Ships
- USS Russell (DD-414) Captain, 12 July 1941 – 14 January 1943
- USS Bullard (DD-660) Captain from 9 April 1943
Glenn Roy Hartwig graduated from the United States Naval Academy in the class of 1924 and spent his career in the United States Navy. During the Second World War he commanded two destroyers in the Pacific. He retired as a rear admiral.
On 12 July 1941, while a lieutenant commander, he took command of the Sims-class destroyer Russell (DD-414), relieving James Carter Pollock. Russell was already serving with the Pacific Fleet. Hartwig was her commanding officer when the war with Japan began that December.
Early in 1942 Russell screened Task Force 17, the carrier group formed around Yorktown, during operations in the South Pacific. On 17 July 1942 Hartwig was promoted to the temporary rank of commander.
On 26 October 1942, in the battle north of the Santa Cruz Islands, bombs and torpedoes set the carrier Hornet afire and left her with a dangerous list. Hartwig brought Russell alongside and turned his crew to the fires. Further Japanese air attacks drove the destroyer off. He took her back alongside to continue the work, then stayed near the carrier and brought survivors aboard. He was awarded the Navy Cross for his conduct that day.
He turned Russell over to Warren Howard McClain on 14 January 1943. On 9 April 1943 he placed the new Fletcher-class destroyer Bullard (DD-660) in commission at Kearny, New Jersey. He was advanced to the temporary rank of captain on 1 June 1943. After a short period of operations along the East Coast and in the Caribbean, Bullard sailed for Hawaii and reached Pearl Harbor on 29 August 1943. Still under his command, she took part in the raid on Wake Island on 5 and 6 October 1943. He left the ship in November 1943, and Bernard William Freund succeeded him. Hartwig remained in the Navy after these commands and retired as a rear admiral. He died on 11 April 1973.