Iwo Jima (LPH 2) - Naval Cruise Book

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lparige O omrriand I:cbruaryl3,l97l FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For Further Information USS IWO JIMA ILPH-2l Release Af Public Affairs Officer Date: 13 FEB 1971 FPO San Francisco 96601 UNIQUE CEREMONY FOR IWO CHANGE OF COMMAND Rear Admiral W.D. GADDIS, USN, Commander of Pacific Amphibious Forces, was the guest speaker at the change of command ceremony in which Captain Wycliffe D. TOOLE, Jr., USN relieved Captain Leland E. KIRKEMO, USN as Commanding Officer of the USS IWO JIMA ILPH-21. The change of command ceremony was an unusual one, perhaps unique among US Navy ships. The normal ceremony, with all hands drawn up in smart ranks in the bright sunshine of the flight deck, could not be held due to IWO's operational committments that kept both ship and crew ready for instant action in a combat support role. The change of command ceremony was broadcast to all hands over the IWO's closed-circuit TV system. The TV system, normally used for shipboard training lectures and nightly enter- tainment, served as an admirable vehicle as the ceremony's principals in the TV studio were viewed by the crew in offices, lounges, and berthing compartments throughout the ship. 8

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Past Commanding Qfficer Captain Leland E. Kirkemo, USN, enlisted in the Naval Reserve in 1942 and was commissioned as a Naval Aviator in 1944. From that time until attending the University of Minnesota in 1948 he served in three patrol squadrons, VPBa197,VPB-102 and VPHL-106. Following this he attended General Line School in Monterey and was subsequently selected for one of the first Heavy Attack Squadrons at NAS Moffett Field, California. In November 1952, after tours in Heavy Attack Squadron Seven and Sandia Base, he was assigned to the staff of Commander Heavy Attack Wing One at Norfolk, Virginia. This was followed in 1954 by a tour involving the development of aviation fire control com- ponents in Project Atlas at the Naval Ordnance Test Station, China Lake, California. From NOTS China Lake Captain Kirkemo was assigned as an Air Command and Staff College student at the Air University, Maxwell Field, Alabama. Following this he reported to Commander Heavy Attack Wing Two for duty as Training Officer for one year then to Heavy Attack Squadron Two as Operations Officer. Captain Kirkemo assumed command of Heavy Attack Squadron Two in 1961 and assisted in the development of the Buddy Bombing concept within Air Wing Fifteen during two WestPac deployments on the USS Coral Sea lCVA-431. From this assign- ment he went to the staff of Commander in Chief, Pacific CCinCPacl where he served as the Operations Officer for the lCinCPacl Representative to the Joint Strategic Target Planning Staff at Omaha, Nebraska. Upon completion of this tour in January 1964, he was again assigned to the Pacific Fleet, this time as the Commanding Officer of Heavy Attack Squadron 123, the West Coast Heavy Attack Replacement Air Group iRAGi Squadron. This tour was followed by assignment to the USS Constellation CCVA-647 as Operations Officer. ln March 1966 Captain Kirkemo commenced a Washington, D.C. tour in the Strategic Plans Division COP-601 of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. Captain Kirkemo's most recent duty was a command tour as Commanding Officer of the USS Haleakala KAE-251 in the Pacific Fleet from September 1968 through November 1969. Captain Kirkemo is a graduate of the University of Omaha. He is married to the former Louise Liermann of Menomonie, Wisconsin who was previously an Army nurse on General MacArthur's staff in Tokyo. Their eldest son is a recent graduate of Washington State University. Another son, Curtis, and a daughter, Kathy, are under- graduates at the same university. i'

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