McCaffree, Burnham C.

Burnham Clough McCaffree was born on 25 April 1903 in Canova, South Dakota. He was the eldest of four children of Charles David McCaffree and Ethel Clough McCaffree. He attended Sioux Falls College in South Dakota for two years before entering the United States Naval Academy in the summer of 1922. He graduated four years later in the Class of 1926. Ensign McCaffree served in USS Idaho (BB-24) and on the staff of Commander, Battle Force, and as an officer on board USS Nokomis, assigned to survey the coast of Cuba. He next attended flight training at Pensacola, Florida, where he received his wings as a naval aviator in 1931. In 1938, McCaffree was ordered to be the first commanding officer of Observation Squadron Five (VO-5) at Naval Air Station Norfolk, Virginia. In 1940, Lieutenant Commander McCaffree was reassigned as the Executive Officer of Patrol Squadron Thirty-two, (VP-32), composed of PBY-3 Catalina seaplanes at Naval Air Station Coco Solo, Panama Canal Zone. In 1941, McCaffree became the commanding officer of the squadron, which conducted anti-submarine operations against German submarines operating in the Caribbean after the outbreak of World War II. In early 1945, McCaffree became the U.S. Navy Liaison Officer to the Commander, 29th Air Force (Major General Curtis LeMay, U.S. Army) on Guam. Following the end of hostilities, he served as the Assistant Chief of Staff for Operations on the staff of Commander, U.S. Naval Forces, Marianas. That was followed by his assignment to the Aviation Distribution Office of the Navy Department, and by his attending the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. In 1951, Captain McCaffree was the recommissioning commanding officer of aircraft carrier USS Wasp (CV-18), which then operated in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea. Following his retirement from the Navy in 1956, Captain McCaffree was the Executive Director of the Committee of 100 for the Jacksonville (Florida) Chamber of Commerce. He died in 1966.