the island became controversial. It was useless to the U.S. Army as a staging base and useless to the U.S. Navy as a fleet base. However, Navy SEABEES rebuilt the landing strips, which were used as emergency landing strips for USAAF B-29s.
The Imperial Japanese Army positions on the island were heavily fortified, with a dense network of bunkers, hidden artillery positions, and 18 km (11 mi) of underground tunnels. The Americans on the ground were supported by extensive naval artillery and complete air supremacy over Iwo Jima from the beginning of the battle by U.S. Navy and Marine Corps aviators.
Iwo Jima was the only battle by the U.S. Marine Corps in which the Japanese combat deaths were thrice those of the Americans throughout the battle. Of the 22,000 Japanese soldiers on Iwo Jima at the beginning of the battle, only 216 were taken prisoner, some of whom were captured because they had been knocked unconscious or otherwise disabled. The majority of the remainder were killed in action, although it has been estimated that as many as 3,000 continued to resist within the various cave systems for many days afterwards, eventually succumbing to their injuries or surrendering weeks later.
Despite the bloody fighting and severe casualties on both sides, the Japanese defeat was assured from the start. Overwhelming American superiority in arms and numbers as well as complete control of air power — coupled with the impossibility of Japanese retreat or reinforcement — permitted no plausible circumstance in which the Americans could have lost the battle.
The battle was immortalized by Joe Rosenthal's photograph of the raising of the U.S. flag on top of the 166 m (545 ft) Mount Suribachi by five U.S. Marines and one U.S. Navy battlefield Hospital Corpsman. The photograph records the second flag-raising on the mountain, both of which took place on the fifth day of the 35-day battle. Rosenthal's photograph promptly became an indelible icon — of that battle, of that war in the Pacific, and of the Marine Corps itself — and has been widely reproduced.
