Troy Dale Oliver
1917-2001
Photo from Fighting Men of Arkansas
Troy Dale Oliver was born October 28, 1917 at Greenwood, Sebastian Co.,
Ar. to George Clifford & Elizabeth May Gorham Oliver.
July 6, 1940 he married Wilma Hearn at Greenwood, Arkansas, both being
residents there.
Troy registered for the military draft October 16, 1940 at Greenwood, Center Township,
Sebastian County, Ar. Troy enlisted in the Navy July 17, 1943 at Little Rock, Arkansas.
He served until December 2, 1945. More can be found about his service in the
biography below. At the bottom of this page are some of his muster rolls from the
time he served with information on the movements of the ship USS Blue Ridge he
served on.
Troy Dale Oliver passed away October 23, 2001 at Greenwood, Sebastian Co., Ar.
His burial was in Cross Cemetery there.
Biography from Fighting Men of Arkansas
from Wikipedia
USS Blue Ridge (AGC-2) was an Appalachian-class amphibious force flagship
in the United States Navy.
Following trial runs in Long Island Sound, Blue Ridge departed New York on 8
October 1943, to train in the Chesapeake Bay Area out of Norfolk, Virginia.
On 1 November, the ship put to sea with two destroyers, bound for the South
Pacific. After transit of the Panama Canal, Blue Ridge called at the Society,
New Caledonia and Fiji Islands, en route to Brisbane, Australia, arriving on
16 December 1943. She pulled out of Brisbane three days later for Milne Bay,
New Guinea where 24 December 1943, she became the flagship of Rear Admiral
Daniel E. Barbey, USN, Commander Seventh Amphibious Force. She served as the
command ship for amphibious operations westward along the New Guinea Coast
until 13 October 1944. On that day, Blue Ridge left Hollandia (currently
known as Jayapura) as the flagship of Rear Admiral Barbey's Northern Attack
Force bound for the liberation of the Philippine Islands.
On the deck while anchored at Holandia, New Guinea (now [Jayapura, Indonesia]).
During a ceremony on deck while anchored at Holandia, New Guinea (now Jayapura,
Indonesia).
On the night of 19/20 October 1944 Blue Ridge and her formation stood through the
swept part of Surigao Strait, between Homonhon and Dinagat Islands and entered
San Pedro Bay, Leyte, Philippine Islands. She served as a command ship for
troops storming the beaches at Leyte the morning of 20 October, and continued
in support of the amphibious assault landings for six days. The ship's gunners
drove off an enemy reconnaissance plane 23 October. The morning of 25 October,
a torpedo-bomber made a run along her port side, coming in from her port quarter,
and was shot down by her forward 40 mm gunners. That afternoon, the ship fired
on 11 enemy planes of various types attacking the transport area.
The morning of 26 October 1944, Blue Ridge helped fight off five enemy bombers
that attacked her formation. That afternoon she helped drive away three more
enemy bombers. Several bombs fell in the vicinity during this action, but only
one exploded close enough to shake the command ship. As she kept watch off the
Leyte beaches, the three-pronged attack of the Japanese Fleet met disaster in
the Battle of Surigao Strait, the Battle off Samar and the Battle off Cape
Engano. She stood out of San Pedro Bay in the night of 26 October 1944 to stage
at ports of New Guinea in preparation for the liberation landings to be made at
Lingayen. She remained the flagship of Vice Admiral Barbey who was designated
commander of the San Fabian Attack Force 78. Besides Admiral Barbey and his
staff, she embarked Major General Innis P. Swift, commanding the I Army Corps,
and Major General Leonard F. Wing, commanding the 43rd Infantry Division,
together with their personal staffs.
Blue Ridge led the San Fabian Attack Force from Aitape, New Guinea on
28 December 1944. An aerial snooper was driven off by gunfire on 2 January
1945 and covering escort carrier aircraft shot down a bomber twenty miles out
from her formation the following day. The night of 4 January 1945 the command
ship followed a covering group of cruisers and destroyers through Surigao
Strait to enter the Mindanao Sea. On the afternoon of 5 January an enemy
submarine fired on the covering group, ten miles ahead, and was forced to
surface and rammed by destroyer Dashiell. Enemy planes attacked the formation
7 January; two being shot down by pilots of the Combat Air Patrol, and three
fell victims to combined anti-aircraft fire of the formation. That night four
destroyers sank a Japanese destroyer eleven miles to the east of Blue Ridge.
The command ship helped repel six enemy planes on 8 January 1945 and entered
Lingayen Gulf before daybreak of 9 January. Troops stormed ashore that morning,
some two hours after a single-engine enemy aircraft sneaked through cover of
night, strafed to a point forward of the bow, barely missed the bridge, then
overshot and dropped bombs about 500 yards off her port bow. The ship was not
damaged and suffered no casualties. During the initial landings, three air
attacks came close enough to be a threat to Blue Ridge, but veered off in
the face of heavy anti-suicide swimmers and small fast suicide boats. To
combat this threat, a patrol boat was kept circling Blue Ridge and all
shipboard security patrols were strengthened.
1945
On 13 January 1945 Chief Storekeeper H. G. Williamson reported on board
Blue Ridge. He was an escaped prisoner of war, having been captured by the
Japanese on 18 January 1942, while attached to the Naval Air Station at Cavite.
He had escaped on 15 March 1942 and had remained in hiding near San Fabian
since then. Williamson was returned to duty at the Naval Base and Blue Ridge
departed Lingayen Gulf on 15 January 1945. The ship continued to serve as Vice
Admiral Barbey's flagship at San Pedro Bay and Subic Bay until 8 June 1945.
Two days later, Blue Ridge was underway for Saipan and then to Pearl Harbor
when she became the flagship of Rear Admiral Jerauld Wright, Commander
Amphibious Group Five on 30 June 1945. She hauled down his flag on 20 July
and entered the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard for alterations and repairs.
Blue Ridge departed Pearl Harbor on 8 September 1945 and reached Buckner
Bay, Okinawa, on 22 September. That afternoon, she hoisted the flag of Rear
Admiral Ingolf N. Kiland, Commander Amphibious Group Seven. The ship got
underway on 21 October to serve as a command ship at Tsingtao, China, arriving
24 October 1945. Rear Admiral Kiland shifted his flag to USS Wasatch (AGC-9) on
6 November 1945 and Blue Ridge became the flagship of Rear Admiral Albert G.
Noble, Commander Amphibious Group One.
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