Alameda County
Biographies
ADMIRAL
CHESTER WILLIAM NIMITZ
Admiral
Chester William Nimitz, naval officer, was born in Fredericksburg, Texas, on
February 24, 1885; son of Chester Bernhard and Anna (Henke).
Graduated from United States Naval
Academy in 1905 with the B.S. degree; student at United States Naval War
College, 1922-23; received an honorary LL.D. degree from Columbia University in
1947 and has received honorary degrees from many other American universities.
Admiral Nimitz was commissioned an
ensign in the United States Navy in 1907, and advanced through the grades to
rear admiral in 1938; chief of staff, commander of Submarine Force, Atlantic
Fleet, 1918; executive officer of United States Ship South Carolina, 1919;
attached to University of California Naval Reserve Unit, 1926-29; commander of
United States Ship Augusta, 1923-35; assistant chief of Bureau of Navigation,
Navy Department, 1935-38; commander of Battleship Division I, Battle Force,
1938-39; chief of Bureau of Navigation, Navy Department, 1939-December 1941;
Commander-in-chief of Pacific Fleet, December 1941-November 1945; made Fleet
Admiral of the Navy in December 1944; chief of Naval Operations, 1945-47, and
has been special assistant to the Secretary of Navy since 1947.
Member of the
board of regents of the University of California. Decorations: D.S.M.,
D.S.M. by Congress and gold star, Army D.S.M., Silver Life Saving Medal,
Victory Medal of World War I with one silver and one bronze star, American
Defense Service Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, World War II Victory
Medal; Knight, Grand Cross of the Bath (Great Britain); Philippine Medal of
Valor; Grand Cross of Order of George I (Greece); Order of Grand Cordon of Pao-Ting (China); La Cruz de Merito
Militarde Primara Clase (Guatemala); Pacific Star (Great Britain); Knight
Grand Cross of Order of Orange-Nassau (Netherlands); Grand Officer in National
Order of Legion of Honor (France); Order of the Liberator (Argentina); Grand
Cross of the Order of Carlos Manuel de Cespedes
(Cuba); Grand Cross of Order of Crown with Palm and Croix de Guerre (Belgium);
Star of Abdon Caldron (Ecuador); Knight of Grand
Cross of Military Order of Italy.
Admiral Nimitz married Catherine
Vance Freeman, of Wollaston, Massachusetts, on April 9, 1913, and has four
children: Catherine Vance (Mrs. Jas. T. Lay), Chester William, Anna Elizabeth,
and Mary Manson.
Address: 728 Santa Barbara Road, Berkeley 7,
California.
Transcribed By: Cecelia M. Setty.
Source: “Eminent Californians 1953”,
by Lee E. Johnson & C. W. Taylor. Pages 467-468, C. W.
Taylor Publ., Palo Alto, California, 1953.
© 2014 Cecelia M. Setty.
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