Dixie Kiefer

Commodore Dixie Kiefer USN. BIRTH 4 Apr 1896 Blackfoot, Bingham County, Idaho, USA DEATH 11 Nov 1945 (aged 49) Beacon, Dutchess County, New York, USA BURIAL Arlington National Cemetery Arlington, Arlington County, Virginia, USA PLOT Sec 3 Site 4072-C MEMORIAL ID 9391300

Naval Officer. Entered the U.S. Navy in 1915 He later became Commander of the USS Ticonderoga and was severely injured on January 21, 1945 when the ship was attacked by two Japanese kamikaze aircraft. Cause of death:Airplane crash.

Naval Academy class of 1919, commissioned in 1919. Naval Aviator. Lost a leg to injuries suffered abandoning ship from USS Yorktown at Battle of Midway. Returned to duty and given command of USS Ticonderoga. Severely wounded by kamikaze attack during operations against Southern Japanese Islands. Promoted Commodore in ceremony at Rockefeller Center while recovering. Given command of NAS Quonset Point. Killed in aircraft accident on Beacon Mountain NY,

Source Wikipedia, May 25, 2021By World War II, Kiefer had risen to the rank of commander. He served as Executive Officer (second in command) of the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown (CV-5) in the Battle of Coral Sea and Battle of Midway. He received the Distinguished Service Medal for Coral Sea and the Navy Cross for Midway. When Yorktown was sunk at Midway, Kiefer shattered his right leg and ankle while leaping from the ship.[5][6]

After recovering from his injuries, Kiefer was promoted to Captain and given command of the new carrier USS Ticonderoga (CV-14), which was commissioned at the Norfolk Navy Yard on 8 May 1944. He was popular with his sailors and was credited with training the carrier's air group and crew into an efficient wartime team. Reportedly, Kiefer would use the bullhorn 4-5 times a day to hurry his flight deck crew or else "that admiral over there will give me hell." When the ship passed through the Panama Canal, Kiefer ensured that nearly the entire 3,000 crew received shore leave. [7]

On 21 January 1945, Ticonderoga was hit by two Japanese kamikaze bombers. 144 men were killed and 200 injured. The first kamikaze hit started large fires among gasoline and planes in the hangar deck. Kiefer had port-side compartment deliberately flooded to put a 10-degree list on the ship. This caused the flaming gasoline to slide overboard – a procedure not used before. Then he maneuvered the ship to upwind of the burning wreckage. A second kamikaze hit Ticonderoga later that day. The explosion from that hit injured Kiefer, with 65 wounds from bomb shrapnel and a broken arm. Nonetheless he remained in command on the bridge for eleven hours, not leaving until it was reported that all of the other injured were treated.[8]

While recovering from his injuries, Kiefer was made an honorary commodore in a ceremony at Rockefeller Center. He also served as commander of the Naval Air Station at Quonset, Rhode Island. He received the Distinguished Service Medal from Secretary of the Navy James V. Forrestal, who called him "the indestructible man".[9]

He had not yet recovered when he died at age 49 on 11 November 1945 – his arm was still in a cast. He was killed in the crash of his Navy transport plane on Mount Beacon, New York, while returning to Quonset from Caldwell, New Jersey.[4][10]

Kiefer was said to be the most battered officer in the Navy. He broke his left ankle and split his kneecap playing football as a youth. His left elbow was smashed when a fellow pilot "buzzed" him in a seaplane and hit his arm with a wingtip float. The crew of Ticonderoga said of him, "He's got so much metal in him the ship's compass follows him when he walks across the deck."

Kiefer was buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.[1][11]