Ships
- USS Miami (CL-89) Captain from 28 January 1945 · Relieved on 9 December 1945
Thomas Howell Binford had the light cruiser Miami (CL-89) in 1945, from 28 January until 9 December on NavSource's list. He came to her from the Bureau of Naval Personnel. Before that he had commanded Destroyer Division 58 in the Java Sea campaign. He retired a vice admiral.
He was born on 25 August 1896 in Durant, Mississippi, the son of John Alexander Binford and Elizabeth Lowrance Binford. He was graduated from Aberdeen High School, attended Mississippi A. and M. College at Starkville, and attended Marion Military Institute at Marion, Alabama.
He entered the Naval Academy from Mississippi in 1916. As a midshipman he served in Virginia with the Atlantic Fleet in the summer of 1918. The Navy Department Library biography says he was graduated and commissioned ensign with the class of 1920 on 7 June 1919. Hall of Valor also says the class of 1920. NavSource's list for Miami prints the class as 1919, which is the year he was commissioned, not the class year the library biography uses.
After graduation he joined Seattle as assistant navigator and signal officer. From November 1920 to July 1928 he served in the destroyers William Jones, Moody, Kidder, and Marcus, as engineer, navigator, and executive officer. From July 1928 to August 1930 he was officer in charge of the Navy recruiting station at New Orleans. He was anti-aircraft control officer of Texas until May 1933, then a student at the Naval War College. He served a year in the Enlisted Personnel Division of the Bureau of Navigation, then as force personnel officer on the staff of Commander Scouting Force in Indianapolis and, from September 1935, as assistant fleet personnel officer in Argonne. In August 1937 he became first lieutenant and damage-control officer of Tuscaloosa. A year later he was aide to the commandant of the Ninth Naval District at Great Lakes.
In June 1940 he took command of Clark. In March 1941 he assumed command of Destroyer Division 58, with Stewart as flagship, in the Asiatic Fleet. The division operated with the combined striking force under Rear Admiral Doorman of the Royal Dutch Navy. The library biography says he was the only officer to get out of Java with four ships. Stewart capsized in dry dock and had to be abandoned. The same biography quotes three citations for that campaign. The Navy Cross is for the night of 19–20 February 1942 in Badung Strait, leading the division through a strongly escorted convoy. The Silver Star is for the Battle of the Java Sea on 27 February 1942, a daylight torpedo attack against two heavy cruisers and seven light cruisers. The Legion of Merit covers the campaign from 20 December 1941 to 28 February 1942. Queen Wilhelmina later presented him the Order of William in Washington.
He was back in the United States in May 1942 as assistant director of the Enlisted Personnel Division in the Bureau of Naval Personnel. On 1 January 1944 he became director of that division. The biography says the enlisted force grew by about two and a quarter million men in that period, and that he helped set up the enlisted WAVE program. The chief of the bureau commended him.
NavSource dates his command of Miami from 28 January 1945 to 9 December 1945 and lists the rank at the time as captain. The DANFS table starts him on 1 February and ends him on 8 December. Uboat.net starts him on 1 February 1945 and gives no relief date. The command lines follow NavSource. The library biography says that in the last year of the war Miami, in the fast carrier force, took part in strikes on Tokyo, Chichi Jima, "Kyusu," Okinawa, and the bombardment of Okino Daito Jima. DANFS for the ship prints southern Kyushu and Oki Daito Jima, and it is the account followed for the ship's movements. A Gold Star in lieu of a second Legion of Merit, with Combat "V," covers 1 February to 5 May 1945. Hall of Valor's synopsis of that award adds air strikes against Iwo Jima to the list and says that on 14 April 1945, under air attack, the ship towed a crippled destroyer. The library biography's Bronze Star citation names the ship: Sigsbee, stopped by a suicide plane. He put medical aid aboard and towed her clear while the air attacks continued. The ship's DANFS entry does not mention Sigsbee.
In January 1946 he reported to the Fourteenth Naval District at Pearl Harbor as assistant chief of staff for personnel. In June 1948 he became chief of staff and aide to the commandant of that district and Commander, Hawaiian Sea Frontier. In April 1949 he took command of Cruiser Division One. From December 1950 he was commandant of the Armed Forces Information School, first at Carlisle Barracks and, from April 1951, at Fort Slocum, New York. In April 1954 he went to the Third Naval District in New York. He was transferred to the retired list on 1 July 1954 and advanced to vice admiral on the basis of combat awards. The library biography dates his rear admiral rank from 1 March 1948. NavSource's final-rank column stops at rear admiral.
Uboat.net gives his death as 27 August 1973 at La Jolla, California. The Dutch Wikipedia page gives the same day and place. The library biography, dated 14 September 1954, has no death date.