Ships
- USS Marblehead (CL-12) Captain from about 1944. The list gives no relief date.
George Patton Kraker had the light cruiser Marblehead (CL-12) for the bombardment of southern France in August 1944. NavSource dates him from about 1944 and gives no relief. Uboat.net dates him, as temporary captain, from January 1944 to 19 January 1945. He retired a rear admiral.
The Hall of Valor and Find a Grave both give his birth as 26 May 1896 in Gallup, New Mexico. Find a Grave memorial 3412178 adds McKinley County and styles him George Patton Kraker Sr. The Hall of Valor says he was Naval Academy class of 1920.
A 13 July 1950 Denver Catholic Register item on papal honors, digitized in scrambled columns, names George Patton Kraker of Albuquerque. The sentences that are his say he attended the New Mexico Military Institute at Roswell and the Naval Academy, and that he received his commission on 6 June 1919. Class of 1920 and a commission in June 1919 are both left as those pages print them. The Register's medal lines are broken across other men's columns. They are not used as a decoration list. The Dreadnought Project page for him did not load. Uboat.net lists him as a commander from 1 July 1939 and a temporary captain from 18 June 1942, and says it has no career information and no ship before Marblehead.
DANFS, which does not name him, has Marblehead back in New York on 20 February 1944, on North Atlantic convoy lanes for five months, at Palermo on 29 July, and bombarding near Saint Raphael on 15, 16, and 17 August during operation Anvil. She withdrew to Corsica on the 18th. The Hall of Valor prints a Legion of Merit with combat "V," Commander 8th Fleet serial 5882 of 9 December 1944, for him as commanding officer of Marblehead and commander of a gunfire support unit before and during the invasion of southern France in August 1944. The citation says he trained the command, directed gunfire support under return fire from German coastal positions, and that the patrol and bombardment work supported the ground advance on the right flank.
Uboat.net ends the tour on 19 January 1945. A second Legion of Merit on the Hall of Valor page, a gold star in lieu of a second award, Commander Marianas serial 11411 of 10 October 1945, is for chief of staff to the Commander Forward Area Central Pacific and Commander Marianas from 8 March to 2 September 1945, and for the defense and development of the Caroline and Volcano Islands. A third, a second gold star in lieu of a third award, with combat "V," Commander in Chief Atlantic serial 3069 of 20 June 1946, is for Atlantic Fleet escort commander, protecting trans-Atlantic convoys. The citation gives the service as World War II and does not give the months. Uboat.net lists no command but Marblehead.
The Hall of Valor says he retired a rear admiral. The Register sentence says he retired as an admiral of the United States Navy in 1948. Rear admiral is the rank the award page states. Find a Grave gives his death as 5 March 1971 at Cambridge Springs, Crawford County, Pennsylvania, and burial at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, San Diego, Section A-E, Site 1221. The Hall of Valor's death date is the same day. The memorial's short note says he was awarded the Legion of Merit and three gold stars. The Hall of Valor texts are one Legion and two gold stars, three awards in all. The citation texts are followed.