US Marine Corps - The Black Vault

HUDDLE Slowly Scuttled 453
DIVERSIONARY EFFECT
Available personal RKT letters of this period are few in number. One
addressed to the editor of the Call Bulletin of San Francisco, acknowledging
receipt of a letter two months old which had just arrived by sea mail, included
the comments:
. . . Ever since I came into the Navy, I have always wanted to campaign
in the tropics in an elephant hat, and now at last, it has to be in one made
of tin.
We are not having a particularly easy time down here. Starting from
scratch; fighting in the jungle using boys that never saw jungle; our ships
lying in ports that never saw ships; creating bases and facilities out of
nothing; drawing our supplies from six thousand miles away. These are our
problems, and they are difficult. But we hope to solve them. From the way our
boys are acting, nothing will ever be too much for them.”
NEW CHIEF OF STAFF
When Captain Peyton, the Chief of Staff, pressed Rear Admiral Turner
to be relieved, setting forth the COMINCH and BUPERS policy that all
captains must have a successful big ship command under their belts before
being eligible for selection to Flag rank, Rear Admiral Turner sought to
obtain for Captain Peyton a first-rate command and luckily did so. This was
the big and new battleship, the USS Indiana ( BB-58), whose first Commanding
Officer, Captain A. Stanton (Tip) Merrill, had just been promoted to
command a cruiser division operating in the Solomons.
Commodore Peyton opined:
Kelly Turner was an officer with the highest mentaI capacity. He was a
tireless worker and had tremendous drive. His mental capabilities were such
that he did all the brain work for the Staff. The Staff carried out the
mechanics of operations and filled in all the details of the operation orders.
He was a one-man staff.
I was not qualified to be his Chief of Staff, as I was not on the same
intellectual level with him.
Commodore Peyton also remembered:
Admiral Spruance visited the Amphibious Force several times between
July and December 1942. Turner used to go ashore about six and hoist a
couple. Spruance did not participate nor concur. Turner would return, have
dinner and work half the night or all the night. The cocktail hour seemed
= RKT to Edmond D, Coblentz, letter, 23 Dec. 1942.