Commander Ryland Dillard Tisdale (November 15, 1894 – May 23, 1942) was an American naval officer who served during both World War I and II.
On June 5, 1917, less than two months after the declaration of war, Tisdale reported on board USAT Antilles, apparently for duty with an armed-guard gun crew assigned to that chartered Army transport.
On October 23, he took passage on Bridge for Great Britain, where he reported for duty to the senior United States Navy officer present.
In late January 1918, Tisdale took a three-week course of instruction at the Fuel Oil Testing Plant in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Tisdale's tour of duty in Hogan ended on June 11, 1920 when he reported to the Naval Academy for post graduate studies in engineering.
A year later, he checked in at the New York Navy Yard for practical instruction during the summer, before entering Columbia University on September 28 for further course work which lasted until the early summer of 1922, when he moved to the General Electric Co. in Schenectady, New York, until the end of July.
Tisdale rounded out his scholastic efforts late that summer with six weeks of study at the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Co., at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Tisdale took over his second command, Palos, and began patrolling the upper reaches of the Yangtze in that gunboat.
Late in July 1930, he and his ship were in the vicinity of Changsha when that city was attacked, taken, looted, and lost by Chinese communists.
He also led his crew and ship past the city for two firing passes as a show of force to discourage looting of the foreign concessions.
Tisdale's next assignment took him to the Georgia School of Technology for a two-year tour of duty with the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps detachment located there.
Commander Tisdale was offered passage on the last plane to leave Corregidor when it was apparent that surrender was inevitable.
Mr. Kuder stated that on Thursday, April 30, 1942, the fighting in the area around Damsalan was very heavy, and that Commander Tisdale banded together a small group of officers and enlisted men, including some civilians, and threw in with Lieutenant Colonel Vesy of the Philippine Army to make a last stand against the Japanese.