Ships
- USS Oakland (CL-95) Captain from 8 August 1944 · Relieved on 27 August 1945
Kendall Sturtevant Reed had the light cruiser Oakland (CL-95) from 8 August 1944 until 27 August 1945. He had her for the Philippines, the typhoon of December 1944, the Okinawa campaign, and the strikes on Japan. NavSource lists his final rank as rear admiral. He died in 1998, aged 100.
Find a Grave and Hall of Valor agree that he was born on 9 August 1898 in Lexington, Massachusetts. Uboat.net gives the same birth date and no place. Nothing further on his family, before the Naval Academy, was in the pages fetched.
Hall of Valor says he graduated from the Naval Academy with the class of 1920 and retired as a rear admiral. Uboat.net dates him a commander from 1 July 1939 and a temporary captain from 18 June 1942. No Lucky Bag entry was fetched.
Uboat.net lists command of the oiler Kanawha (AO-1) from the middle of 1941 to 26 October 1942. Its event for 7 August 1942 places Kanawha, with temporary Captain K. S. Reed, in the fueling group for the Guadalcanal landings, with Cimarron, Platte, Sabine, and Kaskaskia. Hall of Valor gives him a Legion of Merit for 10 July 1943, as commander of a task group at the landing near Gela, Sicily, and for 9-21 September 1943 as joint loading control officer during the invasion of Italy. The Sicily citation credits him with getting assault troops and mechanized equipment across the beaches. The same page lists a Navy and Marine Corps Medal and says the citation was not available.
NavSource and uboat.net both date Oakland from 8 August 1944 to 27 August 1945. Hall of Valor prints a Silver Star for September and October 1944 in that command: Palau on 6 September, Mindanao and the Visayas on 9-14 September, Luzon on 21-22 September, and the Nansei Shoto and Formosa on 6-14 October. It says that in three air attacks he kept the ship firing so that the task group was not damaged. The citation prints "14 September 9144" for the Visayas dates. A Gold Star in lieu of a second Legion of Merit, with Combat "V," covers 14 October 1944 to 27 August 1945. It says that until 26 December 1944 Oakland was with Task Force 38 in the Philippines, and that she then served with Task Force 58 off Okinawa and, in May, with the fast carriers striking Japan. It says he brought the ship through those attacks undamaged.
Hall of Valor says he retired as a rear admiral and gives no later assignment. Find a Grave says he died on 12 October 1998 at Vero Beach, Florida, and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery, Section 2, Grave 861-B. The memorial lists a wife, Arlene Theresa Reed, 1900-1973, and gives his wartime awards as the Legion of Merit twice, the Silver Star, and the Navy and Marine Corps Medal. It gives no postwar billets.