List of United States Coast Guard tombstone vice admirals
This is a list of tombstone vice admirals in the United States Coast Guard. A tombstone promotion transferred an officer to the retired list with the rank and sometimes the pay of the next higher grade. More than a dozen rear admirals received tombstone promotions to vice admiral when they retired, for either completing 40 years of service or being specially commended for performance of duty in actual combat before the end of World War II. Tombstone promotions for years of service ended on November 1, 1949, and for combat citations on November 1, 1959.
List of U.S. Coast Guard tombstone vice admirals[]
A tombstone vice admiral's date of rank was the date he retired. The Coast Guard made no distinction on the retired list between tombstone vice admirals and vice admirals who achieved that rank before retiring, unlike the Navy, which gave precedence to retired officers who had served on active duty in a grade over those who only received a tombstone promotion to that grade.[1][2]
Forty years of service[]
From 1923 to 1949, Coast Guard officers could retire with the rank and retired pay of the next higher grade if they had at least 40 years of service, including time as a cadet,[3] although the retired pay for a vice admiral was the same as for a rear admiral (upper half).[4][5][6]
The promotion was meant as an incentive for officers to complete a full 40-year career in the Coast Guard, which was so small in 1923 that its only flag officer was the commandant of the Coast Guard. Even the commandant held only the ex officio rank of rear admiral and reverted to his permanent grade of captain upon leaving office, so a tombstone promotion was the only way Coast Guard officers could retire with the same rank and pay as line officers with comparable length of service in the much larger Navy.[7] A similar incentive had long been offered to Navy staff corps officers, who could retire in the grade of commodore after 40 years.[8]
The first two commandants to retire after 1923 each had more than 40 years of service but did not receive tombstone promotions to vice admiral because that grade did not exist in the Coast Guard until March 1942, when the incumbent commandant, Russell R. Waesche, was promoted to temporary vice admiral.[9] On July 1, 1946, Lloyd T. Chalker became the second Coast Guard officer to achieve three-star rank when he retired as a vice admiral after more than 40 years of service.[10][11] Former commandant Harry G. Hamlet and former assistant commandant Leon C. Covell had both retired before the vice admiral grade was established, and subsequently received tombstone promotions to that grade, ranking from their retirement dates.[12]
Flag grades were established in the Coast Guard in 1947, giving its officers the same promotion opportunities as their Navy counterparts, so Congress repealed the tombstone promotion for years of service, effective November 1, 1949.[13] Even after that date, and Joseph E. Stika were still able to retire as vice admirals because they had already accumulated 40 years of service prior to the repeal.[14][15]
Name | Date retired as vice admiral [16] | Commission [17] | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Harry G. Hamlet | 1 Sep 1938 | 1896 (USRCSSI) | (1874–1954)[18] Commandant of the Coast Guard, 1932–1936. |
Leon C. Covell | 1 Jan 1942 | 1902 (USRCSSI) | (1877–1960)[19] |
Lloyd T. Chalker | 1 Jul 1946 | 1903 (USRCSSI) | (1883–1981) |
1 Oct 1946 | 1906 (USRCSSI) | (1885–1954) | |
James Pine | 1 Aug 1947 | 1908 (USRCSSI) | (1885–1953) |
1 Sep 1947 | 1907 (USRCSSI) | (1885–1965) | |
1 Nov 1947 | 1906 (USRCSSI) | (1885–1968) | |
1 Jun 1948 | 1909 (USRCSSI) | (1886–1965) | |
1 Apr 1949 | 1911 (USRCSSI) | (1889–1965) | |
1 Sep 1950 | 1911 (USRCSSI) | (1889–1973)[20] | |
Joseph E. Stika | 1 Oct 1951 | 1910 (USRCSSI) | (1889–1976)[21] |
Combat citations before the end of World War II[]
From 1942 to 1959, officers of the maritime services—Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and Coast and Geodetic Survey—could retire with the rank but not the pay of the next higher grade, if they were specially commended for the performance of duty in actual combat before the end of World War II.
The Coast Guard claimed that a tombstone promotion for combat citations was a two-step process that first placed an officer on the retired list in his final active-duty rank, and then advanced him to a higher grade on the retired list; whereas a tombstone promotion for years of service placed an officer on the retired list directly in the higher grade, a distinction that justified the retired pay of the higher grade for the second type of tombstone promotion, which was only available in the Coast Guard.[13]
Tombstone promotions for combat citations were halted on November 1, 1959.[22]
Name | Date retired as vice admiral [16] | Commission [17] | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Lyndon Spencer | 1 Nov 1946 | 1918 (USCGA) | (1898–1981) |
1 Aug 1956 | 1924 (USCGA) | (1900–1991) | |
1 Jul 1957 | 1922 (USCGA) | (1898–1987) | |
14 May 1959 | 1924 (USCGA) | (1903–1981) | |
1 Jul 1959 | 1926 (USCGA) | (1905–1996) | |
1 Oct 1959 | 1926 (USCGA) | (1901–1981) |
Legislative history[]
The following list of Congressional legislation includes all acts of Congress pertaining to appointments to the grade of vice admiral in the United States Coast Guard before 1960.
Each entry lists an act of Congress, its citation in the United States Statutes at Large, and a summary of the act's relevance.
Legislation | Citation | Summary |
---|---|---|
Act of January 12, 1923 | 42 Stat. 1130 42 Stat. 1131 |
|
Act of April 23, 1930 | 46 Stat. 253 |
|
Act of June 25, 1936 | 49 Stat. 1924 |
|
Act of June 6, 1942 | 56 Stat. 328 |
|
Act of February 21, 1946 | 60 Stat. 28 |
|
Act of August 4, 1949 | 63 Stat. 516 63 Stat. 561 |
|
Act of August 3, 1950 | 64 Stat. 406 |
|
Act of August 11, 1959 | 73 Stat. 338 |
|
See also[]
- Vice admiral (United States)
- List of United States Coast Guard vice admirals
- List of United States Navy tombstone vice admirals
- List of United States Marine Corps tombstone lieutenant generals
Notes[]
- ^ Register of Officers and Cadets of the United States Coast Guard in the Order of Precedence, 1 January 1967. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. 1967. p. 119.
- ^ Acts of January 12, 1923 (42 Stat. 1131) and August 4, 1949 (63 Stat. 543).
- ^ "Statutory Construction—General And Specific Provisions—Pay—Retired—Coast Guard Commandant (19 Comp. Gen. 293)". Decisions of the Comptroller General of the United States. Vol. 19. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. 1940. pp. 293–300. "William E. Reynolds v. The United States (95 C. Cls. 160)". Cases Decided in the Court of Claims of the United States. Vol. XCV. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. 1942. pp. 160–179.
- ^ "L. C. Covell v. The United States (111 C. Cls. 793)". Cases Decided in the Court of Claims of the United States. Vol. CXI. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. 1948. pp. 793–797.
- ^ "Retirement—Coast Guard Officers—Advancement In Rank Upon Retirement In Temporary Rank (27 Comp. Gen. 742)". Decisions of the Comptroller General of the United States. Vol. 27. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. 1948. pp. 742–746. "T. A. Shanley v. The United States (122 C. Cls. 692)". Cases Decided in the Court of Claims of the United States. Vol. CXXII. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. 1952. pp. 692–697.
- ^ Hearing Before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, United States Senate, Eighty-Fourth Congress, First Session: Coast Guard Retirement Bills. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. 1955. pp. 21–36.
- ^ "Section 1481, Revised Statutes". Hearings Before the Committee on Naval Affairs of the House of Representatives on Sundry Legislation Affecting the Naval Establishment, 1922–1923. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. 1923. pp. 1701–1705.
- ^ Waesche's successor as commandant, Joseph F. Farley, was promoted directly from rear admiral to admiral, skipping three-star rank entirely. "Adml. Waesche Funeral Held". The News (Frederick, Maryland). October 22, 1946. p. 10.
- ^ Register of the Commissioned and Warrant Officers and Cadets of the United States Coast Guard in the Order of Precedence, May 1, 1948. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. 1948. p. 89.
- ^ Register of the Commissioned and Warrant Officers and Cadets of the United States Coast Guard in the Order of Precedence, April 1, 1950. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. 1950. p. 67.
- ^ a b Hearings Before the Committee on Armed Services, House of Representatives, Eighty-Fourth Congress, Second Session: Sundry Legislation. Vol. 4. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. 1956. pp. 6966–1973.
- ^ "Coast Guard Icebreaker Sails Within 445 Miles Of Pole To Set Record". U.S. Coast Guard Bulletin. Washington, D.C. 6 (4): 46. October 1950.
- ^ "Stika Promoted To Vice Admiral". The Honolulu Advertiser. October 5, 1951. p. 10.
- ^ a b Dates taken from the Coast Guard Register.
- ^ a b Sources of commission are listed in parentheses after the year of commission, and include the United States Coast Guard Academy (USCGA) and the United States Revenue Cutter Service School of Instruction (USRCSSI).
- ^ Retired as rear admiral, 1 Sep 1938; rank adjusted to vice admiral between 21 Oct 1946 and 1 Mar 1948, retroactive to date retired.
- ^ Retired as rear admiral, 1 Jan 1942; recalled to active duty as rear admiral, Jun 1943–Apr 1945; rank adjusted to vice admiral between 1 May 1949 and 1 Apr 1950, retroactive to date retired.
- ^ Retired as vice admiral, 1 Sep 1950, having completed 40 years of service before 1 Oct 1949.
- ^ Retired as vice admiral, 1 Oct 1951, having completed 40 years of service before 1 Oct 1949. Awarded Navy Cross, but for non-combat action.
- ^ Act of August 11, 1959 (73 Stat. 338).
- United States Coast Guard personnel