John Edward Gingrich - Arlington VA - Grave of a Famous Person on Waymarking.com

He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Section 2, Site 4965-D-RH.

Description: From Find A Grave - US Navy Admiral. He served as the first chief of security for the US Atomic Energy Commission from 1947 to 1949. Born John Edward Gingrich in Dodge City, Kansas, he attended the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas before receiving an appointment in 1915 to the US Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland and upon graduation in June 1919 he was commissioned an ensign. He first served on the battleship USS Pennsylvania, the flagship of the Atlantic Fleet. From January 1920 to July 1921 he served as assistant communication officer on the staff of Admiral Henry B. Wilson, Jr., Commander in Chief, Atlantic Fleet. In August 1921 he was transferred to the newly commissioned battleship USS Maryland, where he remained until June 1925, when he returned to the US Naval Academy for a two-year tour as an instructor in the Department of Navigation. From May 1927 until July 1930 he served as gunnery officer aboard the armored cruiser USS Rochester, which operated in the Caribbean Sea during US interventions in Nicaragua and Haiti, followed by two years with the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps Unit at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. In June 1932 he commanded the fleet tug USS Algorma until April 1934, when he was transferred to the heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis until June 1935, when he was assigned to Washington DC, for duty in the US Navy Department's Hydrographic Office. During this tour, he helped complete a new set of pre-computed tables to assist aviators and navigators in calculating their positions. Published in 1936, the new Aerial and Marine Navigation Tables were a vast improvement over the previous Ageton tables in terms of ease of calculation and accuracy, and remained in use for years afterward. He served as head of the Hydrographic Office's research division until 1937. He returned to sea duty and from June 1937 to June 1939, he served as aide and flag secretary on the staff of Commander Battleship Division 3, Battle Force, aboard the division flagship USS Idaho. He remained with the fleet for a third year as navigator of the battleship USS New Mexico. In 1940 he returned to Washington DC and served as the secretary of the General Board of the Navy before being assigned as naval aide to the inaugural Under Secretary of the Navy, James V. Forrestal from August 1940 to July 1944. He was then assigned to fit out the new heavy cruiser USS Pittsburgh, and became her first commanding officer from commissioning in October 1944, until September 1945. As captain of the USS Pittsburgh, he became famous for sailing his ship safely to port, 900 miles to the island of Guam after 15 percent of the cruiser's length was torn off by a typhoon on June 5, 1945, an act of seamanship dubbed a "miracle" by contemporary accounts. In September 1945 he served briefly as chief of staff and aide to Vice Admiral John H. Towers, Commander, Second Carrier Task Force, Pacific Fleet, before being abruptly reassigned to the much less significant role of chief of personnel in Miami, Florida. In October 1945, when Secretary of the Navy Forrestal appointed Vice Admiral Louis E. Denfeld as the Chief of Naval Personnel, he was recalled Washington DC to become Denfeld's assistant and was promoted to the rank of rear admiral. He was assigned to create the postwar structure for the Naval Reserve by the incoming chief of naval operations, Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz and was designated assistant chief of personnel (reserves) in December 1945, and in August 1946 received the additional title of Director of Naval Reserve. In August 1947 he was appointed the first director of the Division of Security and Intelligence at the Atomic Energy Commission, serving until April 1949 to become the Chief of Staff of the US Pacific Fleet. In October 1951, during the Korean War, he was designated Commander Training Command, US Pacific Fleet. Date of birth: 02/23/1897 Date of death: 05/26/1960 Area of notoriety: Military Marker Type: Monument Setting: Outdoor Visiting Hours/Restrictions: None Fee required?: No Web site: [Web Link]

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Date Logged Log   10/10/2021 Don.Morfe visited it