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Adapted from "Captain Walter Griswold Bacon, Supply Corps, United States Navy"  [biography, dated 8 August 1963] in Modern Biographical Files collection, Navy Department Library.

 
Topic
  • Operations
  • Occupations-jobs--Astronaut
Document Type
  • Biography
Wars & Conflicts
  • World War II 1939-1945
File Formats
Location of Archival Materials
  • NHHC-Library

Walter Griswold Bacon

 

 

14 April 1906 – [no death date]

 

Download PDF Version [106KB]

Walter Griswold Bacon was born in Sommerville, Massachusetts, on April 14, 1906, son of George C. and Lonnie A. (Smith) Bacon, both now deceased.  He was graduated from the University of Redlands, in California, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Economics, and was subsequently employed as District Representative, Zellerbach Paper Company, in Orange County and Long Beach, California.  Commissioned Lieutenant (junior grade) in the US Naval Reserve on February 23, 1938, he began active naval service on January 6, 1941, transferred to the US Navy in the rank of Commander in 1946, and was promoted to Captain, SC, USN, to date from July 1, 1954.

From January to May 1941, he was under instruction at the Supply Corps School, Washington, DC, after which he was assigned to the Allotment Division, Bureau of Supplies and Accounts, Navy Department, until September 1942.  In October, he reported to USS Croatan (CVE-25) and served as Supply Officer of that carrier escort vessel during submarine killer operations in European-African-waters until November 1943.  After a months’ service as Supply and Fiscal Officer at the Naval Air Station, Santa Ana, California, he reported in January 1944 to the Field Branch of the Bureau of Supplies and Accounts, for a tour of duty as Officer in Charge of the Allotment Division.  Detached late in 1945, he served from February until July 1946 as Stores Officer at the Naval Supply Depot, San Diego, California.

During the period July 1946 until April 1947, he was Officer in Charge, Terminal Leave Disbursing Office, at the Naval Training Center, Great Lakes, Illinois, then for two years served as Officer in Charge, General Supply Department, Naval Supply Center, Pearl Harbor, TH.  Upon his return from Hawaii in May 1949, he became Officer in Charge of the Naval Material Center’s Office in New York City.  He left there for California in November 1951, and rom December of that year until July 1954 served as Supply and Fiscal Officer of the Naval Ordnance Test Station, Inyokern.

He was a student at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, Washington, DC, from August 1954 to June 1955, and for three years thereafter served as Supply Officer of the Naval Air Station, North Island, San Diego, California, with additional duty as Supply Officer on the Staff of the Chief, Naval Air Bases, Eleventh Naval District.  He returned to the Bureau of Supplies and Accounts, Navy Department, in August 1958, and for thirteen months served as Deputy Assistant to the Chief of Supply Management.

In October 1959, he reported for duty as Executive officer of the Naval Supply Center, Norfolk, Virginia, and in May 1961 assumed command of the Naval Supply Depot, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.

In February 1963, he was ordered detached for duty as Officer in Charge of the Naval Purchasing Office, Los Angeles, California.

Captain Bacon has the American Defense Service Medal; the American Campaign Medal; European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal; World War II Victory Medal; and the National Defense Service Medal.

A baseball enthusiast, Captain Bacon’s chief hobby is electronics.

 

END

Published: Wed Jul 29 13:05:13 EDT 2020