Lynde D. Mc Cormick - World War II

World War II

In June 1939, he became operations officer on the staff of Vice Admiral Charles P. Snyder, Commander Battleships, Battle Force, aboard Snyder's flagship West Virginia. When Snyder was elevated to command of the entire Battle Force in January 1940, McCormick followed him to the Battle Force flagship California as operations officer on the Battle Force staff. Snyder requested early relief in January 1941 after his superior, Admiral James O. Richardson, was summarily replaced by Admiral Husband E. Kimmel, the new Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet. Upon assuming command in February 1941, Kimmel recruited McCormick to be assistant war plans officer on the Pacific Fleet staff, in which post McCormick was serving during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

After the Pearl Harbor disaster, Kimmel was relieved by Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, who retained Kimmel's entire staff. McCormick became Nimitz' war plans officer in April 1942, serving in that capacity during the battles of the Coral Sea, Midway, and Guadalcanal. On June 30, 1942, McCormick was injured in a seaplane accident while accompanying Nimitz to Alameda Naval Air Station. Despite suffering a fractured vertebra, McCormick never went on the sick list, choosing to continue on active duty while wearing a plaster cast for three months.

He was promoted to rear admiral on July 15, 1942, and, upon completing his tour on Nimitz' staff, was awarded the Legion of Merit for "exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services to the Government of the United States as War Plans Officer on the Staff of the Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet and Pacific Ocean Areas, from February 1, 1941, to January 14, 1943. He was detached in February 1943 to take command of the battleship South Dakota, operating off the Atlantic coast and later with the British Home Fleet.

From October 1943 to March 1945, he was assigned to the staff of Chief of Naval Operations Ernest J. King as assistant chief of naval operations for logistics plans, with additional duty as chairman of the Joint Logistics Committee of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in which capacity he accompanied King to the second Quebec and Yalta conferences. His logistics work earned him a Gold Star in lieu of a second Legion of Merit. The accompanying citation stated: "His mastery of the relationship between strategy and logistics and his understanding of the process of procuring and distributing critical items have been important factors in meeting the needs of area and Fleet Commanders. In a field in which the magnitude and complexity of the problems were without precedent in the history of the Navy, he has displayed conspicuous ability and brilliant leadership." He would later be quoted as saying, "I am tempted to make a slightly exaggerated statement: that logistics is all of warmaking, except shooting the guns, releasing the bombs, and firing the torpedoes."

In March 1945, he returned to the Pacific theater as Commander of Battleship Division 3, serving as Task Group Commander for two months at the Battle of Okinawa. He was awarded a second Gold Star for his Legion of Merit "as Commander of a Battleship Division, of a Task Group, and of a Fire Support Unit, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands, from March through May 1945."