FREDERICKSBURG — Adm. William Halsey has been blamed unfairly for his actions during World War II's Battle of Leyte Gulf, scholars said Sunday at a symposium marking the battle's coming 60th anniversary. The symposium at Fredericksburg High School featured authors and survivors of the four-day battle, the largest ever fought at sea. Despite the problems often cited, the Navy on Oct. 23-26, 1944, finished the Imperial Japanese Navy as an effective fighting force. Halsey, commander of the 3rd Fleet, and Adm. Thomas Kinkaid, commander of the 7th Fleet, were under a divided command structure that sowed confusion, Sunday's scholars said....
