This Military Service Page was created/owned by
CWO2 Philip E. Montroy
to remember
Marine BGen Robert Galer.
If you knew or served with this Marine and have additional information or photos to support this Page, please leave a message for the Page Administrator(s) HERE.
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.
Ryukyus Campaign (1945)/Battle for Okinawa
From Month/Year
March / 1945
To Month/Year
June / 1945
Description The Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg. was fought on the Ryukyu Islands of Okinawa and was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific War of World War II. The 82-day-long battle lasted from early April until mid-June 1945. After a long campaign of island hopping, the Allies were approaching Japan, and planned to use Okinawa, a large island only 340 mi (550 km) away from mainland Japan, as a base for air operations on the planned invasion of Japanese mainland (coded Operation Downfall). Four divisions of the U.S. 10th Army (the 7th, 27th, 77th, and 96th) and two Marine Divisions (the 1st and 6th) fought on the island. Their invasion was supported by naval, amphibious, and tactical air forces.
The battle has been referred to as the "typhoon of steel" in English, and tetsu no ame ("rain of steel") or ("violent wind of steel") in Japanese. The nicknames refer to the ferocity of the fighting, the intensity of kamikaze attacks from the Japanese defenders, and to the sheer numbers of Allied ships and armored vehicles that assaulted the island. The battle resulted in the highest number of casualties in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Based on Okinawan government sources, mainland Japan lost 77,166 soldiers, who were either killed or committed suicide, and the Allies suffered 14,009 deaths (with an estimated total of more than 65,000 casualties of all kinds). Simultaneously, 42,000–150,000 local civilians were killed or committed suicide, a significant proportion of the local population. The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki together with the Soviet invasion of Manchuria caused Japan to surrender less than two months after the end of the fighting on Okinawa.