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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."
Marshall Islands Operation (1944)/Battle of Kwajalein Atoll (Operation Flintlock)
From Month/Year
January / 1944
To Month/Year
February / 1944
Description The Battle of Kwajalein was fought as part of the Pacific campaign of World War II. It took place from 31 January-3 February 1944, on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Employing the hard-learned lessons of the battle of Tarawa, the United States launched a successful twin assault on the main islands of Kwajalein in the south and Roi-Namur in the north. The Japanese defenders put up stiff resistance, although outnumbered and under-prepared. The determined defense of Roi-Namur left only 51 survivors of an original garrison of 3,500.
For the US, the battle represented both the next step in its island-hopping march to Japan and a significant moral victory because it was the first time the Americans had penetrated the "outer ring" of the Japanese Pacific sphere. For the Japanese, the battle represented the failure of the beach-line defense. Japanese defenses became prepared in depth, and the battles of Peleliu, Guam, and the Marianas proved far more costly to the US.