This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Burton Schneider (Burt), LT
to remember
Hemley, Eugene Adams (Gene), CAPT USN(Ret).
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Contact Info
Home Town Brooklyn, NY
Last Address Scarsdale, NY
Date of Passing Nov 11, 2002
Location of Interment Arlington National Cemetery (VLM) - Arlington, Virginia
Wall/Plot Coordinates 67 4503
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
After graduation, Gene served aboard the light cruiser NASHVILLE through half of the war as a deck division officer and then as Electrical Officer. During this period, NASHVILLE operated on the West Coast, Hawaii, North Atlantic to Iceland, Bermuda, Pacific to Japan (Doolittle Raid), Aleutians, and Solomons.
For the second half of the war, Gene served aboard the submarine SEADRAGON as Engineer and Torpedo Data Computer Operator (Fire Control Officer), making four successful war patrols and receiving the Silver Star. Then he served aboard GREENLING as Executive Officer, completing one war patrol.
In June, 1945, Gene went to the P.G. course in Naval Design Engineering at Annapolis, which was completed in 1948. Then he was off to Hawaii as a submarine Squadron Engineer for one year before becoming Executive Officer of the submarine BECUNA. This was followed by a short tour as Ordnance Officer, Submarine Base, New London. From 1951 on, Gene had the good fortune of rotating duties afloat and ashore with all sea duties being in command and shore duties being senior staff positions and one in command of a shore station.
His afloat tours were: command of the submarine BANG; the submarine VOLADOR; the destroyer BRISTOL; the amphibious flagship TACONIC; and the command cruiser NORTHAMPTON. His shore assignments included: Operations Officer of an ASW development detachment in Key West; Director, Fleet Communications, OPNAV; C.O., Naval Communications Station, Japan; Department Head, War Gaming Department, NavalWarCollege; and Deputy Director, Information Systems Division, OPNAV.
"Retiring" in 1970, he went to work as Director, MIS National Girl Scouts Organization. Four years later, he joined The International Trade Facilitation Council, fleeting up eleven years later to Executive Director which he has continued to be ever since.
Other "trail markers" over the years included: District Chairman, Boy Scouts Far East Council; Black Belt Aikido; M.S. in International Affairs; President, Naval Academy Alumni Association, New York; President, Westchester County Tennis Club; U.S. Business Representative at United Nations Economic Commission European meetings; and hosting President Lyndon Johnson and Northeast governors, congressmen and families on an overnight cruise aboard Northampton.
Gene has been very happily married to his wife, Charlotte, of Huntington, Indiana, since their wedding forty years ago in Hawaii. They have two sons, two daughters, and three grandchildren.
Other Comments:
Submarine war patrols:
USS Greenling (SS-218) - 12th
USS Seadragon (SS-194) - 8th through 11th
Profile originally researched and created by SCPO Kent Weekly. Maintained by LT Burton Hemley Schneider, nephew of CAPT Hemley.
World War II/Asiatic-Pacific Theater/Guadalcanal Campaign (1942-43)
From Month/Year
August / 1942
To Month/Year
February / 1943
Description The Guadalcanal Campaign, also known as the Battle of Guadalcanal and codenamed Operation Watchtower by Allied forces, was a military campaign fought between 7 August 1942 and 9 February 1943 on and around the island of Guadalcanal in the Pacific theatre of World War II. It was the first major offensive by Allied forces against the Empire of Japan.
On 7 August 1942, Allied forces, predominantly American, landed on the islands of Guadalcanal, Tulagi, and Florida in the southern Solomon Islands with the objective of denying their use by the Japanese to threaten the supply and communication routes between the US, Australia, and New Zealand. The Allies also intended to use Guadalcanal and Tulagi as bases to support a campaign to eventually capture or neutralize the major Japanese base at Rabaul on New Britain. The Allies overwhelmed the outnumbered Japanese defenders, who had occupied the islands since May 1942, and captured Tulagi and Florida, as well as an airfield (later named Henderson Field) that was under construction on Guadalcanal. Powerful US naval forces supported the landings.
Surprised by the Allied offensive, the Japanese made several attempts between August and November 1942 to retake Henderson Field. Three major land battles, seven large naval battles (five nighttime surface actions and two carrier battles), and continual, almost daily aerial battles culminated in the decisive Naval Battle of Guadalcanal in early November 1942, in which the last Japanese attempt to bombard Henderson Field from the sea and land with enough troops to retake it was defeated. In December 1942, the Japanese abandoned further efforts to retake Guadalcanal and evacuated their remaining forces by 7 February 1943 in the face of an offensive by the US Army's XIV Corps, conceding the island to the Allies.
The Guadalcanal campaign was a significant strategic combined arms victory by Allied forces over the Japanese in the Pacific theatre. The Japanese had reached the high-water mark of their conquests in the Pacific, and Guadalcanal marked the transition by the Allies from defensive operations to the strategic offensive in that theatre and the beginning of offensive operations, including the Solomon Islands, New Guinea, and Central Pacific campaigns, that resulted in Japan's eventual surrender and the end of World War II.
