George Dominic Murray - Arlington VA - Grave of a Famous Person on Waymarking.com

He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Section 2, Site 4962-1-2

Description: US Navy Admiral. He is probably best remembered as the commander of the aircraft carrier battle group that launched the famous Doolittle Raid, the first US airstrike on Japan after the surprise attack at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii by Japanese aircraft on December 7, 1941. In 1906 he was selected to attend the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, graduating in 1910. In 1914 he attended flight training at Pensacola, Florida and received his aviator wings the following year. In 1924 he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant commander and was designated Commander, VT-20, in the Philippines. In October 1939 he was promoted to the rank of commander and became the Director, Flight Division, Bureau of Aeronautics in Washington DC. He was then promoted to the rank of captain in March 1941 and commanded the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, when the US entered World War II. In April 1942 he brought a battle group of the aircraft carriers USS Enterprise and USS Hornet undetected to within 600 miles of Japan. On board the USS Hornet were 16 B-17 bombers which could only take off on a one way bombing mission over Tokyo, Japan, now known as the Doolittle Raid. He also played a major part in the Battle of Midway in June 1942 which halted the Japanese Western expansion in the Pacific Theater. In June 1942 he was promoted to the rank or rear admiral and was given command of Carrier Division 3 of the US Pacific Fleet. In September 1942 he came close to losing the USS Hornet off Guadalcanal, when it was spared two torpedo hits only because a patrolling aircraft dropped a depth charge in the paths of the torpedoes. He continued to risk his force in submarine-infested waters, for which he drew criticism during the investigation of the torpedoing of aircraft carrier USS Wasp. In 1943 he returned to the US and became the Chief, Naval Air Intermediate Training Command at Pensacola, Florida, followed in August 1944 as Commander, Naval Air Forces, Pacific Fleet, at Naval Air Station North Island in Coronado, California. In late 1944 he served on a Naval Board of Inquiry that investigated Admiral William Halsey's sailing of the Third Fleet into a typhoon. At the end of the war, he was the military commander of the Mariana Islands, and accepted the Japanese surrender of the Caroline Islands aboard his flagship, the cruiser USS Portland. In July 1945 he was promoted to the rank of vice admiral and became Commander, 14 Naval District at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. From August 1947 until August 1948 he commanded the Naval First Fleet. He retired at the rank of vice admiral in 1951, with 41 years of continuous military service. Among his military decorations and awards include the Navy Cross, and the World War II Victory Medal. He died at the age of 66. Upon his death and internment, he was promoted to the rank of admiral for having been especially commended in combat in accordance with an Act of Congress passed on March 4, 1925 and February 23, 1942 (colloquially known as a "tombstone promotion"). In 1961 he was posthumously designated the third recipient of the Gray Eagle Award, which is presented to a naval aviator on continuous active duty in US Navy or Marine Corps who has held that designation for the longest period of time, as the most senior active naval aviator from 1947 until his retirement. Date of birth: 07/06/1889 Date of death: 06/18/1956 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   10/09/2021 Don.Morfe visited it