James L. Kauffman

James Laurence Kauffman (18 April 188721 October 1963) was a highly decorated officer in the United States Navy with the rank of vice admiral. He distinguished himself as commanding officer of destroyer during World War I and received the Navy Cross, the United States second-highest decoration awarded for valor in combat.

He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree on 15 June 1908 and served successively as passed midshipman aboard the protected cruiser and armored cruiser with the Pacific Fleet. While aboard Tennessee Kauffman visited the Philippines, China, and Japan and returned to the United States in March 1910.

In January 1938, Kauffman was appointed Commandant of the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, where he oversaw constructions and repairs of many ships and submarines including , and . He remained at Mare Island until January 1940, when he was appointed commander of Destroyer Squadron 36 located at San Diego, California. Kauffman was transferred to command of Destroyer Squadron 7 in December 1940.

He arrived to Iceland few days later aboard battleship and became the Commandant of that base. There were no quarters ashore for him nor his staff and Kauffman transferred his flag to gunboat to make more space for receiving ship and provided quarters for the Army's port authority. He moved his staff ashore, when the naval facility known as Camp Knox was completed in May 1942. For his service in this capacity, Kauffman was later decorated with Order of the Falcon by the Government of Iceland.

In June 1942, Kauffman was transferred to Key West, Florida, where he assumed duty as Commandant of the Seventh Naval District and Commander Gulf Sea Frontier. he was responsible for the Allied effort to fight German U-boats in the area stretching from Jacksonville, Florida, to the Mexican coast, including the entire Gulf of Mexico and its strategic entrances. He served in this capacity until February 1943 and received Legion of Merit for his service against German submarines. Kauffman also received Cuban Order of Military Merit, and Order of the Southern Cross and Navy War Service Medal by the Government of Brazil.

Kauffman was subsequently ordered to Washington, D.C. and joined the headquarters of United States Fleet under Admiral Ernest J. King as the senior member of the Allied Antisubmarine Board. While in this capacity, he took part in the inspections of the Allied antisubmarine air and ship stations on both sides of the Atlantic and was stationed as an observer in London, England for a brief period. Classmates: Kauffman (left), and Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid, Commander 7th fleet, both newly promoted, pin the insignia of their new rank, each on the other, at their Philippine headquarters, 6 April 1945.

Service in Pacific

While still serving on the Antisubmarine Board, Kauffman was ordered to the Pacific theater in October 1943 and served as Board observer attached to Aircraft Squadrons, Pacific, during the attacks on Tarawa and later Kwajalein. He assumed command of cruiser-destroyer forces of Pacific Fleet (COMDESPAC) with headquarters on Hawaii in January 1944 and was responsible for the maintenance of the ships under his command at a state of training, readiness, discipline and morale. Kauffman's command provided ships, personnel and material for U.S. Seventh Fleet and he was decorated with his second Legion of Merit at the end of his tenure in October 1944.

Postwar service

Following his return stateside, Kauffman was appointed Commandant, Fourth Naval District with headquarters at Philadelphia Navy Yard. He also reverted to his peacetime rank of rear admiral for his assignment in Philadelphia. Kauffman retired from the Navy on 1 May 1949 after 41 years on active service and was advanced again to the rank of vice admiral on the retired list.

One day after he retired from the Navy, Kauffman became the President of Jefferson Medical College and Jefferson Medical Center. He also held additional duty as chairman of the board of the Eastern Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute and remained in both positions until the end of June 1959. He then became chairman of the board of directors for the Central Philadelphia Branch of the American Red Cross. Kauffman was decorated with Grand Cross of the National Order of Merit "Carlos J. Finlay" by the Government of Cuba during his tenure at Jefferson Medical College.

His wife, Elizabeth Draper Kauffman (1886–1966), is buried beside him. They had two children: a son, Draper, who graduated from the Naval Academy and distinguished himself as commander of the first Underwater Demolition Teams. He was decorated with two Navy Crosses and several other decorations and retired as rear admiral in 1973; and a daughter, Elizabeth Louise, who married Prescott Sheldon Bush Jr., the brother of future President of the United States, George H. W. Bush.