Toop
Samuel  A.  Templeton  
Photo
Ribbons
 
  Rank, Service
Petty Officer 1st Class,  U.S. Navy
  Veteran of:
U.S. Navy 1937-1942
World War II 1941-1942 (KIA)
  Tribute:

Samuel Templeton was born on April 5, 1920, in Greenbrier, Tennessee. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy on June 22, 1937, and completed basic training at NTS Norfolk, Virginia, in October 1937, followed by dive school. GM3c Templeton served aboard the battleship USS Arkansas (BB-33) from December 1937 to January 1940, and then aboard the destroyer USS Ellis (DD-154) from March to December 1941. He next attended Submarine School at Submarine Base New London, Connecticut, from December 1941 to February 1942, followed by service aboard the submarine USS Grunion (SS-216) during her fitting out in February 1942, through her commissioning in April 1942. GM1c Templeton was killed in action during a confrontation with the armed Japanese freighter Kano Maru on July 30, 1942. On August 22, 2007, a search team organized by the three sons of CDR Mannert Abele (the Captain of the Grunion when she was sunk) used a remotely operated vehicle to find a sunken vessel 3,000 feet down in the Bering Sea north of Kiska Island at the tip of the Aleutian Islands. On October 1, 2008, the U.S. Navy announced that the sunken vessel is the World War II submarine USS Grunion (SS-216).

His Navy Commendation Medal Citation reads:

For meritorious conduct as a member of the crew of the U.S.S. GRUNION which destroyed three enemy destroyers while engaged in a war patrol in enemy controlled waters. Despite severe and persistent anti-submarine measures resulting from these three successful attacks, the GRUNION was brought safely through the counter attacks and continued an aggressive war patrol. As a member of the crew of the GRUNION, your performance of duty was an important and material contribution to the prosecution of this war.

  




 


 

 
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