Ships
- USS Birmingham (CL-62) Commander in command from 24 October 1944 (acting) · Relieved on 21 November 1944
Winston Pilcher Folk was the executive officer of the light cruiser Birmingham (CL-62) at Leyte Gulf. On 24 October 1944 the carrier Princeton exploded alongside, and with his captain wounded, Folk took command of a ship whose decks were covered with dead and wounded. He kept command for four weeks, until she reached the shipyard. He later became a rear admiral.
He was born on 10 November 1901 in Nashville, Tennessee. The records seen here say nothing more about his family or schooling.
He became a lieutenant commander on 1 July 1939, temporary commander on 25 July 1942, and temporary captain on 10 July 1943. His commissioning source and his assignments before 1944 have not been confirmed.
By October 1944 he was Birmingham's executive officer under Captain Thomas B. Inglis. At 1523 on 24 October both men were on the starboard wing of the bridge, facing Princeton, when her after magazines blew up. Folk had shrapnel wounds and was partly deafened. He asked the captain how he was. Inglis said his arm was broken but he could carry on, and Folk went down to the main deck to organize first aid and find out how bad the damage was. Inglis wrote of what he found there: "blood so thick on the decks that sand had to be spread to prevent slipping." With the senior medical officer away on loan and the dentist dead, the ship's care of the wounded rested on the junior medical officer and on the parties Folk put together. Inglis felt faint, gave command to Folk, and went below. Inglis later wrote that Folk "deserves the highest credit for his handling of the situation." Folk was acting commanding officer from 24 October to 21 November 1944, while Birmingham went back to Ulithi under her own power and then on to Mare Island.
Folk said of the crew: "Not only was there not the slightest tendency toward panic, there was not a single case that came to my attention directly or reportedly where anything but praise could be given."
He retired as a rear admiral. He died on 28 February 1994 in Old Lyme, Connecticut, aged 92.