Otto Dowling

Otto Carl Dowling ( February 28, 1881 -  April 14, 1946 in Trumbull , Connecticut ) was an American naval officer. Between 1934 and 1936 he was the military governor of American Samoa .

Career

In 1903 Otto Dowling graduated from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis ( Maryland ). He then served as an officer in the United States Navy . During the First World War he was promoted to captain. He then resigned temporarily from the Navy; later he was reactivated. In 1926, he was in charge of the Navy's Lake Denmark Powder Depot when a serious explosion took place on July 10, 1926, killing 19 and injuring him, among others. Dowling, who was badly burned and briefly lost sight, was in a wheelchair for some time until he was recovered. He was later awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his handling of the situation during the explosion .

Between April 17, 1934 and January 15, 1936 he was governor of American Samoa. There he turned the local population against him with a racist policy. He denied her a say and the establishment of her own House of Representatives. During World War II he was in command of a naval arsenal near New York City . Otto Dowling died on April 14, 1946 in Trumbull of a heart attack that he suffered while driving. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery , Virginia .

Web links

• Short biography at Arlington National Cemetery

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The giant explosion at Lake Denmark. Many dead, hundreds injured. - Entire settlements devastated. In:  Neue Freie Presse , Morgenblatt, No. 22208/1926, July 13, 1926, p. 8 f. (Online at ANNO ). .