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Wintle was born on 18 April 1908 at
Pittsburg, Kan.-was appointed a
midshipman at the Naval Academy on
14 June 1928 and graduated on 2 June
1932. He reported for duty in California
(BB-44) on the 30th and completed a
three-year tour of duty in the
battleship before being transferred to
submarine tender Bushnell (AS-2).
That assignment lasted 17 months. On 7
August 1936, he reported to the Puget
Sound Navy Yard to help supervise the
fitting out of Perkins (DD-377);
and he remained in the destroyer after
she went into commission on 18 September
1936. In the summer of 1939, Lt. (jg.)
Wintle received postgraduate instruction
at the Naval Academy before reporting
for duty at the Philadelphia Navy Yard
to help prepare Du Pont
(DD-162) 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 where he served
almost two years instructing NROTC
midshipmen. Late in April 1942, he
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.
Lt. Comdr. Wintle served under Rear
Admiral Daniel J. Callaghan, Chief of
Staff to the Commander South Pacific
Area and South Pacific Force, through
the early months of the bitter struggle
for Guadalcanal in late 1942. Late in
October 1942, when Rear Admiral
Callaghan went to sea as the commander
of a cruiser-destroyer force, Wintle
joined him in his flagship San
Francisco (CA-38) as a member of his
staff. 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. All but one member of the
admiral's staff were killed, and Lt.
Comdr. Wintle was among the casualties.
For this sacrifice, Wintle was awarded
the Navy Cross, posthumously. |
