John S. McCain Sr.
John Sidney "Slew" McCain Sr. (born August 9, 1884 in Teoc , Carroll County , Mississippi , † September 6, 1945 in San Diego , California ) was an American admiral in the US Navy . During the Second World War he was the commander of the Fast Carrier Task Force . His grandson, John McCain, was the Republican candidate for the 2008 presidential election .
Life
John S. McCain Sr. was born to John Sidney and Elizabeth-Ann Young McCain. From 1901 to 1902 he studied at the University of Mississippi . He then attended the US Naval Academy in Annapolis , Maryland , which he graduated as Ensign in 1906 .
His first service took him to the US Pacific Fleet , where he served mostly on older ships, such as the battleship USS Ohio , the cruiser USS Baltimore, the destroyer USS Chauncey or the gunboat Panay , which was sunk by Japanese aircraft on the Yangtze in 1937 . He also served on the USS Connecticut , which was part of Roosevelt's Great White Fleet .
During the occupation of the Mexican port city of Veracruz in 1914, he served in San Diego. He spent the rest of the First World War on convoy in the Atlantic . In the interwar period he served on numerous ships, such as the USS Maryland , the USS New Mexico and the USS Nitro . His first command was on the cargo ship USS Sirius.
In 1929 he graduated from Naval War College . At the beginning of the 1930s there was a shortage of senior officers with pilot licenses among the ever-growing naval aviators. The US Navy was looking for willing officers who would attend the Naval Flight Instruction School in Pensacola , Florida . Captain McCain had reported before he was awarded the pilot's wings in September 1936, at the age of 52 . He then had command of the aircraft carrier USS Ranger from 1937 to 1939 , where he worked on the carrier tactics.
As a result of his promotion to Rear Admiral , he was given command of the naval squadrons on the west coast of the United States in February 1941. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the resulting entry into the war by the USA, he was also given supreme command of all land-based naval aircraft in the South Pacific . In September 1942 he became chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics in Washington, DC and in July 1943 Vice Admiral McCain held the position of deputy chief of Naval Operations for air operations.
In the late summer of 1944, McCain returned to the Pacific theater and took over command of the 2nd Fast Carrier Task Force and Task Group 38.1 from Admiral Marc Mitscher . Three months later he also took over Halsey's cavalry , Task Force 38 from Admiral William F. Halsey . Until the end of the war, his carrier aircraft fought over Peleliu , Leyte , the Philippine Sea , Mindoro , Luzon , Formosa , Okinawa and mainland Japan .
In one day they sank 49 Japanese ships and destroyed over 3,000 aircraft parked on the ground between July 10 and August 14, 1945 alone. McCain's excellent carrier tactics saved the badly battered cruisers USS Canberra and USS Houston from sinking in October 1944 . For these deeds he was awarded the Navy Cross .
On September 2, 1945, he took part in the Japanese surrender on board the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay . Then he got home leave from the high command. On September 6, he arrived at Coronado Air Station in San Diego , California . At the welcome party there, McCain slumped and passed away. He wasn't home for half a day. Posthumously he received the rank of admiral . McCain is buried in grave number 4356 (Section 3) of Arlington National Cemetery. Next to him is the grave of his brother William Alexander McCain, former Brigadier General in the US Army .
His awards include the Navy Distinguished Service Medal with two gold stars and the Navy Cross .
family
McCain - the McCains also represent a noble branch line of the Clan Douglas - came from a long-established family from Teoc, Mississippi. He got into the US Navy by accident. The McCains previously had a tradition that the eldest son took over the family estate in Teoc, while the second-born joined the US Army . It so happened that one McCain served on George Washington's staff while another fought highly decorated in the Civil War. During the First World War there was even an adjutant general of the Army McCain. Another served under General Pershing as one of the last cavalry officers in the punitive expedition against Mexico to arrest the revolutionary Pancho Villa .
McCain was the third child of his parents. His older brother, William Alexander McCain , was a cadet at the US Military Academy at West Point when "Sidney," his nickname, enrolled at the University of Mississippi . There he was supposed to become a doctor or a lawyer, but he was dying to follow his brother. So it was William who persuaded his little brother to take the entrance test at the US Naval Academy, which was supposed to be a kind of dress rehearsal for the more difficult West Point test. McCain received a study place at the US Naval Academy and finally decided on this.
On August 9, 1909, he married in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Catherine Davey Vaulx (1877-1959). There were three children from this marriage: John Sidney McCain, Jr. (1911–1981), James Gordon McCain (1913–1985) and Catherine Vaulx McCain (1915–2000). John McCain, Jr. followed his father and also went to the US Navy. During World War II he was a successful submarine - commander and later as Admiral 1968-1972 Commander of the US Pacific Command (PACOM). His son John Sidney McCain III. (1936–2018) was a naval aviator in the Vietnam War . He left the US Navy with the rank of captain and went into politics. From 1987 until his death in 2018, he was a Senator for the state of Arizona and a member of the Republican Party . In 2000 he applied for the office of US president , but failed in the primary because of George W. Bush (→ presidential election 2000 ). In the 2008 presidential election , McCain was the top Republican candidate and lost to Barack Obama .
Thus, the McCains ' longstanding army tradition has given way to naval tradition. Since then there have already been five descendants of John Sidney McCain Sr. who attended the Academy in Annapolis, including John Sidney "Jack" McCain IV (* 1984), son of John McCain.
Trivia
- US Secretary of the Navy James V. Forrestal called him "a fighting man all the way through."
- The Mitscher class destroyer USS John S. McCain (1953–1978) is named after McCain.
- The new, standing in service since 1994 USS John S. McCain (DDG-56) of the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer is both by Admiral John S. McCain I. and after his son Admiral John S. McCain II. Named. At a ceremony in Yokosuka, Japan, on July 12, 2018, Senator John S. McCain III was named the ship's third patron . added.
- To date, John S. McCain Sen. and John S. McCain Jun. Are the only father-son duo in the US Navy to each achieve the rank of admiral.
Web links
- Biography of Arlington National Cemetery (English)
- McCain's biography of the Naval Historical Center (English)
- Official homepage of the USS John S. McCain (DDG-56) (English)
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | McCain, John S. Sr. |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | McCain, Slew; McCain, John Sidney Sr. |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | United States Navy Admiral |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 9, 1884 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Teoc , Mississippi |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 6, 1945 |
| Place of death | San Diego , California |