John F. McGillis was a 9th generation American and was born on May 18, 1910, in Seattle Washington. He entered the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis in June 1930 and Graduated in June 1934. Following graduation, he was assigned to the Aircraft Carrier USS Saratoga for a year, then the USS Hale for two years. His next assignment was to Hawaii as a Gunnery Officer on the USS Indianapolis for six years entering into WWII in the pacific.
In 1943 he was rotated back to the Naval Academy to teach for a year and was then made Captain of his own Destroyer, The USS Walke (DD723). He and his men were then assigned as Destroyer escort duty assigned to the Pacific. Following the war, he found himself and his ship participating in Operation Crossroads and the atomic bomb testing at Bikini Atoll.
Before retirement in 1964, McGillis served various desk duties in Washington DC as well as serving as DE Squadron Commander with the Atlantic Fleet (USS Huse), as well Captain of the USS Talladega in 1956-57. His final tour of duty was as the Naval Attaché to Bogotá, Columbia where he headed up the US Naval Mission to Columbia during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
National Museum of Nuclear Science & History
