The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia

McCrea, John Livingstone (1891-1990)

John McCrea was a naval lawyer who served as naval aide to President Roosevelt in 1942-1943 and was responsible for starting up the White House Map Room. He was also the first commander of Iowa. Promoted to rear admiral, he commanded strikes against the Kuriles in the final months of the war, where he came to know and admire Fletcher, who he insisted was "a good officer". Fletcher reward McCrea's loyalty with trust, instructing him to "go out and shoot up the Kuriles. Makes your own plans. Just keep me informed as to what you propose to do, and if I don't like what you're doing, I'll tell you so" (Lundstrom 2006).

Service record

1891-5-29		Born at Marlette, Michigan
1915	Ensign	Graduates from Naval Academy, Assigned to BB New York
1919		BB New Mexico
1921		DD Burns, Babbitt, Zeilin
1922		Executive officer, AO Ramapo
1923		Naval War College
1924		Commander, AM Bittern
1926		Office of the Judge Advocate General
1929		Completes bachelor of law degree at George Washingtion University
1929		Flag secretary, Special Service Squadron, Central America
1932		Aide, Judge Advocate General
1934		Completes master of law degree, George Washington University
1934		CA Astoria
1936	Commander	Executive officer, Naval Station Guam
1938		Executive officer, BB Pennsylvania
1940-9		Aide, Chief of Naval Operations
1942	Captain	Naval aide, President Roosevelt
1943-2-22		Commander, BB Iowa
1944-8-6	Rear admiral	Commander, Cruiser Division 3
1946		Deputy Chief of Naval Operations
1948		Deputy commander, Pacific Fleet
1949		Director, Personnel Policy Board
1952-2		Commander, 1 Naval District, Boston
1953		Retires
1990-1-30		Dies at Needham, Massachusetts

References

Library of Congress (accessed 2010-5-21)

Lundstrom (2006)

Naval Historical Center (accessed 2009-7-11)
Pettibone (2006)
Tuohy (2007)

What's new

Comment on this article