This Military Service Page was created/owned by
SSgt Robert Bruce McClelland, Jr.
to remember
Harmon, Millard Fillmore, Jr. ("Miff"), Lt Gen.
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Contact Info
Home Town Fort Mason, California
Last Address Guam and/or the Philippines
Date of Passing Feb 26, 1945
Location of Interment Honolulu Memorial - Honolulu, Hawaii
He was killed while en route from his HQ in Guam to a high-level conference in Washington, DC. His plane had flown safely from Guam to Kwajelein but was lost at sea between Kwajalein and Hawaii. The former Harmon AAF/AFB, Guam was named in his honor.
His Army DSM citation: Awarded for actions during World War II
The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Army Distinguished Service Medal to Lieutenant General Millard Filmore Harmon (ASN: 0-3406), United States Army Air Forces, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished services to the Government of the United States, in a duty of great responsibility from August 1941 to July 1, 1944. General Orders: War Department, General Orders No. 56 ( July 12, 1944)
His Navy DSM citation: Awarded for actions during World War II
The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Distinguished Service Medal to Lieutenant General Millard Fillmore Harmon, Jr. (ASN: 0-3406), United States Army Air Forces, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished service in a position of great responsibility to the Government of the United States as Commanding General of United States Army Forces in the South Pacific Area from 1 July 1942. By wholehearted and loyal cooperation in organization, planning and command of United States Army Forces in the South Pacific Area, Major General Harmon contributed immeasurably to the Solomon Islands Campaign which started in August 1942. His leadership, tireless devotion to duty and wholehearted cooperation set an inspiring example to all the forces in the South Pacific Area and were in keeping with the highest traditions of the Armed Forces of the United States. General Orders: Board Awards Meeting (February 11, 1943)
Description The plan of the Pacific subseries was determined by the geography, strategy, and the military organization of a theater largely oceanic. Two independent, coordinate commands, one in the Southwest Pacific under General of the Army Douglas MacArthur and the other in the Central, South, and North Pacific (Pacific Ocean Areas) under Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, were created early in the war. Except in the South and Southwest Pacific, each conducted its own operations with its own ground, air, and naval forces in widely separated areas. These operations required at first only a relatively small number of troops whose efforts often yielded strategic gains which cannot be measured by the size of the forces involved. Indeed, the nature of the objectivesùsmall islands, coral atolls, and jungle-bound harbors and airstrips, made the employment of large ground forces impossible and highlighted the importance of air and naval operations. Thus, until 1945, the war in the Pacific progressed by a double series of amphibious operations each of which fitted into a strategic pattern developed in Washington.
21 Named Campaigns were recognized in the Asiatic Pacific Theater with Battle Streamers and Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medals.
