by caappy » Thu Apr 09, 2015 7:15 pm
Philip Leroy Kirkwood was born in Wildwood, NJ on 15 Apr 1921. Enlisted in the Navy on 23 Feb 1942 and earned is Navy wings at Corpus Christi. TX on 10 Mar 1943. Joined VF-10 flying F6F Hellcats off of the USS Intrepid from Jan - Jun 1944.. His squadron returned to the states to transition to the F4U Corsair and returned to combat on the USS Intrepid from Feb 1945 until the end of the war.. During this time he was awarded the Navy Cross:
Navy Cross Citation:
The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Lieutenant [then Lieutenant, Junior Grade] Philip Leroy Kirkwood (NSN: 0-250908), United States Naval Reserve, for extraordinary heroism in operations against the enemy while serving as Pilot of a carrier-based Navy Fighter Plane in Fighting Squadron TEN (VF-10), attached to the U.S.S. INTREPID (CV-11), in action against enemy Japanese forces near Okinawa, on 16 April 1945. Boldly intercepting and overwhelming a force of Japanese aircraft maneuvering to attack our Fleet units, Lieutenant Kirkwood promptly engaged the enemy in furious combat, personally destroying four Japanese planes and directing his division in demolishing fourteen more. Quick to act when two of the hostile craft launched savage suicide dives on a surface vessel below, he immediately plunged through withering anti-aircraft fire to strike smashing blows against the enemy planes and, by his relentless determination and indomitable courage, succeeded in blasting them from the sky. By his superb skill as and airman and his intrepid fighting spirit and brilliant combat tactics throughout this period of intense aerial activity, Lieutenant Kirkwood contributed materially to the effective coverage provided our surface units and reflected the highest credit upon himself and the United States Naval Service.
I have read different write ups about him and they state he shot down 11 some say 12 enemy aircraft.. When he sent back his photos he had written "4 times Navy ace" on them .. And also sent a note back stating that he had just heard that he will receive the Gold Congressional Medal of Honor May 21st or something, the 1 was a little messy to make out for sure...
Sent him 2 photos on 14 Feb and received them back signed on 8 Mar,
THIS IS THE ADDRESS I SENT TO
CDR Philip Kirkwood
6580 Seminole Blvd lot 223
Seminole, FL 33772
On the return envelop the had written addressed looks like (he is 94)
CDR Phil Kirkwood DDS.. (he is a dentist)
10801 Johnson Blvd # 226
Seminole, FL 33772
the first 0 in street addy could be a 6 but looks more like a 0
Philip Leroy Kirkwood was born in Wildwood, NJ on 15 Apr 1921. Enlisted in the Navy on 23 Feb 1942 and earned is Navy wings at Corpus Christi. TX on 10 Mar 1943. Joined VF-10 flying F6F Hellcats off of the USS Intrepid from Jan - Jun 1944.. His squadron returned to the states to transition to the F4U Corsair and returned to combat on the USS Intrepid from Feb 1945 until the end of the war.. During this time he was awarded the Navy Cross:
Navy Cross Citation:
The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Lieutenant [then Lieutenant, Junior Grade] Philip Leroy Kirkwood (NSN: 0-250908), United States Naval Reserve, for extraordinary heroism in operations against the enemy while serving as Pilot of a carrier-based Navy Fighter Plane in Fighting Squadron TEN (VF-10), attached to the U.S.S. INTREPID (CV-11), in action against enemy Japanese forces near Okinawa, on 16 April 1945. Boldly intercepting and overwhelming a force of Japanese aircraft maneuvering to attack our Fleet units, Lieutenant Kirkwood promptly engaged the enemy in furious combat, personally destroying four Japanese planes and directing his division in demolishing fourteen more. Quick to act when two of the hostile craft launched savage suicide dives on a surface vessel below, he immediately plunged through withering anti-aircraft fire to strike smashing blows against the enemy planes and, by his relentless determination and indomitable courage, succeeded in blasting them from the sky. By his superb skill as and airman and his intrepid fighting spirit and brilliant combat tactics throughout this period of intense aerial activity, Lieutenant Kirkwood contributed materially to the effective coverage provided our surface units and reflected the highest credit upon himself and the United States Naval Service.
I have read different write ups about him and they state he shot down 11 some say 12 enemy aircraft.. When he sent back his photos he had written "4 times Navy ace" on them .. And also sent a note back stating that he had just heard that he will receive the Gold Congressional Medal of Honor May 21st or something, the 1 was a little messy to make out for sure...
Sent him 2 photos on 14 Feb and received them back signed on 8 Mar,
THIS IS THE ADDRESS I SENT TO
CDR Philip Kirkwood
6580 Seminole Blvd lot 223
Seminole, FL 33772
On the return envelop the had written addressed looks like (he is 94)
CDR Phil Kirkwood DDS.. (he is a dentist)
10801 Johnson Blvd # 226
Seminole, FL 33772
the first 0 in street addy could be a 6 but looks more like a 0
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