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John D. Bulkeley
John Duncan Bulkeley (19 August 1911 – 6 April 1996) was a vice admiral in the United States Navy and was one of its most decorated naval officers. Bulkeley received the Medal of Honor for actions in the Pacific Theater during World War II. He was also the PT boat skipper who evacuated General Douglas MacArthur from Corregidor in the Philippines and commanded at the Battle of La Ciotat.
Bulkeley's PT-boat heroics in defending the Philippines from Japanese invasion in 1941-1942 were the subject of the novel "They Were Expendable" by William Lindsay White in 1942, which was turned into the big screen epic They Were Expendable three years later by director John Ford, starring John Wayne, with Robert Montgomery playing a somewhat fictionalized Bulkeley role.
The United States Navy named an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer after him: USS Bulkeley (DDG-84), commissioned in 2001.
Bulkeley was born in New York City and grew up on a farm in Mansfield Township, Warren County, New Jersey, and graduated in 1928 from Hackettstown High School. He was a 1933 graduate of the United States Naval Academy.
In December 1936, he was assigned to the United States Asiatic Fleet where he was appointed as engineering officer onboard USS Sacramento in China and witnessed the Japanese invasions of the Chinese cities of Shantou and Shanghai, and the USS Panay incident during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
At the dawn of World War II, Bulkeley was a lieutenant in command of Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron Three, a Philippines-based detachment of six motor torpedo boats. He hit his stride as a daring, resourceful and courageous leader. On 11 March 1942, he picked up General Douglas MacArthur, his family, and his immediate staff, who had been ordered to flee the Philippines, and took them aboard PT-41 and other 77-foot (23 m) motor torpedo boats through over 600 nautical miles (1,000 km) of open ocean. On arriving at Mindanao, MacArthur said, "You have taken me out of the jaws of death. I shall never forget it." Bulkeley earned many of his array of decorations while in command of that squadron and a subsequent one. He was evacuated to Australia by a B-17 aircraft in the final days of the campaign.
In September 1942, while back in the United States helping to raise War Bonds as a lieutenant commander, he met former Ambassador to Britain Joseph Kennedy at New York's Plaza Hotel, and shortly after was instrumental in recruiting Lieutenant John F. Kennedy into the Navy's Motor Torpedo Boat Training Center (MTBTC) at Mellville, Rhode Island. Kennedy's command of PT-109 would help to launch his first campaign for the United States Congress.
In 1944, he took part in the Normandy invasion. Bulkeley led torpedo boats and minesweepers in clearing the lanes to Utah Beach, keeping German E-boats from attacking the landing ships along the Mason Line, and picking up wounded sailors from the sinking minesweeper USS Tide, destroyer escort USS Rich, and destroyer USS Corry. As invasion operations wound down, he received command of his first large ship, the destroyer USS Endicott. In August, 1944, Bulkeley was appointed to take charge of a diversion raid against the port of La Ciotat, an action that led to the Battle of La Ciotat. The two British gunboats under his command came under accurate fire from a German corvette and armed yacht. Charging in with only one gun working, he engaged both enemy vessels at point-blank range, sinking both. Afterwards, Bulkeley rescued the British sailors in the water and then rescued many of the German sailors as well. Later, he said, "What else could I do? You engage, you fight, you win. That is the reputation of our Navy, then and in the future."
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John D. Bulkeley
John Duncan Bulkeley (19 August 1911 – 6 April 1996) was a vice admiral in the United States Navy and was one of its most decorated naval officers. Bulkeley received the Medal of Honor for actions in the Pacific Theater during World War II. He was also the PT boat skipper who evacuated General Douglas MacArthur from Corregidor in the Philippines and commanded at the Battle of La Ciotat.
Bulkeley's PT-boat heroics in defending the Philippines from Japanese invasion in 1941-1942 were the subject of the novel "They Were Expendable" by William Lindsay White in 1942, which was turned into the big screen epic They Were Expendable three years later by director John Ford, starring John Wayne, with Robert Montgomery playing a somewhat fictionalized Bulkeley role.
The United States Navy named an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer after him: USS Bulkeley (DDG-84), commissioned in 2001.
Bulkeley was born in New York City and grew up on a farm in Mansfield Township, Warren County, New Jersey, and graduated in 1928 from Hackettstown High School. He was a 1933 graduate of the United States Naval Academy.
In December 1936, he was assigned to the United States Asiatic Fleet where he was appointed as engineering officer onboard USS Sacramento in China and witnessed the Japanese invasions of the Chinese cities of Shantou and Shanghai, and the USS Panay incident during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
At the dawn of World War II, Bulkeley was a lieutenant in command of Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron Three, a Philippines-based detachment of six motor torpedo boats. He hit his stride as a daring, resourceful and courageous leader. On 11 March 1942, he picked up General Douglas MacArthur, his family, and his immediate staff, who had been ordered to flee the Philippines, and took them aboard PT-41 and other 77-foot (23 m) motor torpedo boats through over 600 nautical miles (1,000 km) of open ocean. On arriving at Mindanao, MacArthur said, "You have taken me out of the jaws of death. I shall never forget it." Bulkeley earned many of his array of decorations while in command of that squadron and a subsequent one. He was evacuated to Australia by a B-17 aircraft in the final days of the campaign.
In September 1942, while back in the United States helping to raise War Bonds as a lieutenant commander, he met former Ambassador to Britain Joseph Kennedy at New York's Plaza Hotel, and shortly after was instrumental in recruiting Lieutenant John F. Kennedy into the Navy's Motor Torpedo Boat Training Center (MTBTC) at Mellville, Rhode Island. Kennedy's command of PT-109 would help to launch his first campaign for the United States Congress.
In 1944, he took part in the Normandy invasion. Bulkeley led torpedo boats and minesweepers in clearing the lanes to Utah Beach, keeping German E-boats from attacking the landing ships along the Mason Line, and picking up wounded sailors from the sinking minesweeper USS Tide, destroyer escort USS Rich, and destroyer USS Corry. As invasion operations wound down, he received command of his first large ship, the destroyer USS Endicott. In August, 1944, Bulkeley was appointed to take charge of a diversion raid against the port of La Ciotat, an action that led to the Battle of La Ciotat. The two British gunboats under his command came under accurate fire from a German corvette and armed yacht. Charging in with only one gun working, he engaged both enemy vessels at point-blank range, sinking both. Afterwards, Bulkeley rescued the British sailors in the water and then rescued many of the German sailors as well. Later, he said, "What else could I do? You engage, you fight, you win. That is the reputation of our Navy, then and in the future."