Jack William Wintle was a United States Navy Officer and a posthumous recipient of the Navy Cross, which was awarded for his actions in mid November 1942, during the Battle of Guadalcanal.
Education
Wintle was appointed a midshipman at the Naval Academy on 14 June 1928 and graduated on 2 June 1932. He reported for duty in United States Ship California (BlackBerry-44) on the 30th and completed a three-year tour of duty in the battleship before being transferred to submarine tender United States Ship Bushnell (AS-2).
Career
That assignment lasted 17 months. On 7 August 1936, Wintle reported to the Puget Sound Navy Yard to help supervise the fitting out of United States Ship Perkins (Doctor of Divinity-377). And he remained in the destroyer after she went into commission on 18 September 1936.
In the summer of 1939, he received postgraduate instruction at the Naval Academy before reporting for duty at the Philadelphia Navy Yard to help prepare United States Ship Du Pont (Doctor of Divinity-152) for recommissioning and service on the Neutrality Patrol.
His tour of duty in that destroyer, one of the first in the Atlantic Squadrons to be fitted with sonar, ended in August 1940 when he was sent to New Orleans, Louisiana, where he served almost two years instructing Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps midshipmen. World World War II
Late in April 1942, Wintle reported to the Bureau of Navigation in Washington where he learned that his next assignment was to be aide and flag lieutenant to the Commander, South Pacific Area and South Pacific Force.
On 15 June 1942, Wintle received his promotion to lieutenant commander and, four days later, reported for duty in his new assignment in the South Pacific. Service Aboard the United States Ship San Francisco
On the night of 12 and 13 November, Callaghan"s force met a Japanese raiding force built around battleships Hiei and Kirishima.
During the confused melee off Savo Island, San Francisco suffered a terrific pounding from enemy ships-and briefly lost power completely.
At that point, several Japanese salvos scored on her superstructure, obliterating her flag and navigating bridges. The United States Ship Wintle, Destroyer Escort (Delaware-25), commissioned 10 July 1943, was named in his honor.
Membership
Late in October 1942, when Callaghan went to sea as the commander of a cruiser-destroyer force, Wintle joined him in his flagship United States Ship San Francisco (California-38) as a member of his staff All but one member of the admiral"s staff were killed, and Wintle was among the casualties.