Admiral Alan Goodrich Kirk (USN)

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Alan Goodrich Kirk

Birthdate:
Birthplace: Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, United States
Death: October 15, 1963 (74)
Washington, District of Columbia, District of Columbia, United States (heart failure)
Place of Burial: 1 Memorial Avenue, Arlington, Arlington County, VA, 22211, United States
Immediate Family:

Son of William T. Kirk, Jr. and Harriet Whitney Kirk
Husband of Lydia Seldon Kirk
Father of Private
Brother of William Thompson Kirk, III and Dorothy Whitney Hamner

Managed by: Private User
Last Updated:

About Admiral Alan Goodrich Kirk (USN)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_G_Kirk

http://ww2gravestone.com/people/kirk-alan-goodrich/

Alan Goodrich Kirk (born October 30, 1888, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; died October 15, 1963, Washington, D.C.) was an admiral in the United States Navy and an American diplomat.

Biography

He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1909 and served in the United States Navy during World War I and World War II. During his wartime naval service, Alan Kirk became the U.S. naval attaché in London (1939 to 1941). He was Director of the Office of Naval Intelligence from March 1941 but, obstructed and opposed by Rear Admiral Richmond Turner, he was unable to develop the office into an effective centre along the lines of the British Royal Naval Operational Intelligence Centre (which he had seen whilst in London). Eventually, he requested a transfer to an Atlantic destroyer squadron.

Kirk served as an amphibious commander in the Mediterranean in 1942 and 1943 (the Allied invasion of Sicily and Italy). In addition, he was the senior U.S. naval commander during the Normandy landings of June 6, 1944 embarked on the heavy cruiser USS Augusta (CA-31), and as Commander U.S. Naval Forces, France during 1944 and 1945. He retired from the Navy as a full admiral in 1946.

After retirement from the United States Navy, Kirk embarked on a diplomatic career, and subsequently served in several United States embassies abroad, beginning with the combined posting of U.S. Ambassador to Belgium/U.S. Envoy to Luxembourg (resident in Brussels, Belgium), 1946–49; as U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union, July 4, 1949 to October 6, 1951; and finally as United States Ambassador to Taiwan, June 7, 1962 to January 16, 1963.

Admiral Alan G. Kirk took his post as the second president of Amcomlib, in February 1952. As a former U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union, he oversaw the recruitment of emigres in New York and Munich, a group that would later form the core of Radio Liberty's staff. Less than a year after taking office, Kirk was forced to resign due to poor health. Also in 1952, he served briefly as Director of the Psychological Strategy Board, which planned for and coordinated government psychological operations.

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Admiral Alan Goodrich Kirk (USN)'s Timeline

1888
October 30, 1888
Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, United States
1963
October 15, 1963
Age 74
Washington, District of Columbia, District of Columbia, United States
October 18, 1963
Age 74
Arlington National Cemetery, 1 Memorial Avenue, Arlington, Arlington County, VA, 22211, United States