Location: US 258 (South Main Street) at Church Street in Farmville
County: Pitt
Original Date Cast: 2014
Born in Farmville in 1891, Allen Hal Turnage was a career officer in the United States Marine Corps. In 1943, at the height of World War II, he was promoted to the rank of major general and assumed command of the newly organized Third Marine Division. During his year-long tenure as commanding general, he led the Third Division in the landing at Empress Augusta Bay, Bougainville Island, and in the recapture of Guam.
Under enemy fire, Turnage commanded the landing forces in establishing the beachhead on Bougainville Island in November 1943. For exposing himself to “heavy enemy gunfire throughout the landing and operations essential to the attainment and consolidation of the final beachhead line at Empress August Bay, Bougainville Island,” Turnage was awarded the Navy Cross, the second highest award behind the Medal of Honor.
As part of the Third Amphibious Corps, Turnage led the Third Division in driving “the Japanese back from their beach defense and (securing) the vital beachhead by nightfall” in July 1944. Turnage’s division then pushed into the thickly vegetated mountains, “repeatedly occupying forward positions to direct their tenacious stand against a series of hostile counterattacks which culminated in an all-out effort by a major portion of the enemy forces.” On August 10, Guam became the first American territory to be recaptured from the enemy.
For his role in the successful campaign, Turnage received a Distinguished Service Medal. The commendation credited Turnage for contributing “in a large measure to the success of the entire operation on this highly strategic island.” From November 1944 until the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, Guam served as a base from which long-range bombers carried out air strikes on Japan’s mainland.
References:
Emma Lenke, “A Biography: General Allen H. Turnage,” Signatures of War, online at http://signaturesofwar.com/id52.html
Military Times Hall of Valor: “Allen Hal Turnage,” online at http://projects.militarytimes.com/citations-medals-awards/search.php?te…
Harry A. Gailey, Bougainville, 1943-1945: The Forgotten Campaign (1991)
Philip A. Crowl, Campaign in the Marianas (1950)