William L. Healy

by Tucker Healy
Introduction

William L. Healy my grandfather was in the United States Navy. He joined the military from May 1941 until June 1946. He was in the Navy for the duration of World War II. He entered the Navy directly after graduating from Harvard. He had to wear his uniform under his gown and had to go right after the ceremony, he couldn't even celebrate for long. He was stationed first on a submarine that was heading down to the Panama Canal. He was in the decoder room when he received a message and he decoded it and it said , "air raid on Pearl , air raid on Pearl , this is no drill , execute Rainbow number five on orange forces." He then went to the safe and got out the plan Rainbow number five and brought it up to the captain and showed him the message he received from the chief of operations. My grandfather also saved the life of George Bush Sr. He was on the USS Healy and spotted an American plane that was shot down. He then called for the rescue team to get him and they went and rescued him before the enemy could capture him. He was stationed mainly on a ship the USS Healy which he asked to be stationed on.

USS Healy

In World War II he was stationed on the boat, the USS Healy, in the Pacific after his original station on the submarine. He was the Lieutenant Commander of the boat meaning second in command to the captain who was captain John Atkinson. The USS Healy was commissioned in 1941. The USS Healy was part of Admiral Nimitz's Fast Carrier Task Force which involved aircraft carriers working with battleships and destroyers. The USS Healy was named after his uncle who saved a whole ship full of people in the Battle of the Coral Sea which only involved planes on ships , and the enemy ships never saw each other. The ship named the Lexington was hit a couple of times. The captain called down to the engineer room as Howard was the damage control officer , and the captain said "How bad is it down there ," and Howard Healy said , "Captain with all due respect, if you have to take another hit , can you take it on the right to even us off."

He kept the boat floating for three more hours than predicted enabling everyone to escape and no one died , but him, Howard Healy. He died when the ship sank because he was trapped on board and was taken down with the ship. For that, he received medals and a ship named after him. Then my grandfather was stationed on this ship. As William L Healy was on the ship the USS Healy, he spotted a plane that went down into the Pacific and radioed for the rescue team and it turns out that the plane belonged to George Bush Sr. George Bush ditched his plane and was floating in the ocean with the Japanese patrol going around , but the rescuers he radioed got there first. He saved George Bush Sr. life.
He was not in many of the main battles although he was in battles they called the island hopping campaign which was when the United States simply went from island to island taking them over and working their way to the Philippines. Some of the islands they attacked on their way to the Philippines were The Palau Islands and the Marianas Islands. Then they liberated the Philippines just 2 years after they were taken away from the USA. 750 ships were involved in the Liberation of the Philippines and the USS Healy was one of those ships.

Battle of Iwo Jima

One of the major battles he was in was the battle of Iwo Jima. This battle was a very important battle for the US as it produced an airfield and places to see Japan planes coming towards US boats. This battle was tough because when the Americans arrived on the beach of Iwo Jima they were being fired at and they had nothing to fire back at as the Japanese were well hidden and hidden underground everywhere shooting every soldier in sight. After the US finally began to fight with grenades and flamethrowers, they made their way up Mount Suribachi on the island and finally made it to the top and conquered the island. This battle was one of many in the island hopping campaign. Another is the battle of Okinawa. Iwo Jima also produced one of the most famous pictures in the US today. This picture was taken from the top of mount Suribachi.

Achievements

For his accomplishments during this war he was awarded 5 medals , the World War II medal , The Pacific theater medal , the Liberation of the Philippines medal and 2 others that are unknown. The three medals that we know of are down below. Most of the battles he was in were successful battles for the United States especially the battles after the battle of Midway because that was the turning point in the war. Without my grandfather we would have no President Bush . My grandfather is a hero to me and played an important role in World War II.

World War II Medal

tucker

Liberation of the Philippines Medal Pacific Theater Medal

Works Cited

Faltey,James.Pacific War Diary.USA:Library of Congress,1963.205-217

Stratton,Molly. World War II War in the Pacific.Singapore: Times Media Ltd, 2001.

"USS Healy (DD-672)." Wikipedia. 5 January 2006 <Http://em.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Healy_(DD-672)>

Willshaw, Fred. "DD-672 USS Healy." Navsource.2001.16 December. 2005. <Http://www.navsource.org/archives/>.

Interview with James Healy about William L. Healy. 10 December 2005.