RAMAGE, James David, Adm. 1916-2012
RAMAGE, CORDES, GROAT, EDWARDS, FRANZMAN
Posted By: K.L. Kittleson
Date: 8/21/2012 at 23:33:34
Adm. James David "Jig Dog" Ramage
Birth: July 19, 1916, Black Hawk County, Iowa
Death: July 21, 2012, Coronado, San Diego County, California
A U.S. Navy rear admiral from Waterloo, Iowa and a key figure in the history of American naval aviation, James D. "Jig Dog" Ramage, died at his Coronado, Calif. home July 21, two days after his 96th birthday.
Rear Admiral James Ramage is one of the most decorated individuals in the history of U.S. naval air power, according to numerous military accounts and tributes.
Nicknamed "Jig Dog," his Navy call sign drawn from his first and middle initials, Ramage grew up in east Waterloo and delivered The Courier there as a youth. He graduated from East High School and attended the University of Northern Iowa. His grandfather, James Groat, served in the Union Army in the Civil War and later was elected mayor of Waterloo. His father, an auto dealer, served in the Spanish-American War.
During World War II, he became commander of the carrier USS Enterprise's dive bomber squadron. He participated in 11 combat operations in the Pacific. He directed air attacks in the 1944 invasion of Saipan and was personally credited with crippling a Japanese carrier.
He also participated in the raid on Truk lagoon, served in the Korean and Vietnam wars and commanded aircraft carriers such as the USS Oriskany, attack wings and a carrier division in Vietnam in the Tonkin Gulf. He received the Navy's highest honor, the Navy Cross, as well as the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal, all for valor in combat.
In 1988, he helped lead the campaign to rededicate and rename Waterloo's ConWay Civic Center as the Five Sullivan Brothers Convention Center, named for the Waterloo brothers who died together during World War II.
He donated a collection of his service ribbons and decorations to the Grout Museum and served as honorary co-chairman of its fund drive to build the $11.5 million Sullivan Brothers Iowa Veterans Museum, which opened in 2008.
He also lectured on World War II Pacific campaigns in conjunction with the Smithsonian Institution. In 2001, the annual "Jig Dog" Ramage Award recognizing excellence in Navy carrier operations was created and named for him. He also is a member of the Carrier Aviation Hall of Fame.
In 2006, he was inducted into the American Combat Airman Hall of Fame in Midland, Texas, along with former President George H.W. Bush; Medal of Honor winner and former South Dakota Gov. Joe Foss; and Enola Gay pilot Paul Tibbets, whose crew dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
Ramage was buried at Fort Rosekrans National Cemetery in San Diego.
Survived by two daughters, Jaleen Edwards and Jamie Franzman, and stepdaughter Karen Cordes, four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Burial:
Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery
San Diego, San Diego County, California
Black Hawk Obituaries maintained by Karen De Groote.
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