William Sample William Dodge Sample ( 9 March 1898 – 2 October 1945 ) was a Rear Admiral in the United States Navy and an Escort Carrier Division commander in World War II . He was the youngest rear admiral in the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II . World War I and early career . Sample was born in Buffalo , New York and graduated from the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis , Maryland in June 1918 . During World War I , Sample served aboard the transport . For meritorious service during a fire onboard " Henderson " , he received a letter of commendation from the Secretary of the Navy . Detached in August 1918 , he served on several destroyers based at Queenstown , Ireland . He remained in the European Waters Detachment after the end of World War I . In December 1921 , Sample was transferred to the gunboat in the Asiatic Fleet . Sample attended flight training at Naval Air Station Pensacola , Florida and was designated a Naval Aviator on 23 June 1923 . Shortly thereafter , he served as Commanding Officer of Scouting Squadron VS - 1 . In the 1920s , he successively served in the Aviation Departments of the light cruiser s and , and battleship s and . Sample served on board the aircraft carrier s and , commanding Fighter Squadron VF - 5 on the latter from 1932 - 1934 . Promoted to Lieutenant Commander , Sample saw duty at the Bureau of Aeronautics from 1935 - 1937 followed by duty as Navigator on in 1938 . In 1939 , Sample was assigned as Air Operations Officer on . His last duty before World War II was as Supervisor of Aviation Training at Naval Air Station , Pensacola , Florida . World War II . At the outbreak of World War II , he assisted in the conversion of the oil tanker into an escort carrier . Shortly thereafter , he was promoted to Commander . Assuming command of " Santee " on her commissioning , he was awarded a letter of commendation for service during Operation Torch ; the invasion of North Africa . Captain Sample assumed command of on 19 April 1944 . In May 1944 , he was transferred to serve as Commanding Officer of and in the ensuing months participated in the Battle of the Philippine Sea and a strike against the Volcano Islands . In late summer 1944 , Sample was promoted to Rear Admiral , planting his flag aboard the escort carrier as Commander , Carrier Division 27 ( CarDiv 27 ) , for the invasion of Palau . In October 1944 , at the Battle of Leyte Gulf , his CarDiv 27 was part of Task Unit 77 . 4 . 2 ( TU 77 . 4 . 2 , otherwise known as Taffy II ) at the Battle off Samar under Rear Admiral Felix B . Stump . In early 1945 , Commander , CarDiv 27 , and " Marcus Island " supported the Invasion of Lingayen Gulf , Philippines . For the Invasion of Okinawa , Sample moved his flag to CarDiv 22 and . During the Leyte invasion , Rear Admiral Sample " desired a better view of operations " and decided to hitch a ride in a torpedo bomber . He lay in the " tunnel gun " position and observed through the window below the tail . The plane was hit by antiaircraft . Sample was severely cut on the head and shoulders . James C . Edinger , ARM3c , USNR , of Foxburg , Pennsylvania ) , came down from the " blister " where he was manning a machine gun , and applied first aid . Edinger said that it took them more than an hour to return to " Marcus Island " , during which he kept kicking Sample in the face with his foot to keep the Admiral from passing out . Sample was a big man : Edinger was afraid that if they ended up in the water , he wouldn ' t be able to get him out of the plane . Each time Sample would warn Edinger to make sure the machine gun in the tail was empty . He was afraid that when they landed the gun would go off . Later , in the state room Sample explained to Edinger that he could see the headlines in the paper , " Admiral lands upon carrier : shoots hole in deck " . According to the ship ' s surgeon , Commander Lee , " the excellence of Edinger ' s treatment helped prevent infection " . Admiral Sample was awarded the Purple Heart , and at Sample ' s request , Edinger was promoted to Aviation Radio Man , Second Class . Death . On 2 October 1945 , shortly after the war ended , Sample was listed as missing after his Martin PBM Mariner aircraft failed to return from a familiarization flight near Wakayama , Japan . Rear Admiral Sample was officially declared dead on 3 October 1946 . The remains of Sample , Capt . Charles C . McDonald of , and the seven members of the flight crew were discovered in the wreckage of the aircraft on 19 November 1948 , recovered , and returned to the United States to be interred together at Arlington National Cemetery on 17 May 1949 . Family . He was married to Mary Lee Lamar of Pensacola , Florida . They had one daughter , Carolyn Lamar Sample who resides in Alexandria , Virginia , with her husband Amb . David M . Abshire .