Ships
- USS Cleveland (CL-55) Captain from June 1943
Andrew G. Shepard, whose full name was Andrew Gilbert Shepard, was born on 25 June 1897 in York, Pennsylvania. Rochester, New York, was recorded as his home town. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy in the class of 1917 and made his career in the United States Navy, eventually retiring as a rear admiral.
Before he took a ship of his own in the Pacific, Shepard served ashore in the Atlantic war. From 14 January 1942 to 4 June 1943 he was operations officer on the staff of the Commander in Chief, Atlantic Fleet. The Legion of Merit was awarded for that tour.
He assumed command of the light cruiser Cleveland in June 1943, relieving Edmund W. Burrough. The cruiser was already with Task Force 68 in the Solomon Islands, under Rear Admiral Aaron S. Merrill. On the night of 29–30 June she bombarded the Shortland Islands. On 12 July she fired in support of the landings at Munda on New Georgia. A short repair period at Sydney followed, and she then returned north for the drive on Bougainville.
Late in October, Cleveland bombarded the Treasury Islands ahead of the landings there, on 26 and 27 October. On 1 November she shelled Buka and Bonis, then ran south the same day to fire on the Shortland–Faisi–Ballale area. Shore batteries and aircraft engaged the force during that daylight work, which covered the invasion of Bougainville. On the night of 1–2 November 1943 she lay in Rear Admiral Merrill’s cruiser line off Empress Augusta Bay, with Montpelier, Columbia, and Denver.
In that night action the cruisers sank the Japanese light cruiser Sendai. The fire that sank her is not credited to any one of the four ships. Cleveland was not sunk. The Navy Unit Commendation for the ship is for that night. Shepard received the Navy Cross for his command through the same stretch of fighting, from 30 October to 2 November 1943, including the bombardments, the surface action, and a heavy bomber attack on the task force the next morning. The citation places him on the exposed bridge, handling the ship in poorly charted water and directing her antiaircraft fire while the formation was under air attack.
He remained captain of Cleveland into the summer of 1944. A Silver Star followed for his command of the cruiser in action against Japanese forces from 19 June to 9 August 1944. He left the ship in August 1944. Shepard died on 18 November 1987 and was buried at the Naval Academy Cemetery in Annapolis.