Scope and arrangement

Captain Crenshaw, a Navy junior and a native of Richmond, Virginia, describes growing up in a Navy family and his experiences as a midshipman at the USNA. He comments on his assignment to the USS MAURY after his graduation, training exercises during the spring and summer of 1941, absence from Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 due to a voyage to Wake Island, and the devastation he observed upon his return to Pearl Harbor on December 8. He comments on duty at sea; the attack on the Marshall Islands; their attack by Japanese fighters; the U.S. attack on Wake Island; and combat at Midway, the Solomon Islands, and Guadalcanal, including a kamikaze attack.

Captain Crenshaw further discusses assignment to China Station; duty in the USS STORMES, MAURY, and THOS. J. GARRY; postgraduate school at MIT; and service on the USS COLUMBUS and the USS COGSWELL. He comments on cruising to South America as CO of the USS FOREREST SHERMAN, duty in Paris and Heidelberg, and assignment to the U.S. delegation to NATO.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Gift of Russell S. Crenshaw

Processing information

Encoded by Apex Data Services

Copyright notice

Literary rights to specific documents are retained by the authors or their descendants in accordance with U.S. copyright law.

Metadata Rights Declaration

General note

1920s-1940s

Key terms

Personal Names

Crenshaw, Russell Sydnor, 1920-

Family Names

Cranshaw family

Corporate Names

Maury (Ship)
United States Naval Academy--History
United States. Navy--Officers--Interviews

Topical

Midway, Battle of, 1942
Pearl Harbor (Hawaii), Attack on, 1941
Santa Cruz Islands, Battle of the, Solomon Islands, 1942
World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--Pacific Ocean
World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--Solomon Islands--Guadalcanal

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