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First Name: Edmund

Last Name: Wooldridge

Birthplace: Lawrenceburg, KY, USA

Gender: Male

Branch: Navy (present)

Rating:

Middle Name: Tyler



Date of Birth: 05 January 1897

Date of Death: 15 December 1968

Rank or Rate: Admiral

Years Served:
Edmund Tyler Wooldridge

   
Graduate, U.S. Naval Academy, Class of 1920

Biography:

Edmund Tyler Wooldridge
Admiral, U.S. Navy

Edmund Tyler Wooldridge was born on 5 January 1897 in Lawrenceburg, KY, to D.H. and Minnie Hawkins Wooldridge.

Wooldridge graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1920. Following tours with submarines based in New London, CT, and the Panama Canal Zone, he served as an instructor at the Academy.

In the early part of World War II he served with the Atlantic Fleet and in the Navy Department.
Captain Wooldridge commanded the battleship USS New Jersey from 26 January-15 November 1945 and participated in the Battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa and in the first naval raid on Tokyo.

For a year after the war, Wooldridge commanded the occupation forces in Northeastern Japan. He was then named as the Assistant Chief of Naval Operations in Washington, DC, and represented the Joint Chiefs of Staff on the National Security Council. In March 1954 he left Washington to command the Second Fleet, part of the Atlantic Fleet and, on 6 April, he was promoted to Vice Admiral. The battleship USS Iowa served as his flagship until he was relieved from command in June 1955.

Vice Admiral Wooldridge returned to Washington to become Commandant of the National War College from 1955-58. During this period, he also served as President of the Inter-American Defense Board from September 1955 - March 1956.

Upon his retirement in August 1958, he was advanced in rank to four-star Admiral. *

* The Act of Congress of 4 March 1925, allowed Navy officers to be promoted one grade upon retirement if they had been specially commended for performance of duty in actual combat. These promotions were colloquially known as "tombstone promotions" because they conferred the prestige of the higher rank but not the additional retirement pay, so their only practical benefit was to allow recipients to engrave a loftier title on their business cards and tombstones. An Act of Congress on 23 February 1942, enabled tombstone promotions to three- and four-star grades.

Medals and Awards

Wooldridge received the Navy Distinguished Service Cross and many other medals and awards for his wartime service.

Personal

Edmund Wooldridge married Marion Lee Johnson.

Death and Burial

Admiral Edmund Tyler Wooldridge died on 15 December 1968 in Annapolis, MD. He is buried at the United States Naval Academy Cemetery in Annapolis.

He was survived by his wife, Marion. She died on 25 September 1984 and is buried with her husband.



Honoree ID: 688   Created by: MHOH

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