Ships
- USS Houston (CL-81) Captain from 30 January 1947 · Relieved on 15 December 1947
Kenmore Mathew McManes had Houston (CL-81) from 30 January 1947 until she was decommissioned on 15 December 1947. His war was earlier, in destroyers. The Navy Cross was for the night action in Surigao Strait, not for this cruiser.
Uboat.net and Hall of Valor give his birth as 22 May 1900. Uboat.net places it at Galion, Ohio. The Home of Heroes copy of the Navy Cross citation gives the same birth date and Galion, and a home town of Marion, Ohio. Uboat.net gives his death as 20 January 1973 at Charleston, South Carolina. Hall of Valor gives the same day.
Hall of Valor says he was graduated from the Naval Academy with the class of 1922 and retired a rear admiral. Uboat.net lists the same class and ranks him lieutenant commander from 23 June 1938, temporary commander from 1 January 1942, commander from 30 June 1942, and temporary captain from 1 April 1943. The only ship command uboat.net lists before the war is Monaghan (DD-354), from 5 September 1939 to 7 June 1940.
The Navy Cross citation, Bureau of Naval Personnel Information Bulletin No. 342 of September 1945, is for 24–25 October 1944, as commander of Destroyer Squadron 24 at Surigao Strait. He took the squadron in against a Japanese force of battleships, cruisers, and destroyers, launched the attack at close range, and brought the group out unharmed. Hall of Valor also lists a Legion of Merit for World War II and others for the Korean War and for 1959. The World War II Legion of Merit synopsis on that page is marked as needing a citation and is not quoted here. NavSource, not the citation, puts him in Houston (CL-81) from 30 January 1947 to 15 December 1947. DANFS decommissions the ship at Philadelphia on that last day. Uboat.net does not list the cruiser command.
Hall of Valor says he retired a rear admiral. The later Legion of Merit entries are dated 1950 and September 1959, the second of them styled for the Cold War, and the 1950 synopsis is also marked as needing a citation. He died on 20 January 1973.