J. Douglas Blackwood

Dr. James Douglas Blackwood (12 November 1881 – 9 August 1942) was a doctor and officer in the United States Navy in both the First and Second World War.

Biography

Blackwood was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on 12 November 1881, and enrolled in the Naval Coast Defense Reserve as an Assistant Surgeon 14 April 1917. The doctor served on transports in the Atlantic during World War I, earning the Navy Cross for attending the sick and wounded when troop transport President Lincoln was torpedoed 31 May 1918. He entered the Regular Navy in 1919, and served in various ships and at Naval Hospitals in the United States and abroad in the years that followed.

Blackwood served the people of Haiti 1927 to 1930 when assigned to a Public Health unit on that island. He was appointed Medical Inspector with the rank of Commander in 1938, reported to Vincennes (CA-44) 30 September 1940, and was on board during the critical early months of America's participation in World War II. During the Battle of Savo Island 9 August 1942, one of the many sea fights during the Solomon Islands campaign, a cruiser-destroyer force was surprised at night by Japanese cruisers and dealt a crushing blow. Blackwood was killed when the Vincennes was sunk along with two other cruisers and a destroyer.

Namesake

In 1943, the destroyer escort USS J. Douglas Blackwood (DE-219) was named in his honor.

References

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.