Theodore Stark "Ping" Wilkinson (December 22, 1888 – February 21, 1946) was a Vice-Admiral of the
United States Navy during
World War II. He also received the
Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor ...
for his actions in
Veracruz, Mexico.
Early life and career
After attending
St. Paul's School in
Concord
Concord may refer to:
Meaning "agreement"
* Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony)
* Harmony, in music
* Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...
,
New Hampshire, where his writings for school publications evinced an early interest in naval and amphibious warfare, Wilkinson entered the
United States Naval Academy in 1905 and graduated first in the class of 1909. He served the two years of sea duty then required by law prior to commissioning, in the
battleship
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type ...
s and , before he received his ensign's commission on June 5, 1911. He enrolled at
George Washington University,
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...
joining
Phi Sigma Kappa
Phi Sigma Kappa (), colloquially known as Phi Sig or PSK, is a men's social and academic fraternity with approximately 74 active chapters and provisional chapters in North America. Most of its first two dozen chapters were granted to schools in ...
fraternity, and was instructed under the auspices of the Navy's
Bureau of Ordnance The Bureau of Ordnance (BuOrd) was a United States Navy organization, which was responsible for the procurement, storage, and deployment of all naval weapons, between the years 1862 and 1959.
History
Congress established the Bureau in the Departme ...
(BuOrd). Wilkinson reported to the battleship on July 25, 1913 for sea duty. During his time in that
dreadnought
The dreadnought (alternatively spelled dreadnaught) was the predominant type of battleship in the early 20th century. The first of the kind, the Royal Navy's , had such an impact when launched in 1906 that similar battleships built after her ...
, Ens. Wilkinson led ''Floridas 2d Company in action during the landings on 21 and April 22, 1914 at
Veracruz, Mexico. For his skillful and courageous leadership of that unit of the battleship's landing force and his exhibition of "eminent and conspicuous" conduct, he received the
Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor ...
.
World War I and interwar years
On August 4, he was transferred to the
armored cruiser
The armored cruiser was a type of warship of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was designed like other types of cruisers to operate as a long-range, independent warship, capable of defeating any ship apart from a battleship and fast en ...
, and two days later sailed eastward in her across the
Atlantic. ''Tennessee'' and were ordered to
European waters to evacuate Americans trapped on the continent by the outbreak of
World War I. On September 3, he became an assistant to the naval attaché at
Paris and a month later left that post to join ''North Carolina'' in the
Mediterranean. Subsequently, the young officer had tours of sea duty: first as aide, to Commander, 2d Division,
Atlantic Fleet, and then as aide to the commander of the 7th Division.
From July 1916 to July 1919, Wilkinson served with distinction as the head of the Experimental Section,
Bureau of Ordnance The Bureau of Ordnance (BuOrd) was a United States Navy organization, which was responsible for the procurement, storage, and deployment of all naval weapons, between the years 1862 and 1959.
History
Congress established the Bureau in the Departme ...
, where he developed ordnance materials and devices, most notable being a noxious gas filler for shells and an "exceptionally satisfactory
smoke screen". Additionally, he was deemed largely responsible for the successful design of a
depth charge and for the development of the firing mechanism of the
Mark VI mine used in the
North Sea Mine Barrage
The North Sea Mine Barrage, also known as the Northern Barrage, was a large minefield laid easterly from the Orkney Islands to Norway by the United States Navy (assisted by the Royal Navy) during World War I. The objective was to inhibit the ...
.
Following that tour ashore—for which he received a letter of commendation—Wilkinson went to sea, first serving as gunnery officer in the battleship ''Kansas'' and later as fire control officer in . In 1921 and 1922, Wilkinson commanded, in succession, the
destroyers , , and , before he returned to BuOrd's experimental section.
After commanding the destroyer from January 1925 to December 1926, Wilkinson headed the Records Section of the
Bureau of Navigation
The Bureau of Navigation, later the Bureau of Navigation and Steamboat Inspection and finally the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation — not to be confused with the United States Navys Bureau of Navigation — was an agency of the United ...
(BuNav) Officer Personnel Division. In June 1930, he became fleet gunnery officer and aide to Commander, Scouting Fleet (later, Commander, Scouting Force), Rear Admiral
A. L. Willard. Detached from that duty in December 1931, he soon assumed the duties of secretary to the Navy's General Board. While in that assignment, Wilkinson had additional duty during the arms limitation talks at
Geneva in 1933 and in
London in 1934.
From September 1934 to June 1936, Wilkinson served as executive officer of . Over the next three years, he headed the Planning Division of BuNav and then returned to ''Indianapolis'', this time in a staff capacity, as Chief of Staff to Commander, Scouting Force. In January 1941, he fleeted up to command the battleship .
World War II
Detached from that duty and promoted to rear admiral, Wilkinson was assigned as director of the
Office of Naval Intelligence
The Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) is the military intelligence agency of the United States Navy. Established in 1882 primarily to advance the Navy's modernization efforts, it is the oldest member of the U.S. Intelligence Community and serve ...
(ONI) on October 15. His new responsibilities inevitably embroiled him in the subsequent controversy over whether the US Pacific Fleet Commander at Pearl Harbor was sufficiently warned of the danger of a Japanese attack before December 7 – an issue on which Wilkinson testified for three days before a joint congressional committee in December 1945.
According to his testimony and that of others, ONI was responsible for collecting and evaluating intelligence, but R. Adm.
Richmond Kelly Turner
Admiral (United States), Admiral Richmond Kelly Turner (May 27, 1885 – February 12, 1961), commonly known as Admiral Kelly Turner, served in the United States Navy during World War II, and is best known for commanding the Amphibious Force, Pa ...
, Director of War Plans, had sought and received the authority in 1940 to control information sent to the fleet on "enemy intentions" and "the strategic picture." Exercising this authority, Turner had prepared messages to fleet commanders on November 24 that "a surprise aggressive movement on the Philippines or Guam is a distinct possibility," and on November 27 stating that "this is a war warning…an aggressive move by Japan is expected within the next few days…indicates an amphibious expedition against either the Philippines, Thai or Kra Peninsula or possibly Borneo…execute appropriate defensive deployment." Wilkinson had followed these messages up on December 2 with a message to the fleet commanders reporting that Japanese consuls were instructed to destroy their codes—a standard precaution for hostilities. No further warnings were sent to the US fleet until just before the attack on December 7, when hostilities had become even more clearly imminent from overnight decryption of Japanese "purple code" intercepts.
When asked for his opinion at the time about Japanese intentions, Turner said that he had always thought that there was a 50-50 chance that they would attack Pearl Harbor at the outset. The congressional committee noted that he was "the only officer in Washington in the higher echelons who thought so." Wilkinson, in contrast, admitted that he had believed it was more likely that Japan would strike first somewhere in the SW Pacific and avoid an immediate direct confrontation with the US – an opinion which the committee report found to have been widely shared by senior US officers before the attack.
South Pacific Campaign
From ONI, Wilkinson was assigned briefly as Commander, Battleship Division 2, Pacific Fleet, in August 1942, then as Deputy Commander, South Pacific, under Admiral
William Halsey
William Frederick "Bull" Halsey Jr. (October 30, 1882 – August 16, 1959) was an American Navy admiral during World War II. He is one of four officers to have attained the rank of five-star fleet admiral of the United States Navy, the other ...
and
General Douglas MacArthur
Douglas MacArthur (26 January 18805 April 1964) was an American military leader who served as General of the Army for the United States, as well as a field marshal to the Philippine Army. He had served with distinction in World War I, was ...
as theater commander beginning in January 1943. Halsey was designated Third Fleet Commander in March, and Wilkinson became Commander of the
I Marine Amphibious Corps (later
III Amphibious Corps
III Marine Expeditionary Force (III MEF) is a formation of the Marine Air-Ground Task Force of the United States Marine Corps. It is forward-deployed and able to rapidly conduct operations across the spectrum from humanitarian assistance and ...
) in July 1943.
In those positions, he is credited by naval historian
Samuel Eliot Morison with developing the US "leapfrogging" strategy designed to seize control of the Southwest Pacific islands occupied by Japan. Rather than attack Japanese bases and fortifications frontally, the strategy was to "hit them where they ain't," by occupying positions behind their forward outposts and cutting their supply lines. The strategy was so successful that Japanese war czar
Tojo before his death told
General MacArthur
Douglas MacArthur (26 January 18805 April 1964) was an American military leader who served as General of the Army for the United States, as well as a field marshal to the Philippine Army. He had served with distinction in World War I, was ...
that it was one of the three principal factors that defeated Japan. (The other two factors were US submarine effectiveness and long-distance US carrier operations.)
Pursuing this strategy, Wilkinson earned the Distinguished Service Medal (DSM) for commanding the amphibious forces in the assaults on
New Georgia
New Georgia, with an area of , is the largest of the islands in Western Province, Solomon Islands, and the 200th-largest island in the world.
Geography
New Georgia island is located in the New Georgia Group, an archipelago including most o ...
,
Vella Lavella
Vella Lavella is an island in the Western Province of the Solomon Islands. It lies to the west of New Georgia, but is considered one of the New Georgia Group. To its west are the Treasury Islands.
Environment
The island of Vella Lavella is l ...
, and the
Treasury Islands
Treasury Islands () are a small group of islands a few kilometres to the south of Bougainville and from the Shortland Islands. They form part of the Western Province of the country of Solomon Islands. The two largest islands in the Treasuries ...
; and established a key position on the west coast of
Bougainville. He was promoted to vice admiral in 1944, and won a gold star in lieu of a second DSM for his leadership in the assaults that took
Peleliu and
Angaur
, or in Palauan, is an island and state in the island nation of Palau.
History
Angaur was traditionally divided among some eight clans. Traditional features within clan areas represent important symbols giving identity to families, clans and ...
in the
Palaus
Palau,, officially the Republic of Palau and historically ''Belau'', ''Palaos'' or ''Pelew'', is an island country and microstate in the western Pacific. The nation has approximately 340 islands and connects the western chain of the Caro ...
, and
Ulithi
Ulithi ( yap, Wulthiy, , or ) is an atoll in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, about east of Yap.
Overview
Ulithi consists of 40 islets totaling , surrounding a lagoon about long and up to wide—at one of the largest i ...
in the
Carolines.
Subsequently, Wilkinson earned another gold star in lieu of a third DSM, for commanding Task Force 79 (TF 79) in action in the
Philippines between October 1, 1944 and January 18, 1945—operations that included the landings conducted by the Southern Attack Force
on Leyte in October 1944 and
at Lingayen in January 1945.
Ordered to the
Navy Department in September 1945 for temporary duty, Vice Admiral Wilkinson became a member of the
Joint Strategic Survey Committee
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is the body of the most senior uniformed leaders within the United States Department of Defense, that advises the president of the United States, the secretary of defense, the Homeland Security Council and the ...
of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is the body of the most senior uniformed leaders within the United States Department of Defense, that advises the president of the United States, the secretary of defense, the Homeland Security Council and the ...
in January 1946. He was serving in that capacity when he lost his life on February 21, 1946 in a tragic ferry accident at Hampton Roads, in which he was able to save his wife Catherine from drowning, but was unable to escape himself.
He is buried in
Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery is one of two national cemeteries run by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington, Virginia. There are about 30 funerals conducted on weekdays and 7 held on Sa ...
and his grave can be found in section 2, Lot 3645.
Decorations
Medal of Honor citation
Rank and organization: Ensign, U.S. Navy. Born: December 22, 1888, Annapolis, Md. Appointed from: Louisiana. G.O. No.: 177, December 4, 1915. Other Navy award: Distinguished Service Medal with gold stars in lieu of 2 additional DSM's.
Citation:
For distinguished conduct in battle, engagements of Vera Cruz, 21 and April 22, 1914. Ens. Wilkinson was in both days' fighting at the head of his company and was eminent and conspicuous in his conduct, leading his men with skill and courage.
Ribbon bar
Vice Admiral Theodore Stark Wilkinson´s ribbon bar:
Namesake
In 1952, the
destroyer leader
Destroyer leader (DL) was the United States Navy designation for large destroyers from 9 February 1951 through the early years of the Cold War. United States ships with hull classification symbol DL were officially frigates from 1 January 1955Blac ...
was named in his honor.
See also
*
List of Medal of Honor recipients (Veracruz)
References
:
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilkinson, Theodore
1888 births
1946 deaths
People from Annapolis, Maryland
United States Naval Academy alumni
United States Navy Medal of Honor recipients
Recipients of the Navy Distinguished Service Medal
United States Navy personnel of World War I
United States Navy World War II admirals
United States Navy vice admirals
Road incident deaths in Virginia
Burials at Arlington National Cemetery
Accidental deaths in Virginia
Deaths by drowning in the United States
Directors of the Office of Naval Intelligence
Battle of Veracruz (1914) recipients of the Medal of Honor