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Submitted: 3/18/21 • Approved: 3/20/21 • Last Updated: 3/23/21 • R398767-G0-S3
Michigan
SEAMAN FIRST CLASS US Navy Reserve
World War II
June 9, 1921 - August 23, 1965
*Note
Glenville "Spud" McGraw was assigned aboard the USS Enterprise CVN6 during WWII. She participated in more major actions of the war against Japan than any other US ship. Glenville saw actions that included the Battle of Midway, the Battle of the Eastern Solomons, the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, various other air-sea engagements during the Guadalcanal Campaign, the Battle of the Philippine Sea, and the Battle of Leyte Gulf. On three separate occasions during the Pacific War, the Japanese announced that she had been sunk in battle, earning her the name "The Grey Ghost". Enterprise earned 20 battle stars, the most for any U.S. warship in World War II and became the most decorated US ship of World War II. Enterprise made aviation history, when she launched the first night radar bombing attack from a U.S. carrier. The twelve torpedo bombers in this strike achieved excellent results, accounting for nearly one-third of the 200,000 tons of shipping destroyed by aircraft. Departing Ulithi on 15 March, the carrier continued her night work in raids against Kyūshū, Honshū, and shipping in the Inland Sea of Japan. She then supported the Marines in the Battle of Iwo Jima from 19 February – 9 March, when she sailed for Ulithi. During one part of that period, Enterprise kept aircraft aloft continuously over Iwo Jima for 174 hours.On 14 May 1945. Damaged lightly by an enemy bomb on 18 March, Enterprise entered Ulithi six days later for repairs. Back in action on 5 April, she supported the Okinawa operation until she was damaged on 11 April—this time by a kamikaze—and was forced back to Ulithi. Off Okinawa once more on 6 May, Enterprise flew patrols around the clock as kamikaze attacks increased. , she suffered her last wound of World War II when a kamikaze Zero, piloted by Lt. J.G. Shunsuke Tomiyasu, destroyed her forward elevator, killing 14 and wounding 34. "Spud"served aboard as a Seaman 2nd class and later a Seaman 1st class. Spud never talked about the action he saw. It was not until I matched his name on the Enterprise personnel roll calls that we realized how much war he firsthand experienced. Of the more than twenty major actions of the Pacific War, Enterprise engaged in all but two. Her planes and guns downed 911 enemy planes; her bombers sank 71 ships, and damaged or destroyed 192 more. Her presence inspired both pride and fear: pride in her still unmatched combat record, and fear in the knowledge that Enterprise and hard fighting were never far
Devotion Garden Section
Photo courtesy of:
Annette Shaw
Contributed on 3/18/21 by hawkinsdonna48
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Record #: 398767
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