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Contact Info
Home Town Berkeley
Last Address Walter Reed Army Medical Center Washington D.C., 19 March 1995.
Walter F. Boone, Admiral USN retired, who after retiring from the Navy, became the NASA Deputy Associate Administrator for Defense Affairs.
1918 - Boone's first wartime assignment was aboard the Ohio, operating with the Atlantic Fleet.
1921 - Admiral Boone graduated from the Naval Academy.
1942 - He was given his second combat assignment, as the executive officer of the aircraft carrier Enterprise.
- He participated in the Battle of Midway, the Guadalcanal-Tulagi landings, the battles of the Eastern Solomons and Santa Cruz and the November campaign of Guadalcanal.
- He was awarded the Silver Star for his actions in the Battle of Santa Cruz.
1945 - He returned to the Pacific as commanding officer of the aircraft carrier Yorktown, which participated in the later stages of the Okinawa campaign and the attacks on the Japanese home islands.
1950 - Promoted to Rear Admiral.
1954 - He returned and was appointed as the 38th superintendent of the Academy
1956 - He was promoted to full Admiral and made commander of U.S. naval forces in the eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean.
1957 - Suez Crisis. Commander Naval Forces Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean
1960 - His final assignment before retiring with the four stars of a full admiral was as the U.S. representative to the Military Committee and Standing Group of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
1967 - As a civilian, he worked for McDonnell Aircraft Company, which became part of McDonnell Douglas Corporation, and as an assistant to the administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
1993 - His wife Polly died.
1995 - Died of heart attack on March at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. He was 97.
Born in Berkeley, California, on February 14, 1898. He was appointed to the Naval Academy in 1917, and was graduated on June 5, 1920, and commissioned Ensign from that date.
CHRONOLOGICAL SERVICE: 6/20-4/21 USS Texas (Engineering). 4/21-6/24 USS California (Deck Division Officer). 6/24-6/25 USS Burns (Gunnery officer). 6/25-7/26 Naval Air Station, Pensacola (Flight Training). 7/26-6/27 USS Cincinnati and USS Raleigh (Aircraft Squadrons). 6/27-6/30 Postgraduate School (Aviation Ordnance course). 6/30-6/32 VF-6 (Gunnery Officer, Executive Officer). 6/32-6/33 Staff, Command Aircraft, Battle Force (Gunnery and Assistant Operations Officer). 6/33-6/35 Naval Proving Ground Dahlgren, Va. (Officer in Charge, Air Detail). 6/35-5/37 VP-6; VP-4 (Commanding Officer). 5/37-6/38 VF-3 (Commanding Officer). 6/38-6/39 Staff, Commander Aircraft, Battle Force (Gun & Tactics Officer). 6/39-4/42 BuAer, Navy Department (Officer in Charge, Armament Section). 5/42-1/43 USS Enterprise (Executive Officer). 1/43-3/44 Commander Task Force 22 (Chief of Staff). 4/44-2/45 12th Naval District (Commander of Naval Air Bases; CO, NAS Alameda, California). 2/45-3/45 Commander Aircraft, Pacific (Staff) 4/45-12/45 USS Yorktown (CO). 1/46-5/47 Commander Seventh Fleet (Chief of Staff). 6/47-10/47 Navy Department (General Board). 10/47-9/49 Assistant Chief of Naval Operations (Strategic Plans). 10/49-7/50 Commander Carrier Division 5 (incl Acting Cdr, 7th Fleet, two months) 7/50-7/51 U. S. Naval Forces, Eastern Atlantic & Mediterranean (Deputy and Chief of Staff). 8/51-4/52 Commander Naval Forces, Eastern Atlantic 5/52-8/54 Joint Chiefs of Staff (Navy Member, Joint Strategic Survey Committee). 8/54-4/56 Commandant, Severn River Naval Command and Superintendent, U. S. Naval Academy. 5/56-2/58 Commander in Chief, Naval Forces, Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean. 4/58 -2/60 U. S. Representative to the Military Committee and to the Standing Group, NATO, Washington, D. C. March 1, 1960 Retired from Active Duty.
DECORATIONS AND MEDALS Distinguished Service Medal Silver Star Medal Legion of Merit with Combat ?V? Commendation Ribbon Presidential Unit Citation Ribbon with two stars World War I Victory Medal, Atlantic Fleet Clasp Second Nicaraguan Campaign Medal American Defense Service Medal, Base Clasp European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with one silver star and two bronze stars (seven engagements) American Campaign Medal World War II Victory Medal Navy Occupation Service Medal, Asia Clasp China Service Medal National Defense Service Medal Philippine Liberation Ribbon Order of the British Empire Order of Yun-Hui
