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Home Town Anderson, IN
Last Address Winston-Salem, NC
Date of Passing Jun 06, 2003
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Thaddeus Johnson Van Metre
He was born May 2, 1907, in Anderson, Ind., to Thaddeus J., who died 17 days after his birth, and Sarah E. Van Metre.
Rear Admiral Van Metre was educated in the Indiana Public Schools, George Washington University, The U.S. Naval Academy and did postgraduate work at The Industrial College of the Armed Forces. He served on the cruiser Detroit, Battleship Pennsylvania and various other destroyers in the Atlantic and Pacific until 1937. He was married Nov. 20, 1938, to Madeliene M. McCormick in Philadelphia, Pa., while serving on the staff of Commandant 4th Naval District. He left immediately for a two-year tour of duty on the Asiatic Station on the coastal gunboat, USS Tulsa. He was evacuated from Hong Kong in December 1940 with his wife and 1-year-old son, Brian. He was ordered to precommission detail for the Battleship USS North Carolina at the Naval Yard in Brooklyn, N.Y., and received favorable impressions of the N.C. Governors Delegation to the commissioning of the battleship on April 9, 1941, influencing his decision to retire in 1960 in N.C. He served during the war on the USS North Carolina until October 1944 in various assignments, the last two years as Navigator. He received the Bronze Star with Combat Citation and commanded USS Hillary P. Jones and a destroyer squadron in the Pacific until war's end. His postwar duties included Naval Proving Ground in Dahlgren, Va., Command of the USS Kenebec transporting oil from the Persian Gulf to the Philippines, Japan, Alaska and the West Coast. His shore duties include the Bureau of Naval Personnel, Washington, D.C., Senior Naval Officer as Chief of Military Assistance Group, Lisbon, Portugal, and the staff of CNO Washington, and Commander Service Squadron of 29 ships. He commanded The Naval Base at Norfolk, Va., and the U.S. Naval Station until he physically retired in November 1959. He accepted a position with the Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce and moved there in 1960. He was appointed by the governor to establish the N.C. Advancement School and by the mayor to chair the Citizens Advisory Committee on Community Development. He served on the boards of Centenary United Methodist Church, The Retired Officers Association and Rotary Club.
Rear Admiral Thaddeus J. Van Metre, USN Retired, died Friday, June 6, 2003, at Forsyth Medical Center in Winston-Salem.
Other Comments:
Thaddeus Van Metre receives Bronze Star with Combat Citation:
Capt. T. J. Metre, USN, Awarded the Bronze Star (then LCdr) for "meritorious service in connection with operations against the enemy as navigator of the USS North Carolina from May 27 to Oct. 3, 1944, in the Pacific areas in action against repeated day and night attacks by enemy aircraft."
World War II/Asiatic-Pacific Theater/New Guinea Campaign (1943-44)
From Month/Year
January / 1943
To Month/Year
December / 1944
Description The last obstacle in liberating all of New Guinea island was the Vogelkop Peninsula in Dutch New Guinea. The Japanese resistance on the peninsula gathered at Manokwari, and MacArthur did not wish to contest with this force. Instead, his "hit 'em where they ain't" strategy took the Allied forces to a number of undefended beaches near Cape Opmaria and Sansapor. Like Rabaul, the 25,000 men at Manokwari were now stranded, frustratingly idling uselessly.
In Sep 1944, Allied troops occupied the Halmahera Islands, concluding the New Guinea Campaign. MacArthur was now only several hundred miles from the Philippines. In his memoir, MacArthur attributed to the Allied victory over New Guinea to mobility and the ability to achieve surprise at key confrontations. Additionally, he also insisted that his refusal to deploy military governors over conquered regions helped his command focus on the task at hand. Instead, he brought in Dutch and Australian civil administrators immediately after the area had been deemed secure. "The success of this method was reflected in the complete lack of friction between the various governments concerned", he noted.
Although Allied attention would move toward the Philippine Islands by this time, small pockets of Japanese resistance would continue to fight until late May 1945.
