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Last Address National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii Admiral John J. Hyland 09/01/1912 -- 10/25/1998 Res: Kailua, HI, Plot: CT1-A500513
Adm. John Hyland, 86, Dies; Championed Naval Air Power
Adm. John Joseph Hyland Jr., a veteran test pilot and champion of naval air power who commanded the American armada off Indochina at the height of the Vietnam War, died last Sunday at a hospice in Honolulu. He was 86 and lived in Honolulu.
President Lyndon B. Johnson went over the heads of 72 rear admirals senior to Admiral Hyland by naming him commander of the Seventh Fleet at the end of 1965, with a promotion to vice admiral. The choice reflected Admiral Hyland's long experience with carrier-based aerial combat and the President's campaign to bomb North Vietnam into submission.
The Seventh Fleet was heavily involved in providing cover and support for American ground troops in the Vietnam War. To sap Vietcong supply lines, the fleet in 1967 mined North Vietnamese rivers from the air and shelled roads in North Vietnam from cruisers and destroyers just offshore.
In September 1967, Mr. Johnson promoted Admiral Hyland to commander in chief of the Pacific Fleet, in Honolulu. The Admiral also received his fourth star and a Distinguished Service Medal for ''outstanding leadership, astute judgment and foresight in directing the complex and manifold operations of the Seventh Fleet in support of our national objectives in the Western Pacific.''
A ''Navy brat,'' John Hyland Jr. was born in Philadelphia and graduated from the Naval Academy in 1934. He completed training as a naval aviator in 1937, and, with the outbreak of World War II, was assigned to patrol duty in the Philippines, the Netherlands East Indies and in the retreat to Australia.
Admiral Hyland won the Distinguished Flying Cross for ''extraordinary flying achievement'' and heroism in the rescue of a downed British flyer in the Malucca Sea in 1942. He served for 16 months as the personal pilot of the Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. Ernest J. King.
As commander of an air group on the carrier Intrepid, Admiral Hyland was awarded a Silver Star, a fourth Air Medal and a second Distinguished Flying Cross. The citations describe his leadership and courage during low-level combat raids and the final missions over the Japanese home islands at the end of the war.
Admiral Hyland did two stints as a test pilot in the late 1940's and 1950's before taking command of the carrier Saratoga. Just before he assuming his duties at the Strategic Plans Division in Washington, he commanded a carrier task force.
As head of the Pacific Fleet, Admiral Hyland played central roles in two painful episodes in the Navy's history: the investigations of the capture and detention by North Korean patrol boats of the intelligence ship Pueblo in January 1968, and the explosion that killed and maimed scores of sailors aboard the carrier Enterprise during bombing practice just months later.
He retired on Jan. 1, 1971.
Other Comments:
Internment: National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific
Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii
Admiral USN, John J. Hyland
09/01/1912 -- 10/25/1998 next to his wife
Captain, USA, Florence (Whiting) Hyland
04/27/1914 -- 02/16/1990
Res: Kailua, HI, Plot: CT1-A500513
Obituary: Adm. John J. Hyland dies
Date
Oct 25, 1998
Last Updated: Jan 25, 2010
Comments
October 25, 1998
Highly decorated retired Adm. John J. Hyland dies By Harold Morse Star-Bulletin (Honolulu)
Retired Adm. John J. Hyland, 1967-70 Pacific Fleet commander, Honolulu resident and much-decorated scion of an old Navy family, died Sunday in St. Francis Hospice after a brief illness. He was 86.
A naval aviator, he championed the aircraft carrier. "The aircraft carrier is one way to provide first- class tactical air power in a selected area," he once said.
Born in Philadelphia, he graduated from the Naval Academy in 1934, 34 years after the academy graduation of his father, a Navy captain. He became a Navy flier in 1937.
In the Philippines at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack, he took part in the defense of the Philippines, various engagements in the Dutch East Indies and the 1942 Allied pullback to Australia. Later that year, he became Fleet Adm. Ernest J. King's personal pilot, returning to the Pacific in 1943.
He commanded an air group flying off the carrier Intrepid and took part in various combat actions in the last years of World War II.
His postwar career included a number of command positions, both sea and air. He also was a Navy test pilot and served in various high-ranking staff positions.
He took over the Pacific Fleet with promotion to full admiral after his 1965-67 command of the 7th Fleet in Southeast Asian waters.
His arrival then marked his third Pearl Harbor tour. In 1940, he was stationed here, and his family lived six months on Ford Island. In 1954, he returned to Hawaii to become Pacific Fleet air operations officer.
After retiring Jan. 1, 1971, Hyland held business directorships and continued an active interest in naval aviation. He was elected to the Naval Aviation Hall of Honor in Pensacola, Fla., and the Naval Aviation Test Pilots Hall of Honor in Charleston, S.C.
His awards and decorations included the Distinguished Service Medal with gold star for second award for exceptional meritorious service; Distinguished Flying Cross with gold stars for two additional awards for heroism or extraordinary achievement in flight; Silver Star for gallantry in action in leading a low-level air attack against an enemy air base at Kure, Japan, on March 19, 1945; and Air Medal with gold stars for four additional awards for meritorious service in war or peace.
Decorations from governments of the Netherlands, Philippines, Japan, South Korea, Republic of China and South Vietnam also came to Hyland.
He received the John Paul Jones Award for inspirational leadership from the Navy League in 1966.
His wife, the former Florence Day Whiting, died in 1991. An art admirer, she was a volunteer with the Honolulu Academy of Arts. The admiral is survived by sons John J. Hyland III and Whiting Walker Hyland; daughters Nancy Arnold and Pamela Hyland; seven grandchildren and two great- grandchildren.
A Mass will be said at 11 a.m. tomorrow at the Naval Station Chapel, Pearl Harbor, with visitation from 10:45 a.m. Inurnment will follow in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Punchbowl, at 1 p.m. tomorrow. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Honolulu Academy of Arts, 800 S. Beretania St., Honolulu 96813; or St. Francis Hospice, 24 Puiwa Road, Honolulu 96817.
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Admiral John Joseph Hyland, Jr. USN (Ret) was a Rear Admiral when he became Commander Carrier Division Four on 8 November 1962 aboard USS Forrestal in Norfolk VA. Admiral Hyland was born in Philadelphia PA, and graduated from the US Naval Academy in 1934. He served in combat in WWII in the Pacific as an aviator and squadron commander on USS Intrepid. After COMCARDIV 4, RADM Hyland went on to become VADM, Commander-Seventh Fleet 13 Dec 1965 - 06 Nov 1967; then ADM, Commander-in-Chief Pacific Fleet (CINCPACFLT) 30 Nov 1967 - 05 Dec 1970. He retired on 01 Jan 1971, and deceased on 25 Oct 1998.
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1962-63 RADM John Joseph Hyland, Jr., USN was CCD4 from 8 Nov 62 to 12 Oct 63; his Chief-of-Staff was CAPT Valdemar Greene Lambert, who Arrived 1 Dec 62. On 30 Nov 1967 ADM Hyland relieved ADM Roy L. Johnson as CINCPAC, during a ceremony on board the USS Kitty Hawk.
Admiral Hyland's most significant duty stations were CINCPACFLT; COMSEVENTHFLT; COMCARDIV 4: CO, USS SARATOGA (CV-60) and PERSONAL PILOT, CNO, FADM E. J. KING.
ADM Hyland's most significant awards were: DISTINGUISHED SERVICE MEDAL (2); SILVER STAR MEDAL; DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS (3); AIR MEDAL (5); WORLD WAR TWO VICTORY MEDAL.
Admiral Hyland. Also see USS FORRESTAL, the USS FRANKLIN DELENO ROOSEVELT, AND THE USS SHANGRI-LA.
Admiral Hyland is survived by two sons, John J. 3d and Whiting; two daughters, Nancy Arnold and Pamela Hyland; seven grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. His wife, Florence Whiting Hyland, died in 1991 after 53 years of marriage.
