M. A. Mitscher
Mitscher, Marc Andrew (1887–1947), a United States naval officer. He was a pioneer naval aviator and the commander of the most powerful naval striking force of World War II. During 1944–45, he directed Fast Carrier Task Force, Pacific Fleet, to victories in the battles of the Philippine Sea (June, 1944) and Leyte Gulf (October, 1944), and provided vital naval support for the invasion of Okinawa in 1945.
Mitscher was born in Hillsboro, Wisconsin. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1910 and became a naval aviator in 1915. He was given command of the aircraft carrier Hornet in 1941 and took part in the Doolittle raid on Tokyo and the Battle of Midway in 1942. Mitscher became a rear admiral in 1941, a vice admiral in 1944, and an admiral in 1945. He served as deputy chief of naval operations for air (1945), commander of the Eighth Fleet (1946), and commander of the Atlantic Fleet (1946–47).