This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Robert Cox, YNCS
to remember
Fluckey, Eugene Bennett, RADM USN(Ret).
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Contact Info
Home Town Washington, DC
Last Address 7101 Bay Front Dr #313 Annapolis, MD 21403
Date of Passing Jun 28, 2007
Location of Interment U.S. Naval Academy Cemetery and Columbarium (VLM) - Annapolis, Maryland
After he retired from the Navy in 1972, Eugene Fluckey and his wife, Marjorie, started running an orphanage in Portugal in 1974. Marjorie died in 1979, after 42 years of marriage. He married his second wife, Margaret, in 1980 and they continued to run the orphanage together until it closed in 1982. He has one daughter, Barbara.
His book, Thunder Below! published in 1992, depicts the exploits of his beloved Barb. "Though the tally shows more shells, bombs, and depth charges fired at Barb, no one received the Purple Heart and Barb came back alive, eager, and ready to fight again."
Fluckey was awarded Eagle Scout in 1948. He is one of only eleven known Eagle Scouts who also received the Medal of Honor. He was an honorary companion of the Maryland Commandery of the Military Order of Foreign Wars. His book Thunder Below! was winner of the 1993 Samuel Eliot Morison Award for Naval Literature.
Other Comments:
Medal of Honor
Awarded for Actions During World War II
Service: Navy
Division: U.S.S. Barb (SS-220)
General Orders: Submarine Board of Awards, Serial 0175 (February 28, 1945)
Citation: The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Commander Eugene Bennett Fluckey, United States Navy, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as commanding officer of the U.S.S. BARB (SS-220) during her ELEVENTH War Patrol along the east coast of China from 19 December 1944 to 15 February 1945. After sinking a large enemy ammunition ship and damaging additional tonnage during a running two-hour night battle on 8 January, Commander Fluckey, in an exceptional feat of brilliant deduction and bold tracking on 25 January, located a concentration of more than 30 enemy ships in the lower reaches of Nankuan Chiang (Mamkwan Harbor). Fully aware that a safe retirement would necessitate an hour's run at full speed through the uncharted, mined, and rock-obstructed waters, he bravely ordered, "Battle station--torpedoes!" In a daring penetration of the heavy enemy screen, and riding in five fathoms of water, he launched the BARB's last forward torpedoes at 3,000-yard range. Quickly bringing the ship's stern tubes to bear, he turned loose four more torpedoes into the enemy, obtaining eight direct hits on six of the main targets to explode a large ammunition ship and cause inestimable damage by the resultant flying shells and other pyrotechnics. Clearing the treacherous area at high speed, he brought the BARB through to safety and four days later sank a large Japanese freighter to complete a record of heroic combat achievement, reflecting the highest credit upon Commander Fluckey, his gallant officers and men, and the United States Naval Service.
World War II/Asiatic-Pacific Theater/Luzon Campaign (1944-45)
From Month/Year
December / 1944
To Month/Year
April / 1945
Description On December 15, 1944, landings against minimal resistance were made on the southern beaches of the island of Mindoro, a key location in the planned Lingayen Gulf operations, in support of major landings scheduled on Luzon. On January 9, 1945, on the south shore of Lingayen Gulf on the western coast of Luzon, General Krueger's Sixth Army landed his first units. Almost 175,000 men followed across the twenty-mile (32 km) beachhead within a few days. With heavy air support, Army units pushed inland, taking Clark Field, 40 miles (64 km) northwest of Manila, in the last week of January.
Two more major landings followed, one to cut off the Bataan Peninsula, and another, that included a parachute drop, south of Manila. Pincers closed on the city and, on February 3, 1945, elements of the U.S. 1st Cavalry Division pushed into the northern outskirts of Manila and the 8th Cavalry Regiment (organized as infantry) passed through the northern suburbs and into the city itself.
As the advance on Manila continued from the north and the south, the Bataan Peninsula was rapidly secured. On February 16, paratroopers and amphibious units simultaneously assaulted the islet of Corregidor. It was necessary to take this stronghold because troops there can block the entrance of Manila Bay. The Americans needed to establish a major harbor base at Manila Bay to support the expected invasion of Japan, planned to begin on November 1, 1945. Resistance on Corregidor ended on February 27, and then all resistance by the Japanese Empire ceased on August 15, 1945, obviating the need for an invasion of the Japanese Home Islands.
Despite initial optimism, fighting in Manila was harsh. It took until March 3 to clear the city of all Japanese troops, and the Japanese Marines, who fought on stubbornly and refused to either surrender or to evacuate as the Japanese Army had done. Fort Drum, a fortified island in Manila Bay near Corregidor, held out until 13 April, when a team of Army troops went ashore and pumped 3,000 gallons of diesel fuel into the fort, then set off incendiary charges. No Japanese soldiers in Fort Drum survived the blast and fire.
In all, ten U.S. divisions and five independent regiments battled on Luzon, making it the largest American campaign of the Pacific war, involving more troops than the United States had used in North Africa, Italy, or southern France.
