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33-798: William Dodge Sample (March 9, 1898 – October 2, 1945) was a rear admiral in the United States Navy and an Escort Carrier Division commander in World War II . He was the youngest rear admiral in the Pacific Theater of World War II . Sample was born in Buffalo, New York , and graduated from the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis , Maryland , in June 1918. During World War I , Sample served aboard

66-546: A better view of operations" and decided to hitch a ride in a torpedo bomber . He lay in the "tunnel gun" position and observed through the window below the tail. The plane was hit by antiaircraft. Sample was severely cut on the head and shoulders. James C. Edinger, ARM3c, USNR, of Foxburg, Pennsylvania ), came down from the "blister" where he was manning a .50 in (12.7 mm) machine gun , and applied first aid. Edinger said that it took them more than an hour to return to Marcus Island , during which he kept kicking Sample in

99-598: A list of officers it recommends for promotion to flag rank. This list is then sent to the service secretary and the joint chiefs for review before it can be sent to the President , through the defense secretary, for consideration. The president nominates officers to be promoted from this list with the advice of the Secretary of Defense , the service secretary, and if applicable, the service's chief of staff or commandant. The President may nominate any eligible officer who

132-415: A personal blue and white command pennant containing the initials, acronym abbreviation or numerical designation of their command. In 1981, Pub. L.   97–86 expanded commodore from a title to an official permanent grade by creating the one-star rank of commodore admiral . After only 11 months, the rank was reverted to just commodore but kept the one-star insignia. However, this caused issues with

165-554: A two-star major general. However, both categories of rear admiral wore two-star insignia, an issue that was a source of consternation to the other services. At the same time, the Navy also bestowed the title of commodore on selected U.S. Navy captains who commanded multiple subordinate units, such as destroyer squadrons , submarine squadrons and air wings and air groups not designated as carrier air wings or carrier air groups. Although not flag officers , these officers were entitled to

198-688: Is a one-star flag officer , with the pay grade of O-7 in the United States Navy , the United States Coast Guard , the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps , and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps . Rear admiral (lower half) ranks above captain and below rear admiral . Rear admiral (lower half) is equivalent to the rank of brigadier general in

231-555: Is later, unless appointed for promotion or reappointed to grade to serve longer. Otherwise all flag officers must retire the month after their 64th birthday. However, the Secretary of Defense can defer a flag officer's retirement until the officer's 66th birthday and the President can defer it until the officer's 68th birthday. Flag officers typically retire well in advance of the statutory age and service limits, so as not to impede

264-461: Is not on the recommended list if it serves in the interest of the nation, but this is uncommon. The Senate must then confirm the nominee by a majority vote before the officer can be promoted. Once confirmed, a nominee is promoted by assuming an office that requires or allows an officer to hold that rank. For one-star or two-star positions of office that are reserved by statute, the President nominates an officer for appointment to fill that position. For

297-475: Is the highest permanent rank during peacetime in the uniformed services. All higher ranks are temporary ranks and linked to their specific commands or office and expire with the expiration of their term of command or office. Before the American Civil War , the U.S. Navy had resisted creating the rank of admiral. Instead, they preferred the term " flag officer ", in order to distinguish the rank from

330-559: The Asiatic Fleet . Sample attended flight training at Naval Air Station Pensacola , Florida , and was designated a Naval Aviator on June 23, 1923. Shortly thereafter, he served as commanding officer of Scouting Squadron VS-1. In the 1920s, he successively served in the Aviation Departments of the light cruisers Raleigh and Richmond , and battleships Arizona and New York . Sample served on board

363-588: The Battle of Leyte Gulf , his CarDiv 27 was part of Task Unit 77.4.2 (TU 77.4.2, otherwise known as Taffy II) at the Battle off Samar under Rear Admiral Felix B. Stump . In early 1945, Commander, CarDiv 27, and Marcus Island supported the Invasion of Lingayen Gulf , Philippines. For the Invasion of Okinawa , Sample moved his flag to CarDiv 22 and Suwannee . During the Leyte invasion, Rear Admiral Sample "desired

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396-621: The Hornet on June 20, 1944. On October 2, 1945, shortly after the war ended, Sample was listed as missing after his Martin PBM Mariner aircraft failed to return from a familiarization flight near Wakayama , Japan . Rear Admiral Sample was officially declared dead on October 3, 1946. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery , in Arlington, Virginia . The remains of Sample, Capt. Charles C. McDonald of Suwannee  (CVE-27) , and

429-554: The U.S. Code of law . However, the four uniformed services will sometimes list the rank as rear admiral (upper half) to help the general public distinguish between the two grades. Although it exists largely as a maritime training organization, the United States Maritime Service does use the ranks of rear admiral (upper half) and rear admiral (lower half). By law, the Service has the same rank structure as

462-553: The United States Army , Air Force , Marine Corps , and Space Force and equivalent to the rank of commodore in most other navies. In the United States uniformed services, rear admiral (lower half) replaced the rank of commodore in 1985. Rear admiral (abbreviated as RADM ), also sometimes referred to informally as " rear admiral (upper half) ", is a two-star flag officer, with the pay grade of O-8 in

495-520: The aircraft carriers Saratoga and Lexington , commanding Fighter Squadron VF-5B on the latter from 1932 to 1934. Promoted to lieutenant commander , Sample saw duty at the Bureau of Aeronautics from 1935 to 1937 followed by duty as Navigator on Ranger in 1938. In 1939, Sample was assigned as air operations officer on Yorktown . His last duty before World War II was as supervisor of aviation training at Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Florida. At

528-536: The transport Henderson . For meritorious service during a fire onboard Henderson , he received a letter of commendation from the Secretary of the Navy . Detached in August 1918, he served on several destroyers based at Queenstown , Ireland . He remained in the European Waters Detachment after the end of World War I. In December 1921, Sample was transferred to the gunboat Pampanga in

561-794: The Assistant Surgeons General are one-star rear admirals and no more than half are two-star rear admirals. The Coast Guard's chief medical officer is also a commissioned corps two-star rear admiral, on assignment to the Coast Guard. Officers serving in certain intelligence positions are not counted against the statutory limit. For the Navy and the Coast Guard, to be promoted to the permanent grade of rear admiral (lower half) or rear admiral, officers who are eligible for promotion to these ranks are screened by an in-service promotion board composed of other flag officers from their branch of service. This promotion board then generates

594-643: The Navy and the Coast Guard, because the one-star and two-star grades are permanent ranks, the nominee may still be screened by an in-service promotion board to add their input on the nominee before the nomination can be sent to the Senate for approval. For the NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps and the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, one-star and two-star rank are achieved by appointment from

627-560: The Navy due to the difficulty in differentiating those commodores who were flag officers from commodores who were senior captains in certain command positions. Then in 1985, Pub. L.   99–145 renamed commodore to the current grade of rear admiral (lower half) effective on November 8, 1985. Up until 1981 all rear admirals wore two stars on their shoulder boards and rank insignia. Since then, rear admirals (lower half) wear one star while rear admirals wear two; verbal address remains "rear admiral" for both ranks. On correspondence, where

660-751: The President, or from their department secretary, and do not require senatorial approval. The standard tour length for most rear admiral positions is three years, but some are set at four or more years by statute. For the Navy, Coast Guard, and NOAA Corps, both grades of rear admiral are permanent ranks and do not expire when the officer vacates a one-star or two-star position. The Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, however, employs permanent promotions in both grades of rear admiral as well as position-linked temporary appointments in both grades (e.g., Assistant Surgeons General). Their temporary ranks expires when those officers vacate certain temporary positions of office designated to bear those ranks. By tradition in

693-644: The RDML abbreviation for the O-7 pay grade in 2022. As flag officers, the flags flown for rear admirals of the unrestricted line of the U.S. Navy have one or two white, single-point-up stars on blue fields for the lower half or upper half, respectively. The flags of restricted line officers and staff corps officers have blue stars on a white field. All services officially list the two-star grade as rear admiral and not rear admiral (upper half) as stated by 10 U.S.C.   § 8111 and 37 U.S.C.   § 201 of

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726-676: The Reserve Active Status List as part-time drilling reservists. Some of these billets are reserved or set by statute. For example, the Deputy Judge Advocate General of the Navy is a two-star rear admiral in the Navy. A newer statute enacted in 2016 lowers the cap on the total number of active duty flag officers in the Department of Defense to 151, effective December 31, 2022. In the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, at least half of

759-721: The United States Coast Guard, but its uniforms are more similar to the United States Navy. By statute, Congress has expressly limited the total number of flag officers that may be on active duty at any given time. The total number of active duty flag officers is capped at 162 for the Regular Navy, augmented by a smaller number of additional flag officers in the Navy Reserve who are either on full-time active duty, temporary active duty, or on

792-708: The United States Navy, the United States Coast Guard, the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps and the United States Maritime Service . Rear admiral ranks above rear admiral (lower half) and below vice admiral . Rear admiral is equivalent to the rank of major general in the U.S. Army, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Space Force. It

825-584: The United States Navy, when an officer is selected or appointed to flag rank, all current Navy flag officers write the selectee a letter congratulating him or her for attaining flag officer status. Other than voluntary retirement, federal statutes set a number of mandates for retirement. All one-star officers must retire after five years in grade or 30 years of service, whichever is later, unless they are selected or appointed for promotion or reappointed to grade to serve longer. All two-star officers must retire after five years in grade or 35 years of service, whichever

858-485: The face with his foot to keep the Admiral from passing out. Sample was a big man: Edinger was afraid that if they ended up in the water, he would be unable to get him out of the plane. Each time Sample would warn Edinger to make sure the .30 in (7.6 mm) machine gun in the tail was empty. He was afraid that when they landed the gun would go off. Later, in the state room Sample explained to Edinger that he could see

891-513: The headlines in the paper, "Admiral lands upon carrier: shoots hole in deck". According to the ship's surgeon, Commander Lee,"the excellence of Edinger's treatment helped prevent infection". Admiral Sample was awarded the Purple Heart , and at Sample's request, Edinger was promoted to Aviation Radio Man, Second Class. Sample received the Legion of Merit for his service as commanding officer of

924-467: The outbreak of World War II , he assisted in the conversion of the oil tanker Santee into an escort carrier. Shortly thereafter, he was promoted to commander . Assuming command of Santee on her commissioning, he was awarded a letter of commendation for service during Operation Torch ; the invasion of North Africa . Captain Sample assumed command of Intrepid on April 19, 1944. In May 1944, he

957-502: The rank of two-star rear admiral and the commodore rank was abolished in both services. Both the Navy and the Coast Guard divided their rear admirals into "lower half" and full rear admirals, or "upper half", the former being paid at the same rate as a one-star brigadier general in the U.S. Army , U.S. Marine Corps and the newly independent U.S. Air Force . Lower-half rear admirals were eventually advanced to full rear admirals, or upper half status, where they would receive pay equivalent to

990-490: The rear admiral's rank is spelled out, the acronym (LH) and (UH) follows the rear admiral's rank title to distinguish between one and two stars. Beginning around 2001, the Navy, Coast Guard, and NOAA Corps started using the separate rank abbreviations RDML (one star) and RADM (two stars), while the Public Health Service continued to use the abbreviation RADM for both. The Public Health Service formally adopted

1023-535: The seven members of the flight crew were discovered in the wreckage of the aircraft on November 19, 1948, recovered, and returned to the United States to be interred together at Arlington National Cemetery He was married to Mary Lee Lamar of Pensacola, Florida. They had one daughter, Carolyn Lamar Sample, who lived in Alexandria, Virginia, with her husband David M. Abshire . Rear admiral (United States) Rear admiral (lower half) (abbreviated as RDML )

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1056-565: The traditions of the European navies. During the American Civil War, the U.S. Congress honored David Farragut 's successful assault on the city of New Orleans by creating the rank of rear admiral on July 16, 1862. During World War II , the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Coast Guard both had a temporary appointment, one-star rank of commodore, that was used in limited circumstances. By the end of the war, all incumbents had been advanced to

1089-530: Was transferred to serve as commanding officer of Hornet and in the ensuing months participated in the Battle of the Philippine Sea and a strike against the Volcano Islands. In late summer 1944, Sample was promoted to rear admiral, planting his flag aboard the escort carrier Marcus Island as commander, Carrier Division 27 (CarDiv 27), for the invasion of Palau . In October 1944, at

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