Quote:
Originally Posted by keith A
I should state that the citation for his Navy Cross (2 July 1945) calls him Lieutenant Commander [then Lieutenant] Eugene Anthony Valencia (NSN: 0-113030), United States Naval Reserve. I assume this was his temporary rank at the time? If so it would pinpoint his temporary promotion to around June 1945. In a newspaper article of August 1945, which shows him sporting a full set of whiskers he is still referred to as Lieutenant.
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No, his promotion date to LCDR was as noted. I believe you are confusing the date the citation was forwarded in 1945 with a date when awarded at some point after he was promoted to LCDR. In general, once a LCDR, even USNR, the date of his promotion would not have changed with his augmentation. Valencia was augmented into the USN from the USNR on 11 July 1947 . . . he had already been a LCDR for a year. And, indeed, you, yourself, have an August 1945 publication noting him as a LT.
It is well to remember that folks were being awarded medals for wartime service well into the late 1940’s. I have a picture of some gents in VF-171 being awarded DFC’s from the war that is circa 1949 (not a clue who they are, just that they are in VF-171 and being presented at a squadron inspection). Even Phil Torrey, CAG-9 was not announced as being awarded with the Navy Cross for action on 16-17 February 1945 during which he was killed until the January 1947 issue of BuPers “All Hands” and the announcement of award of his third DFC in the April 1947 listing and his fourth in the August 1947 listing. Our friend, Doc McCuskey, VF-8, does not show up being awarded his 4th DFC until the November 1947 list. “All Hands” pretty much stopped listing decorations and awards in June 1949.
Unfortunately, breezing through the Jan 1945 through Dec 1949 issues, I can find no mention of Valencia being awarded the Navy Cross nor any one of his six DFC’s. Not being mentioned is not at all unusual. My father was twice awarded the Navy Cross (VF-42 at Coral Sea and VF-3 at Midway) and I don’t recall ever seeing any mention of either of those awards in any of the issues 1942 through 1949 and I know he received the VF-42 award in June 1942 from Adm Nimitz and the VF-3 award in December 1942 from VAdm Towers. For that matter, my father was not awarded his DFC for action in the Solomons on 12 June 1943 with VF-11. He was recommended for one on 24 June 1943 for disposing of two Zeros on the 12th, but for some reason it was not awarded; he never chased it down . . . bad form, don’t you know. He finally received a DFC on 28 November 1947 covering the period 24 June to 9 July 1943 with VF-11 and he didn’t get the gold star device for his last of six air medals until 4 June 1948 and that one was for action in the Lae-Salamaua raid of 10 March 1942.
Also, you should not get wrapped around nor read too much into "temporary" promotions. Recent discussion on USN ranks, temporary vs permanent and on "fleeting-up" can be found here
https://propnturret.com/tully/viewto...c3b311857cdf75
In the Bureau of Navigation Information Bulletin # 306, September 1942, page 37 we can find:
Secretary of the Navy Knox has announced that steps have been taken to insure that sufficient officers will be available in the various grades for the rapidly expanding aeronautical organization of the Navy.
Lists of officers for temporary promotion to higher grades have been prepared using the selective system.
These lists have been approved by the President.
The lists will not be made public, but promotions will be made from these lists as the needs of the service require.
In view of the rapidly expanding aeronautical organization, it may be expected that temporary promotions of naval aviators will occur at earlier dates than regular line officers.
And were you to look closer, you would find that USMC Naval aviators were generally being promoted faster than their USN contemporaries.
When Valencia was augmented to the USN, his permanent rank was LT, but, just like everyone else, the rank that counted was his current. Noting someone's permanent rank in the officers’ registers was essentially a presentation of the effect of wartime expansion. By 1958, permanent rank was no longer mentioned, either because the expansion hump had largely dissolved or the soon to go away tombstone regulations were approaching their demise (which would help the "hump" dissolve) or, perhaps, mentioning it was simply too much trouble.
Valencia, or any other officer for that matter, would never, never present himself as "Temporary Lieutenant Commander," no, no, he was just plain "Lieutenant Commander."
I would be willing to bet that Valencia was not actually decorated with the Navy Cross until after he was promoted to LCDR and while stationed at NOTS where he was until June 1948.
Only temporary rank in the USN was the wartime commodores and even at that was never presented as "Temporary Commodore," just plain "Commodore."