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Medal of Honor Recipient on this day in 1942:
CALLAGHAN, DANIEL JUDSON
Rank and organization: Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy. Born: 26 July 1892, San Francisco, Calif. Appointed from: California. Entered service at: Oakland, Calif. Other Navy award: Distinguished Service Medal. Citation: For extraordinary heroism and conspicuous intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty during action against enemy Japanese forces off Savo Island on the night of 12-13 November 1942. Although out-balanced in strength and numbers by a desperate and determined enemy, Rear Adm. Callaghan, with ingenious tactical skill and superb coordination of the units under his command, led his forces into battle against tremendous odds, thereby contributing decisively to the rout of a powerful invasion fleet, and to the consequent frustration of a formidable Japanese offensive. While faithfully directing close-range operations in the face of furious bombardment by superior enemy fire power, he was killed on the bridge of his flagship. His courageous initiative, inspiring leadership, and judicious foresight in a crisis of grave responsibility were in keeping with the finest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life in the defense of his country.
SSG William Jones Samantha S. Maj William W. 'Bill' Price COL Mikel J. Burroughs Cynthia Croft LTC Stephen F. ] Alan K. SGT John " Mac " McConnell LTC (Join to see) Maj Marty Hogan SCPO Morris Ramsey SPC Douglas Bolton Lt Col Charlie Brown Sgt Randy Wilber MSgt John McGowan Cpl (Join to see) PO3 John Wagner PO3 Bob McCord SGT Jim Arnold SPC Margaret Higgins
CALLAGHAN, DANIEL JUDSON
Rank and organization: Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy. Born: 26 July 1892, San Francisco, Calif. Appointed from: California. Entered service at: Oakland, Calif. Other Navy award: Distinguished Service Medal. Citation: For extraordinary heroism and conspicuous intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty during action against enemy Japanese forces off Savo Island on the night of 12-13 November 1942. Although out-balanced in strength and numbers by a desperate and determined enemy, Rear Adm. Callaghan, with ingenious tactical skill and superb coordination of the units under his command, led his forces into battle against tremendous odds, thereby contributing decisively to the rout of a powerful invasion fleet, and to the consequent frustration of a formidable Japanese offensive. While faithfully directing close-range operations in the face of furious bombardment by superior enemy fire power, he was killed on the bridge of his flagship. His courageous initiative, inspiring leadership, and judicious foresight in a crisis of grave responsibility were in keeping with the finest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life in the defense of his country.
SSG William Jones Samantha S. Maj William W. 'Bill' Price COL Mikel J. Burroughs Cynthia Croft LTC Stephen F. ] Alan K. SGT John " Mac " McConnell LTC (Join to see) Maj Marty Hogan SCPO Morris Ramsey SPC Douglas Bolton Lt Col Charlie Brown Sgt Randy Wilber MSgt John McGowan Cpl (Join to see) PO3 John Wagner PO3 Bob McCord SGT Jim Arnold SPC Margaret Higgins
Daniel J. Callaghan - Wikipedia
Posted from en.wikipedia.org
Medal of Honor
WWII World War Two
Office of the President (POTUS)
Posted 6 y ago
Responses: 10
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Outstanding share. I studied this years ago in Naval Orientation. A true Naval Hero.
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SP5 Mark Kuzinski, here's the Medal of Honor citation for Rear Admiral Callaghan:
"For extraordinary heroism and conspicuous intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty during action against enemy Japanese forces off Savo Island on the night of 12–13 November 1942. Although out-balanced in strength and numbers by a desperate and determined enemy, Rear Admiral Callaghan, with ingenious tactical skill and superb coordination of the units under his command, led his forces into battle against tremendous odds, thereby contributing decisively to the rout of a powerful invasion fleet and to the consequent frustration of a formidable Japanese offensive. While faithfully directing close-range operations in the face of furious bombardment by superior enemy fire power, he was killed on the bridge of his Flagship. His courageous initiative, inspiring leadership, and judicious foresight in a crisis of grave responsibility were in keeping with the finest traditions of the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life in the defense of his country."
Here also, from your article is a paragraph that appears somewhat counter to the citation:
"In hindsight, Callaghan was criticized for not putting his five ships that had the superior SG radar systems at the ends of his column, for not using one of them as his flagship, for directing the battle from his flagship's bridge instead of the radar plot, for not issuing his battle plans to his captains, and for issuing confusing orders during the battle. Analysis of the battle led to a rapid improvement in USN techniques for fighting in poor visibility, particularly in the adoption of combat information centers."
The citation includes the words "judicious foresight". Interesting, n'est-ce pas?
SCPO Morris Ramsey COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Ivan Raiklin, Esq.
"For extraordinary heroism and conspicuous intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty during action against enemy Japanese forces off Savo Island on the night of 12–13 November 1942. Although out-balanced in strength and numbers by a desperate and determined enemy, Rear Admiral Callaghan, with ingenious tactical skill and superb coordination of the units under his command, led his forces into battle against tremendous odds, thereby contributing decisively to the rout of a powerful invasion fleet and to the consequent frustration of a formidable Japanese offensive. While faithfully directing close-range operations in the face of furious bombardment by superior enemy fire power, he was killed on the bridge of his Flagship. His courageous initiative, inspiring leadership, and judicious foresight in a crisis of grave responsibility were in keeping with the finest traditions of the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life in the defense of his country."
Here also, from your article is a paragraph that appears somewhat counter to the citation:
"In hindsight, Callaghan was criticized for not putting his five ships that had the superior SG radar systems at the ends of his column, for not using one of them as his flagship, for directing the battle from his flagship's bridge instead of the radar plot, for not issuing his battle plans to his captains, and for issuing confusing orders during the battle. Analysis of the battle led to a rapid improvement in USN techniques for fighting in poor visibility, particularly in the adoption of combat information centers."
The citation includes the words "judicious foresight". Interesting, n'est-ce pas?
SCPO Morris Ramsey COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Ivan Raiklin, Esq.
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PO3 Donald Murphy
LTC Stephen Curlee - what saved Callaghan's ass is the fact that there was no iphones or snap chat. It took a month for the gritty details to filter down. Plus the fact that the Japanese were kinda still alive! Still got Japanese off the coast?! Then a mad rush to meet the next onslaught was the order of the day. We'll figure out what went wrong another time. Plus survivors to rescue, etc. "Dead admiral...meh...guess he did what he was supposed to do." Plus we need a morale story for folk back home.
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LTC Stephen C.
It seems like to me, PO3 Donald Murphy, had Callaghan lived long enough for an after action review to have been conducted, he could well have been relieved of command. Kimmel and Short were relieved of their commands after Pearl Harbor. Kimmel lost two stars and Short lost one (it was a temporary star anyway, based on command).
These two comments separately, “not issuing battle plans to his captains”, “issuing confusing orders during the battle”, could get a guy canned. Put them together, and add the other tactical errors, you just have an awful mess.
As terrible as it sounds, I think being killed in the battle is what saved his @$$ (figuratively speaking, of course).
These two comments separately, “not issuing battle plans to his captains”, “issuing confusing orders during the battle”, could get a guy canned. Put them together, and add the other tactical errors, you just have an awful mess.
As terrible as it sounds, I think being killed in the battle is what saved his @$$ (figuratively speaking, of course).
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PO3 Donald Murphy
Had he just deferred to senior experienced combat staff, he'd have been okay. But his arrogance and old fashioned ways ("radar will never catch on") cost him dearly. He was legally (as per logs) killed extremely early on in the battle. So his citation is not only just fluff, but borderline bullshit. Admiral Lockwood was shitcanning submarine officers left and right for everything from wearing ties to not thinking outside the box. I think the overall fear was that Lockwood's buddy Nimitz would get a hold of Callaghan and Scott and use them as a pretext for "draining the swamp" 1942 style. Admiral Scott died during the same battle and for the same reasons. Sheer ignorance. Luckily for Scott and Callaghan, the Savo battle would turn into a campaign and as America won the overall result, it was possibly considered best to leave things where they stood. Tho how they pulled a medal of Honor out of it is beyond me.
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