Edward J. O'Donnell (military)
Edward Joseph O'Donnell (April 13, 1907 – December 9, 1991) served in the United States Navy from 1929 to 1967, rising in rank from Ensign to Rear Admiral.
Education
O'Donnell was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts and attended Roman Catholic schools there. After graduating high school he attended the United States Naval Academy, graduating in 1929.[1]
Early naval career
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Before World War II, he served on board the USS Florida, USS John D. Ford, USS Houston, and the USS San Francisco while doing postgraduate work in ordinance engineering at the Naval Postgraduate School, then located in Annapolis, Maryland.[2] He served as a gunnery officer on board the aircraft USS Lexington, and served aboard her when she sunk during the Battle of the Coral Sea.[3] He later continued serving as a gunnery officer aboard the USS Birmingham, serving on her throughout many of the raids and invasions she participated in throughout the war. He was promoted to Captain in 1945.[citation needed]
During his postwar years, O'Donnell commanded Destroyer Division 32 and served on the staffs of the Bureau of Ordnance and Commander of Naval Forces in Germany. He then commanded the USS George Clymer in operations off Korea and Japan in 1952 and 1953. O'Donnell then served as commander of the USS New Jersey and was sworn in on March 18, 1955.[2] He also commanded Destroyer Flotilla 6 from June 1956 to October 1957.[4]
Guantanamo and the Naval Postgraduate School
O'Donnell, promoted to a two-star Rear Admiral in 1957, served as commander of the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base from December 1960 to 1963, and was serving on the base during the Cuban missile crisis. In April 1961, he led Naval forces during the covert Bay of Pigs invasion.[5] RADM J. W. Davis would assume command of Guantanamo from O'Donnell on December 22, 1962, in a Change of Command ceremony held at the bases golf course.[6]
After Guantanamo, he served as director of the Far East section of The Pentagon's Bureau of International Security Affairs, and then superintendent of the Naval Postgraduate School from 1965 to 1967.[7]
Navy ranks
| Rank | Date of Promotion |
|---|---|
| Midshipman | June 18, 1925 |
| Ensign | June 8, 1929 |
| Lieutenant (junior grade) | June 6, 1932 |
| Lieutenant Commander | January 1, 1942 |
| Commander | October 1, 1942 |
| Captain | March 30, 1945 |
| Rear Admiral | October 14, 1957 |
After the navy
He'd retire from Naval service in 1967 and serve six years as President of the New York Maritime College in the Bronx from 1967 to 1972.[1]
From October 21-23, 1969, O’Donnell would testify in front of the Special Subcommittee on Maritime Education and Training of the United States House Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries at the United States Capitol in support of a bill proposed by Rep. William Hathaway (D-ME-2). The bill would amend the Maritime Academy Act of 1958 and increase the contribution of funding from the federal government to the state governments for maritime colleges. The bill would successfully pass. [8]
He would live the rest of his life in Monterey, California.[citation needed]
Personal life
O'Donnell was from an Irish Roman Catholic family in Boston and was the oldest of five siblings. His first wife, Ruth, was from Nebraska and the son of Robert A. Hall, a Naval officer himself who graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1912.[9] Ruth was also a Navy officer, commissioned in the Naval Reserve as a Lieutenant (junior grade). During WWII, she was a member of the first group of WAVES and served in BUPERS.[10] They had two sons, Neil Hall O'Donnell and James O'Donnell. Ruth died at age 67 in 1980. Edward remarried to Jeannett C. Carns a year later and would live with her for the rest of his life. He died of a heart attack on December 9, 1991, age 84 years.[3] At the time of his death he was survived by two sons and five grandchildren.[3][1]
References
- ^ a b c "RETIRED ADM. EDWARD O'DONNELL, 84, DIES". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
- ^ a b "1955 › Page 12". Fold3. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
- ^ a b c Lambert, Bruce (December 13, 1991). "Adm. Edward J. O'Donnell, 84, Commander of Guantanamo Base". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
- ^ O'Donnell, Edward J. (January 28, 2020). "Rear Admiral Edward J. O'Donnell, U.S. Navy, Retired". Calhoun – Institutional Archive of the Naval Postgraduate School.
Reprint of O'Donnell, Edward J. (December 7, 1967). "Rear Admiral Edward J. O'Donnell, U.S. Navy, Retired". Navy Office of Information – Internal Relations Division.
- ^ "Edward J. O'Donnell; Admiral Headed Cuban Base". Los Angeles Times. December 14, 1991. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
- ^ "Sunday Supplement Vol. 2 No. 1" (PDF). University of Florida. December 22, 1962. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "NPS Presidents & Provosts". Dudley Knox Library – Naval Postgraduate School. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
- ^ Fisheries, United States Congress House Merchant Marine and (1971). Maritime Academy Act Amendments: Hearings Before the Special Subcommittee on Maritime Education and Training...91-1, on H.R. 8328, 9174, 9826, 10188, 10430, 14367, 8785, 11325, October 21-23, 1969.
- ^ Annual Register of the United States Naval Academy. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1911.
- ^ Magazine, Classmate; O'Donnell, Mrs Edward J.; O'Donnell, Edward J.; E.S.D (June 1966). "Classmate Revisits the O'Donnells".
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