Don P. Moon

Don Pardee Moon
Born	April 18, 1894(1894-04-18) Kokomo, Indiana
Died	August 5, 1944(1944-08-05) (aged 50)
Place of burial	Arlington National Cemetery
Allegiance	United States
Service/branch	United States Navy
Years of service	1916–1944
Rank	Rear Admiral
Commands held	USS John D. Ford
Battles/wars	World War II

Don Pardee Moon (18 April 1894 - 5 August 1944) was a Rear Admiral of the United States Navy, who fought in the invasion of Europe. He was born in Kokomo, Indiana, USA. He married and had four children.

Biography

Moon entered the United States Naval Academy and graduated in June 1916, being particularly efficient in gunnery. He was assigned to the battleship Arizona (BB-39) and while there developed several instruments to improve gunnery. He later served in the battleships Colorado (BB-45) and Nevada (BB-36) before returning to shore in 1926.

By 1934 he was commanding officer of the Asiatic Fleet destroyer John D. Ford (DD-228). He was put in command of a destroyer division in 1940 and became a captain in 1941. He took part in the invasion of North Africa in 1942. In 1944 he was promoted to rear admiral. During the 6 June 1944 invasion of Normandy he directed the landings on Utah Beach from Bayfield (APA-33). For three weeks the Bayfield was in position off Utah beach and officers and men were on four hour rotating shifts for this entire time. Shortly afterwards the Bayfield was sent to Naples to for the invasion of Southern France. However on 5 August 1944, Moon shot himself with his .45 caliber pistol. His suicide was blamed on battle fatigue.

He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.^[1] He was survived by his wife Sibyl, and his four children, Meredith, Don, David, and Peter.

Memorials

Moon was depicted on a 2004 postage stamp issued to mark the 60th anniversary of D-Day by Sierra Leone.^[2]

See also

	Biography portal
	United States Navy portal

References

1. ^ "Don Pardee Moon, Rear Admiral, USN". arlingtoncemetery.net. http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/dpmoon.htm. Retrieved 6 September 2010. 
2. ^ "D Day June 6, 1944 / Eisenhower / Moon / Kirk / Taylor / Bradley / Huebner". store.coolstamps.com. http://store.coolstamps.com/endeavor/product/40826.html. Retrieved 6 September 2010. 

• D-Day 1944 - Voices from Normandy, Robert Neillands and Roderick de Normann, Cold Spring Press, New York, 2004 ISBN 1-59360-012-7
• My Dear Moon, Jonathon P. Alter, BookSurge Publishing, 2005 ISBN 978-1419612534

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Naval History & Heritage Command document "Rear Admiral Don P. Moon" (retrieved on 6 September 2010).

External links

• Department of the Navy - Rear Admiral Don Pardee Moon
• "Career's End". Time Magazine. 1944-08-21. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,932748,00.html?promoid=googlep. Retrieved 2008-08-10. 

Persondata
Name	Moon, Don Pardee
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	18 April 1894
Place of birth	Kokomo, Indiana
Date of death	5 August 1944
Place of death