William R. Purnell

Rear Admiral William Reynolds Purnell (6 September 1886 – 3 March 1955) was an officer in the United States Navy who served in World War I and World War II. A 1908 graduate of the United States Naval Academy, he captained destroyers during World War I. He was awarded the Navy Cross for his role in protecting convoys against German submarines as commander of the .

He was promoted to rear admiral in November 1941. During World War II, he was chief of staff of the ill-fated Asiatic Fleet at the start of the Pacific War. He later served as Assistant Chief of Naval Operations for Materiel. He was the navy representative on the Joint Committee on New Weapons and Equipment, and, from September 1942, the navy representative on the Military Policy Committee, the three-man committee that oversaw the Manhattan Project. Purnell helped coordinate its activities with those of the navy. In 1945, he travelled to Tinian as the representative of the Military Policy Committee, and coordinated preparations for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki with senior army and navy commanders in the Pacific. He retired from the navy in 1946 and died in 1955.

Early life William Reynolds Purnell was born in Bowling Green, Missouri, on 6 September 1886. In 1908, he graduated from the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis. He was commissioned as an ensign in 1910. During World War I, he commanded the destroyers , , , and . For his services, he was awarded the Navy Cross. His citation read:

In January 1917, while he was serving on the Rowan, he married Ada Dodge Curtiss, the daughter of Walter Phelps Dodge and the ex-wife of Gerald S. Curtiss. They had one son, William Reynolds Purnell, Jr. He was survived by his wife, Ada Dodge Purnell, and his son, William R. Purnell, Jr.