This Military Service Page was created/owned by
CWO2 Philip E. Montroy
to remember
Marine BGen Robert Galer.
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Contact Info
Home Town Seattle
Last Address Frisco, Texas
Date of Passing Jun 27, 2005
Location of Interment Texas State Cemetery - Austin, Texas
Wall/Plot Coordinates Sec.1.Row B, #13
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
Robert Galer was promoted to BGen upon his retirement on July 31, 1957. He lived a long and productive retirement passing away at the age of 91 on June 27, 2005.
Other Comments:
1. BGen Galer was also awarded the British Distinguished Flying Cross for his actions during the Solomon Islands Campaign in 1942.
2. In 1945, while serving as the Training Officer of the Landing Force Air Support Control Units (LFASCU's) LtCol Galer made three D-day landing in 65 days. First Came Iwo Jima. He was able to witness the Mt. Surabachi flag raising. Second was the landing in the Philippines. Third was the Okinawa landings.
3. BGen Galer scored 13 air victories ("kills") in WWII.
World War II/Asiatic-Pacific Theater/Luzon Campaign (1944-45)
From Month/Year
December / 1944
To Month/Year
April / 1945
Description On December 15, 1944, landings against minimal resistance were made on the southern beaches of the island of Mindoro, a key location in the planned Lingayen Gulf operations, in support of major landings scheduled on Luzon. On January 9, 1945, on the south shore of Lingayen Gulf on the western coast of Luzon, General Krueger's Sixth Army landed his first units. Almost 175,000 men followed across the twenty-mile (32 km) beachhead within a few days. With heavy air support, Army units pushed inland, taking Clark Field, 40 miles (64 km) northwest of Manila, in the last week of January.
Two more major landings followed, one to cut off the Bataan Peninsula, and another, that included a parachute drop, south of Manila. Pincers closed on the city and, on February 3, 1945, elements of the U.S. 1st Cavalry Division pushed into the northern outskirts of Manila and the 8th Cavalry Regiment (organized as infantry) passed through the northern suburbs and into the city itself.
As the advance on Manila continued from the north and the south, the Bataan Peninsula was rapidly secured. On February 16, paratroopers and amphibious units simultaneously assaulted the islet of Corregidor. It was necessary to take this stronghold because troops there can block the entrance of Manila Bay. The Americans needed to establish a major harbor base at Manila Bay to support the expected invasion of Japan, planned to begin on November 1, 1945. Resistance on Corregidor ended on February 27, and then all resistance by the Japanese Empire ceased on August 15, 1945, obviating the need for an invasion of the Japanese Home Islands.
Despite initial optimism, fighting in Manila was harsh. It took until March 3 to clear the city of all Japanese troops, and the Japanese Marines, who fought on stubbornly and refused to either surrender or to evacuate as the Japanese Army had done. Fort Drum, a fortified island in Manila Bay near Corregidor, held out until 13 April, when a team of Army troops went ashore and pumped 3,000 gallons of diesel fuel into the fort, then set off incendiary charges. No Japanese soldiers in Fort Drum survived the blast and fire.
In all, ten U.S. divisions and five independent regiments battled on Luzon, making it the largest American campaign of the Pacific war, involving more troops than the United States had used in North Africa, Italy, or southern France.
