Benjamin McCandlish
{{short description|36th Naval Governor of Guam}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|honorific-prefix = Commodore
|name = Benjamin McCandlish
|image =
|caption =
|order = 36th
|office = Naval Governor of Guam
|term_start = March 27, 1936
|term_end = February 8, 1938
|predecessor = George A. Alexander
|successor = James Thomas Alexander
|birth_name = Benjamin Vaughan McCandlish
|birth_date = {{birth date|1886|6|3}}
|birth_place = Petersburg, Virginia
|death_date = {{death date and age|1975|10|16|1886|6|3}}
|death_place = Darlington, South Carolina
|nationality = {{flag|United States}}
|restingplace = Blandford Cemetery, Petersburg, Virginia
|party =
|alma_mater =
|spouse = Margherita Wood McCandlish, Louise Sligh Brown
|module ={{Infobox military person
|embed=yes
|nickname =
|allegiance = {{flag|United States}}
|branch = {{nowrap|File:United States Department of the Navy Seal.svg}} United States Navy
|serviceyears =
|rank = U.S. Navy Commodore
|unit =
|commands =
|wars = World War I
World War II
|awards = Navy Cross, Legion of Merit
}}
}}
Benjamin Vaughan McCandlish (June 3, 1886 – October 16, 1975) was a United States Navy flag officer who served as the 36th Naval Governor of Guam and was a recipient of the Navy Cross.
Early life
On June 3, 1886, McCandlish was born in Petersburg, Virginia. McCandlish was the fifth of six children of James Gray McCandlish (1854-1899) and Lelia Jane (nee Vaughan) McCandlish (1856-1937). McCandlish's siblings include, Elsie Gray McCandlish, Walter Taliaferro McCandlish, Lelia Vaughan 'Dee Dee' McCandlish, James Gray McCandlish, Jr. and Sarah Ellen 'Sadie' McCandlish.{{cite web |url=https://www.geni.com/people/Benjamin-McCandlish/6000000002649910176 |title=Benjamin Vaughan McCandlish |website=geni.com |first=Ofir |last=Friedman |date=November 22, 2014 |accessdate=November 15, 2021}}
Education
In 1909, McCandlish earned a degree from the United States Naval Academy in 1909.{{cite news |title=Benjamin Vaughan McCandlish |url=http://militarytimes.com/citations-medals-awards/recipient.php?recipientid=9787 |access-date=18 May 2011 |newspaper=Military Times |agency=Gannett Government Media |year=2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120826171037/http://militarytimes.com/citations-medals-awards/recipient.php?recipientid=9787 |archive-date=26 August 2012 |url-status=dead }}
Career
=Naval service=
As an ensign, McCandlish served aboard {{USS|New York|ACR-2|6}}, an armored cruiser that was renamed USS Saratoga in 1911.{{cite book|title=Register of the Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps|year=1914|publisher=United States Government Printing Office|location=Washington, D.C.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ih8PAQAAMAAJ&q=%22Benjamin+Vaughan+McCandlish%22&pg=PA50|access-date=18 May 2011|page=50|volume=1914}}
During World War I, on August 25, 1918, McCandlish commanded {{USS|Davis|DD-65|6}}, a {{sclass|Sampson|destroyer}}, during its mission to escort troops to Europe through waters infested by German U-boats, until August 6, 1919. For his actions, he received the Navy Cross as a lieutenant commander.{{cite web |url=https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/d/davis-ii.html |title=Davis II (Destroyer No. 65) 1916-1934 |website=navy.mil |date=2017 |accessdate=November 11, 2021}} McCandlish commanded a number of different-class vessels during the 1920s and 1930s until 12 August 1938, when he assumed his last seagoing command.
On August 12, 1938, McCandlish became the first captain of {{USS|Boise|CL-47|6}}, a {{sclass|Brooklyn|cruiser}}. In February 1939, following a shakedown cruise to Monrovia, Liberia; and Cape Town, Union of South Africa, McCandlish's Boise joined Division 9, Cruisers, Battle Force, at San Pedro, California. On December 4, 1941, Boise arrived at Manila, Philippine Islands.{{cite web |url=http://www.navsource.org/archives/04/047/04047.htm |title=NavSource Online: Cruiser Photo Archive - USS BOISE (CL 47) |website=navsource.org |accessdate=November 11, 2021}}{{cite web |url=https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/b/boise-i.html |title=Boise I (CL-47) |website=navy.mil |accessdate=November 11, 2021}}
=Governor of Guam=
McCandlish served as Naval Governor of Guam from March 27, 1936, to February 8, 1938.{{cite web |title=Naval Era Governors of Guam |url=http://guampedia.com/naval-era-governors-of-guam/ |work=Guampedia |publisher=University of Guam |access-date=4 April 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110711134857/http://guampedia.com/naval-era-governors-of-guam/ |archive-date=11 July 2011 |location=Guam |date=10 August 2010 |url-status=dead }} Along with others in the U.S. Naval Command, he placed emphasis on basic hygiene education for the island's children, often in a dictatorial manner resented by some Chamorro.{{cite book|last=Hattori|first=Anne Perez|title=Colonial Dis-ease: US Navy Health Policies and the Chamorros of Guam, 1898-1941|year=2004|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|location=Honolulu|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i84sQCC-unkC&q=%22Benjamin+McCandlish%22&pg=PA178|access-date=18 May 2011|page=178|isbn=9780824828080}} He discouraged a mission of the Guam Congress to the federal government, instead instructing them to look toward the numerous welfare agencies he had set up on the island. The Congress sent the mission regardless, and ceased to accept funds from the Navy.{{cite journal|last=Maga|first=Timothy|title=Democracy and Defence: The Case of Guam, U.S.A., 1918-1941|journal=The Journal of Pacific History|date=July 1985|volume=20|issue=3|pages=167–168|publisher=Taylor & Francis|doi=10.1080/00223348508572517}}
=World War II service=
In 1940, prior to World War II, Capt. McCandlish was selected to serve as Captain of the Norfolk Navy Yard in Portsmouth, Virginia, was promoted to flag rank as Commodore (pay grade 0-7) in April 1943, and commanded the Moroccan Sea Frontier from October 13, 1943, to August 1, 1945.{{cite book|last=Cressman|first=Robert|title=The Official Chronology of the U.S. Navy in World War II|year=2000|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, Maryland|url=https://archive.org/details/TheOfficialChronologyOfTheUSNavyInWorldWarII|quote=mccandlish.|access-date=18 May 2011|page=[https://archive.org/details/TheOfficialChronologyOfTheUSNavyInWorldWarII/page/n348 349]|isbn=1-55750-149-1}}
Personal life
On June 12, 1914, in Manila, Philippine Islands, McCandlish married Margarita Wilson Wood (1892–1954).{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/10545834/mrs-margherita-wood-mccandlish-d/ |title=Mrs. M. W. McCandlish
|publisher=The Progress-Index |page=13 |date=August 26, 1954 |accessdate=November 11, 2021}}{{cite news |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mVM-AQAAMAAJ&pg=RA2-PA753 |title=Personal Matters |publisher=Army and Navy Register |date=June 13, 1914 |accessdate=November 11, 2021}}
On August 25, 1954, McCandlish's wife Margherita Wood McCandlish died in a hospital in Hartsville, South Carolina. McCandlish is interred at Blandford Cemetery in Petersburg, Virginia.
In Darlington, South Carolina, McCandlish married Louise Sligh Brown (Maiden, 1904–1988), former wife of Gustave Waldeck Sligh {{cite web |url=https://www.ancestry.com/1940-census/usa/South-Carolina/Louise-Sligh_4t3y93 |title=Louise Sligh in the 1940 Census |website=ancestry.com |date=1940 |accessdate=November 15, 2021}}
He retired as a commodore, settled in Darlington, became a well-known society figure.
On 16 October 1975, McCandlish died in Darlington, South Carolina. McCandlish is interred at Blandford Cemetery in Petersburg, Virginia.{{cite web |url=http://www.petersburg-va.org/blandford/detail.asp?search=25821 |title=Deceased: BENJAMIN MCCANDLISH (COMMODORE) |website=archive.is petersburg-va.org |accessdate=November 10, 2021 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130415162148/http://www.petersburg-va.org/blandford/detail.asp?search=25821 |archive-date=15 April 2013 |url-status=dead}}{{cite web |url=http://www.interment.net/data/us/va/petersburg/blandford-cemetery-records-m.htm |title=Blandford Cemetery, Petersburg, Virginia |website=interment.net |accessdate=November 11, 2021}}
McCandlish's sister Elsie Gray McCandlish married F.A. Miller.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7HgZAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA47 |title=Lineage Book - National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Volumes 61-62 |page=47 |publisher=Daughters of the American Revolution |date=1922 |accessdate=November 15, 2021}}
Awards
- Navy Cross {{Ribbon devices |number=0|type=award-star |ribbon=Navy Cross ribbon.svg|width=106}}
- Legion of Merit {{Ribbon devices |number=0|type=award-star |ribbon=Legion of Merit ribbon.svg|width=106}}
=Navy Cross Citation=
"The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Lieutenant Commander Benjamin Vaughan McCandlish, United States Navy, for distinguished service in the line of his profession as Commanding Officer of the U.S.S. DAVIS. engaged in the important, exacting, and hazardous duty of patrolling the waters infested with enemy submarines and mines, in escorting and protecting vitally important convoys of troops, and supplies through these waters, and in offensive and defensive action, vigorously and unremittingly prosecuted against all forms of enemy naval activity during World War I."{{cite web |url=https://valor.militarytimes.com/hero/9787 |title=Benjamin Vaughan McCandlish |website=militarytimes.com |accessdate=November 11, 2021}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.ourcampaigns.com/CandidateDetail.html?CandidateID=108854 Benjamin Vaughan McCandlish at ourcampaigns.com]
- [https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/28497545/benjamin-vaughan-mccandlish Benjamin Vaughan McCandlish at findagrave.com]
- [https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/117568772/louise-mccandish Louise McCandish at findagrave.com] (wife #2)
{{s-start}}
{{s-mil}}
{{succession box
|before = George A. Alexander
|title = Naval Governor of Guam
|years = 1936–1938
|after = James Thomas Alexander}}
{{s-end}}
{{Governors of Guam}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCandlish, Benjamin}}
Category:Burials at Blandford Cemetery
Category:Recipients of the Navy Cross (United States)
Category:People from Petersburg, Virginia
Category:United States Naval Academy alumni